MUMBAI: Oscar winning music composer AR Rahman and Senegalese-American R&B singer Akon will come together in a concert on 13 March, which will be the unnamed opening ceremony of the T-20 World Cup 2014. It will be hosted at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board, the tour to Bangladesh is to be a first for both artistes. According to reports, Mahbub Anam, Director, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed that there will not be an opening ceremony as such, but that the Board feels it will give more impetus to the event. Apart from the two headliners the event will see local bands and solo artistes performing.
The two internationally acclaimed artistes and two local bands –LRL and Miles-have been confirmed to perform on 9 March at the concert. A few more local bands and renowned solo artistes like Sabina yasmin, Runa Laila and Kumar Biswajit, are reportedly in talks for the mega concert.
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The concert is said to cost the BCB a whopping $3 million. Tickets for the show went on sale on Saturday 8 March on Book My Show, and are already sold out.
Earlier this month R&B singer Akon launched his program ‘Akon Lighting Africa’. According to the initiative, the artiste promises to bring electricity to one million homes in Africa by the end of the year by installing solar equipment in households to improve energy sufficiency. He has partnered with Give1 Project, ADS Global Corporation SA and public-private solar energy companies. Since the launch of the program, he has managed to fund 10 light posts and a hundred homes in Mali, and has met with government leaders about bringing more light to Senegal, Gambia and the Ivory Coast. His last music release was ‘So Blue’, towards the end of 2013.
Rahman recently launched a collaborative album with Indian politician Kapil Sibal called ‘Raunaq’. The album is a collection of poems written by Sibal and composed by Rahman.
