Musical Performances among Highlights of Human Rights Defenders Forum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Soyia Ellison, [email protected]

ATLANTA — The 2016 Human Rights Defenders Forum will include the debuts of a musical composition and a music video, both designed to promote peace and understanding.

On Monday, June 20, at 1:30 p.m., just before former U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his keynote address, a group of high-profile international musicians led by Rolling Stones saxophonist Tim Ries and fronted by singer Grace Potter will take the stage to perform an original composition inspired by the work of the forum.

On Tuesday, June 21, at the end of the concluding session that begins at 4 p.m., participants will get a first look at the video for “Love Is the Answer,” written and performed by Breeze the Voice and co-produced with Berklee College of Music and the Center’s Human Rights Program. The video will serve as the centerpiece of a social media campaign to promote the forum’s central theme: that violence begets violence and that only compassion and love will solve the challenges we face.

Both Monday’s performance and Tuesday’s music video will be webcast live on cartercenter.org. Viewers can use the hashtag #LoveIsTheAnswer to tweet stories of how they are carrying out the song’s message in their own lives.

Monday’s Musical Lineup
• Mira Awad, singer, Israel-Palestine
• Ilan Bar-Lavi, guitarist and composer, Mexico and Israel
• Terreon Gully, drummer, United States
• Jamey Haddad, percussionist and drummer, United States
• Bakithi Kumalo, bassist, South Africa
• Georges Lamman, singer and violinist, Lebanon
• Charles Moselle, multi-instrumentalist and beat boxer, United States
• Salar Nader, percussionist, United States and Afghanistan
• Grace Potter, singer-songwriter, United States
• Jasia Ries, singer, United States
• Tim Ries, saxophonist, United States
• Dashill Smith, singer and rapper, United States

###

The Carter Center
"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.