SAWUBONA/Songs Of Good Hope in Concert: @CeBIT Opening Ceremony 1 March, Hanover

IBM presents@CeBIT Opening Ceremony 1 March, Hanover:

SAWUBONA/Songs Of Good Hope in Concert

Hanover/Suttgart, 1 March 2010 – IBM presents the SAWUBONA/Songs Of Good Hope at the evening of the CeBIT Opening Ceremony, 9 – 10:30 pm, Kuppelsaal, Glasfoyer at the Hanover Congress Centrum. The “Songs Of Good Hope” are the results of IBM’s Internet MusicJam project which started 2008 at CeBIT Fair. Musicians around the world were asked to compose music to 17 lyrics about South Africa. About 600 SAWUBONA participants composed 120 “Songs Of Good Hope” during the last 18 months.

About 14 “Songs Of Good Hope” will be in the final selection for a CD production, online sales and for concert performance. All proceeds from music marketing will support Township projects in South Africa in the education area as well as for AIDS prevention and help. IBM’s MusicJam project SAWUBONA/Songs Of Good Hope is more than an IT project to showcase social platforms. An example for a SAWUBONA help project is the AIDS project Ubuntu in Cape Towon. Ubuntu Africa, NFP. is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing lifesaving healthcare and support services to HIV positive children and teens in Khayelitsha, South Africa. This project will be also supported from the German actor Walter Sittler, his wife Sigrid Klausmann-Sittler, Thomas Hitzlsperger, member of ther German National Soccer Team and HUOBER Brezeln.

Another example of a help project which SAWUBONA supports is Ubuntu Ma Africa. Members of IBM’s Coroporate Service Corps (young managers were assigned to work for NGOs for couple of weeks) help a non-profit organization in South Africa that provides home-based care and education for people with HIV & AIDS, diabetes, depression, sexually transmitted infections, and victims of abuse and violence. What the organization needs is a decommissioned shipping container to convert into office space.

The musical director of SAWUBONA, Werner Acker, formed for the CeBIT concert a band with musicians from South
Africa, Cameroon, UK/Spain and Germany. The singer Coco Mbassi from Cameroon will join SAWUBONA as well as the both members from the South African band “Hot Water”, Donovan Copley, singer/songwriter and Ronan Skillen, percussion. From UK/Spain Rock legend Ken Hensley will perform with the SAWUBONA Band - Ken is also the musical ambassador for the project. All other SAWUBONA band members are top musicians from Germany: Annette Kienzle and Verena Nübel (vocals), Hansi Schuller (bass), Frank Drapper (drums), Rainer Schaithauer (keyboards), Ekkehard Rössle (sax) and last but not least: Werner Acker (guitar). Beside the SAWUBONA/Songs Of Good Hope the band will also feature at CeBIT songs from his Hot Water guests like “Laduma” (Zulu = Tor) a soccer hit in South Africa or “Wamikele” (Zulu = Welcome) as well as songs from Coco Mbassi and Ken Hensley.

The roots of the SAWUBONA project going back to the year 1994 as Hans-Dieter Huober, former editor-in-chief of IBM Germany’s employee magazine were asked to write an article about IBM in South Africa for IBM’s worldwide publication THINK - just after the first democratic elections in South Africa. “An unexpected trip to Jo’burgs South Western Township Soweto to vist IBM’s Corporate Social Responsibilty Projects (a Kindergarten, a primery school, acenter for adult education and the first Home For Aged), was the reason for me to fell in love with the people and the country” explains Huober. He wrote the lyrics for the songs after many “adventures” in South Africa and leads also IBM’s SAWUBONA MusicJam Project.

IBM’s MusicJam Project SAWUBONA/Songs Of Good Hope will be shown during CeBIT in the section “Smarter Work” in cooperation with Steinberg Technologies and Digitalmusicians. Other partners of the project are: Music University Suttgart, University For Media, Suttgart, the German regions Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bayern, HUOBER Brezeln and other companies and organisations.

More SAWUBONA/Songs Of Good Hope concerts in Germany and South Africa are in plan: 4 April Theaterhaus Stuttgart, 28/29 May HUOBER Brezeln, Open Air Erdmannhausen and 12 June Cape Town, South Africa. Other concert dates will be released soon.

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More information:
Hans-Dieter Huober
IBM Marketing & Communication
Phone: +49-7141-488410
Mobile: +49-171-3810923
E-Mail: hhuober@de.ibm.com

Griot GmbH
Wulf von Gaudecker
Marion von Gaudecker
Phone: +49 4526 33 82 0
Email: marion@griot.de
www.griot.de