Note to Correspondents

United Nations Day 2009 Concert to Honour United Nations Peacekeeping

United Nations Day will be observed this year at Headquarters with a concert to be held this evening, Friday 23 October, in the General Assembly Hall, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

For the first time since its inception, the concert has a theme:  “A Tribute to Peacekeeping”.  It is being organized by the Department of Public Information and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, in partnership with the Culture Project, a New York based non-profit organization dedicated to artistic work focusing on social justice and civic engagement.

As indicated by the theme, “A Tribute to Peacekeeping”, the concert will celebrate United Nations Day 2009 by using different art forms to focus on the achievements and importance of United Nations peacekeeping.

Musical performances by artists from a broad array of countries, oral presentations by public figures, and documentary film clips highlighting the faces and stories of the people in the field, will be used to pay homage to the Blue Helmets on the sixty-fourth anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations.

Among the artists who will perform are John McLaughlin ( United Kingdom) with the band Remember Shakti ( India), Emmanual Jal ( Sudan), Sister Fa ( Senegal), Salman Ahmad ( Pakistan), Harry Belafonte ( United States), Angelique Kidjo ( Benin), Lang Lang ( China) and Colombian band Aterciopelados. The Master of Ceremonies will be Isha Sesay of CNN International.

The concert will also feature segments from a new documentary film about United Nations Peacekeeping, The War Against War, directed by Fisher Stevens. Stevens’ film will give the audience one-of-a-kind access and insight into the formidable challenges facing peacekeepers and the committed individuals who serve some of the most victimized and vulnerable populations on earth.

The event aims to create greater public awareness of the important mission performed by peacekeeping operations around the globe. The recent tragedy in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), where 11 peacekeepers died in a helicopter crash in Haiti, has made the theme of the concert even more poignant, as the United Nations pays tribute to lives lost.

United Nations Day is observed annually, marked throughout the world by meetings, discussions and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the Organization.

The concert will be webcast live on the United Nations website, at http://www.un.org/webcast.  It will also be broadcast live on Time Warner Cable, channel 150, in New York City.

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For information media • not an official record