On the 17th October 2005, a group of musicians and very enthusiastic crowd members climbed up Kalapathar, a peak on Mount Everest, to set the world record and perform the highest gig in the world at an altitude of 5,545 metres. They did this in order to raise money for the charity Music4Children and successfully raised £30,000 that went towards the building of an Orphanage for children at risk in Nepal.
Since then however, the record of 5,545 metres has been beaten by the Chasing Rainbow team who trekked 5,985 metres up Kilimanjaro. As a result Music4Children are now preparing to embark on a new challenge this year in October. This time they aim to climb to a greater height of 6,476 metres where they will perform the world's ultimate highest gig and raise even more money to complete the interior of their orphanage.
The adventure
The expeditionary team of twenty will fly out to Kathmandu in early October, the exact dates are yet to be confirmed. From Kathmandu they will fly to Lukla at 2,780 metres where they will begin their two week trek. Unlike last time they will not be climbing Everest itself, where before they trekked only a short distance higher than base camp. Instead they will be taking on the more challenging route up the neighbouring mountain, Mera. Passing through three base camps at 5,090 metres, 5,385 metres and 5,750 metres, and travelling through the Mera La pass, the group will then climb the difficult assent to the central summit at 6,461 metres before following a ridge up to the northern summit of Mera Peak at 6,476 metres. Here the musicians will pull out their guitars, their keyboards and their drums and break the record by performing the world's highest gig for their tired but clearly enthusiastic crowd.
Raising awareness
At present, award winning documentary filmmaker Claudio Von Planta is said to be filming the expedition and the concert. Von Planta is possibly best known for The Long Way Back, which followed Ewan Mcgregor and Charlie Boorman on their world tour on motorbikes. In addition, Australian singer-songwriter Xavier Rudd and French singer Manu Chao are both on board to perform.
Music4Children
The Charity Music4Children was founded by Oz Bayldon after a visit to Nepal where he saw first hand the extreme poverty faced by children in Nepal. After finding a young teenager abandoned on the mountains and suffering from serious starvation, Oz managed to bring the boy back to his family, only to find that the parents had been hoping their weakened son would die as they couldn't afford to look after him. Since then Music4Children has been striving to make a difference around the world. They run a hostel in the White Lion pub in Streatham where they offer free music teaching facilities to underprivileged children. Their many extreme, musical based projects fund life saving facilities around the globe.
This year in May a world record will be set and, as a result, an orphanage will be completed and will grant many children in Nepal a new chance at life.
Tom Ward-Thomas - Writer, actor and many other things. I hope my articles will provide you with a mixture of useful information and some amusing reading.
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