Peter Sarstedt to sing for conservation

Peter Sarstedt, the famous musician and supporter of conservation and the planet will be visiting South Africa during the month of September as a guest of Sappi Limited to help raise funds and awareness for various environmental conservation organisations. He has previously visited South Africa to provide support, along with Sappi Limited, for the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre at De Wildt. His upcoming visit will again benefit Ann van Dyk’s Cheetah Centre, along with Birdlife South Africa; the Freeme Rehabilitation Centre; the Pilansberg Wildlife Trust; the Two Oceans Aquarium Cape Town Harbour Seal Project; the Bergvlam Wetland Rehabilitation project in Nelspruit, in conjunction with the Innibos Arts Festival; the Water Sisulu National Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort; the Anatolian Sheppard Project with Cheetah Outreach at the Bienne Donne Outdoor and Travel Show in Franschoek and the Sappi Green Ambassador Recycling programme. He will also hold a number of ‘singer songwriter’ workshops for aspiring musicians, in keeping with both Sappi and his support and encouragement of music in South Africa.

Peter Sarstedt first came to prominence in February 1969 with the Number 1 hit single ‘Where do you go to, my lovely’. He held this position for six weeks on the British charts, as well as reached the No 1 position in 14 other countries. He was awarded the highly coveted Ivor Novello Award for Best Song 1969/70 for this composition. Today, this song is still an icon and recently the theme song for the big screen movie by Wes Anderson…… 'The Darjeeling Limited'. Sarstedt has also written hits for the likes of Eden Kane, Right Said Fred and Herb Alpert.

“We invited Peter back to South Africa to add a new dimension to our long-standing support for the arts, community development and conservation” said André Oberholzer, Group Head Corporate Affairs at Sappi Limited. He continued “Peter’s wonderful music and his passion for conservation will help generate much needed funds and awareness for a number of very worthy causes across the country”. Peter Sarstedt will also help Sappi celebrate 10 years of Sunday Picnic Concerts in support of the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens when he appears as a guest artist on the Mathys Roets programme at the Sappi Sunday Picnic Concert of 12 September 2010.

Sarstedt’s commitment to environmental conservation is highlighted in his ‘Green Alphabet’ song as it explores environmental issues that require urgent action from A to Z. ‘Hemmingway’ is a song of passion for Africa which depicts the ease in which we can lose the beauty of the natural world. Sarstedt’s signature songs were a product of a time when folk singing created an awareness of and protested many an injustice and captivated the world in passive protest that formed the basis of change in many communities and countries.

Today, Sarstedt continues to write and perform music and songs throughout the world. While his ’green music’ entertains, it importantly also speaks of the hope for sustainable improvement of our planet…….’Save the Rhino’ will be performed in South Africa to raise awareness of the plight of these magnificent creatures.

This article was originally posted on South Africa Business Communities