Next June's World Cup in South Africa will kick off with a live music spectacular featuring mainly African artists, along with a clutch of world stars, organisers said Wednesday.
Kevin Wall, producer of the ground-breaking global music event Live Earth, is working with soccer's international governing body Fifa to produce a primetime concert in Soweto's newly-renovated Orlando stadium on June 10, eve of the official World Cup opening.
"It will be one of the greatest live shows ever to come out of Africa," Wall told a press conference held at the world's biggest TV trade show, MIPCOM.
"This is the first time we are doing something for Africa and an overwhelming number of international artists want to participate," he said.
Wall declined to name names, saying they would include the top stars in African music and saying he was still mulling the choice of global celebrities. But the musicians, he added, would come from a wide range of musical styles and countries.
"This will be a unique blend culturally that has never been done before," he said. Football fans can also look forward to special appearances by past and present football legends on the show. It was too early, Wall added, to know whether South Africa's Nelson Mandela would also participate.
South African film and TV production companies are out in force at the four-day MIPCOM trade show with South African football-themed programmes that are attracting unprecedented interest from countries worldwide.
"There has been high interest at this market," Azania Muendane, who heads up marketing for South Africa's national film and video foundation, told AFP. "It's a real catalyst for us and attracting a lot of interest across the board in our programmes from all broadcasters," she added.
Wall said a total 50,000 tickets will be sold for the show, which will be aired on free TV channels worldwide. Tickets go on sale at the beginning of 2010. It will air in European prime time and 2000 local Johannesburg time in some 192 countries through the world.
Net proceeds from the sale of tickets will go to the FIFA World Cup South Africa's "20 Centers for 2010" campaign to build 20 planned Football For Hope centres, FIFA's Director of television, Niclas Ericson told a press conference.
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