Human Rights Broadcast

http://www.renaud-bray.com

http://www.renaud-bray.com

*** Résumé en anglais seulement ***LIVE BROADCAST FROM BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, OCTOBER 1988 On July 19, 1988, Bruce Springsteen performed a concert in East Germany that attracted 300,000 spectators. Journalist Erik Kirschbaum called the concert the most important rock concert ever, anywhere. It had been conceived by the Communist Party's cultural arm in an attempt to placate the youth of East Germany, who were hungry for more freedom and the popular music of the West. However, it is Kirschbaum's opinion that the success of the concert catalysed opposition to the regime in the former German Democratic Republic, and helped contribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall the following year. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International, that took place over six weeks, between the beginning of September and the middle of October that year. The shows featured - in addition to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, and Youssou N'Dour, plus guest artists from each of the countries where concerts were held. Human rights activists and former prisoners of conscience from around the world participated in the tour. At each location, the artists and Amnesty leaders held a press conference to discuss human rights, and concert-goers were provided with copies of the Universal Declaration in their language and opportunities to sign the Declaration themselves and join the worldwide human rights movement. This CD features the full set performed by Springsteen and the E Street Band in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the final night of the tour, Taken from an FM Broadcast of the concert, the sound quality is superb and the performance dynamic. On the final song, Bob Dylan s Chimes Of Freedom, all the performers and guests join Springsteen and band for a rousing version of the song that critic Paul Williams once described as Dylan s Sermon On The Mount.