KATHMANDU - An Australian musician hopes to set a new world record with a concert at the base of Mount Everest this May as part of celebrations marking the golden jubilee of the conquest of the world's highest peak.
Ian Farrington, a drummer who has played with the likes of U2, Pink Floyd, Metallica and Queen, said he hopes to also raise awareness about the plight of Nepalese orphans with the "Highest Altitude Live Music Concert" at the Everest basecamp, some 5,500 metres (18,142 feet) above sea level.
About 100 musicians are expected to join Farrington, Australian Tim O'Dele and Craig Byalton of Britain in the performance slated for mid-May.
Farrington said a cameraman and representative of the Guinness Book of World Records are due to observe the concert, which he hopes will help raise funds for an orphanage he has opened in Nepal.
"There is a report which says some years back a musical concert was held by a Nepalese musical band at the base of Everest but there is no official confirmation nor any official recognition," Farrington said.
"This time the musical team will comprise a movie cameraman and a representative of the Guinness Book of World Records who will be observing the programme."
More than 500 Everest summitteers, including 200 international mountaineers, are heading back to the foot of the mountain to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa's pioneering climb up the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) peak.
Other events planned for the anniversary bash include an Everest running marathon, a mountain biking rally, a film festival and a government-subsidized expedition for climbers up three peaks, two of which - Mount Phari Lapcha (6,017 metres, 19,856 feet) and Mount Machhermo (6,273 metres, 20,700 feet) - are still virgin.
The high-altitude Himalayan kingdom is hoping the Everest jubilee will provide a much-needed boost to its flailing tourism industry, a casualty in the Maoist insurgency that has claimed more than 7,800 lives since 1996.
AFP
(from the
SA Sunday times site)
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