Thu, 29 Jul 2004
Hello again BATS supporters !
We forgot to mention in this week's BATS email that there's this great concert on this Sunday, August 1st, 7pm at the
Opera House, to benefit Ahmed Zaoui. It's an awesome line-up of local talent at an absolute bargain price. Come
celebrate human rights - tickets are only $12.50 if you have an Active or Community Services Card, or $25 waged. Book
now through Ticketek!
ARTISTS GATHER TO CELEBRATE HUMAN RIGHTS: THE ZAOUI CONCERT, SUNDAY AUGUST 1ST, THE OPERA HOUSE, WELLINGTON
A benefit concert to celebrate human rights in New Zealand and to raise money for the family of Ahmed Zaoui will be held
in Wellington, Sunday 1st August at the Opera House. Leading musicians and performers have offered their services free
to make The Zaoui Concert a reality. Sir Paul Reeves will address this unique, one-off event.
The concert is hosted by Wellington Artists' Charitable Trust (WACT), and supported by Amnesty International, the Human
Rights Foundation and Radio Active.
The concert will provide an eclectic mix of music and comedy, designed to celebrate human rights and showcase the
diversity of New Zealand's leading musicians and comedians.
Bands performing include Wellington's favourites, Rhombus; The Beatgirls, before they leave to perform at the Athens
Olympics; Jeff Henderson with Richard Nunns (Nelson) and Sally Rodwell, performing a mixture of jazz with traditional
Maori instruments, in the vein of their celebrated Urban Taniwha concerts; Alphabet Head (turntables) and soul-rockers,
The Accelerants. The evening finishes with Goldenhorse, fresh from their recent season with the Auckland Philharmonic
Orchestra.
Celebrated comedian Taika Cohen will have free reign to interact with the audience between sets, and female comic duo,
Jo Randerson and Gentiane Lupi, will perform some new sets. The concert will be hosted by well-known actors Jeremy
Randerson and Adam Gardiner. (Jo and Jeremy Randerson are brother and sister, and return to Wellington fresh from
winning awards at the 2004 Melbourne International Comedy Festival).
Former Governor General, Sir Paul Reeves, and Ahmed Zaoui's lawyer, Deborah Manning, will both give brief addresses at
the concert.
The Zaoui Concert takes place on the one-year anniversary of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority decision declaring
elected Algerian MP, Ahmed Zaoui, to be a genuine refugee. "The Zaoui family are currently in hiding in Asia," says
event organiser Melanie Hamilton. "That's mainly because Mr Zaoui, the family breadwinner, has been held without charge
in a New Zealand prison for some nineteen months now, with no end in sight to his detention. We wanted to give the
people of Wellington a chance to help the Zaoui family in a tangible way, as a gesture of compensation for the suffering
they have faced due to the actions of the New Zealand government."
"The concert is also one way that people can join together and celebrate human rights while enjoying a wide-range of New
Zealand music and comedy. New Zealand artists want to speak up and comment on human rights in New Zealand; this concert
is one way of making that happen, and it is significant that it occurs on the anniversary of the RSAA decision," says
Hamilton.
"The Zaoui case has shown us how readily some of our basic human rights can be brushed aside, " says Hamilton, " in the
wake of the 9/11 attacks. In that sense, The Zaoui Concert provides an occasion for us to stand up and support
everyone's right to fair and compassionate treatment before the law."
The Zaoui Concert will be a unique event. It provides an opportunity for people to join together and celebrate human
rights in New Zealand. The evening is designed to appeal to a broad audience, and the event will showcase some of New
Zealand's leading musicians and comedians.
Benefit concerts are less common now, so it is very significant that so many of New Zealand's leading performers are
willing to lend their time for free and take a stand for human rights in New Zealand and to show compassion for Ahmed
Zaoui's wife and 4 children.
The Zaoui Concert The Opera House, Wellington Sunday August 1st, 7pm. Tickets from Ticketek, ph 04 384 3840. Prices:
$25 full / $12.50 radio active card holders/students/community service card holders Concert supported by Amnesty
International, Radio Active and the Human Rights Foundation.
For further information, interviews and images, please contact Melanie Hamilton.Email: mel@barbarian.co.nz
ENDS