CELEBRATING PEACE WITH A SUPER-SHOW

by Oyvind Ronning (translation by cindy kandolf)

This year's Nobel concert will break all records for TV shows broadcast from Norway. Espen Lind and a-ha, together with Phil Collins, Alanis Morisette and the Cranberries will perform at the show in Oslo Spektrum on 11 December. Yesterday it was also announced that Elton John will contribute two songs to the Nobel concert, which this year will be broadcast to two billion people in 150 countries. Last year's concert at Nationaltheatret, with Mariah Carey, Emmylou Harris, and others, was broadcast to 100 countries on all continents and was available to half a billion households. This year 750 million households, or more than two billion people, will be able to watch the concert. By comparison, 300 millions could see the Eurovision Song Contest finale from Oslo Spektrum in 1996. TWO VERSIONS Highlights from the Nobel concert were shown on MTV last year, but with this year's stars the concert should reach a much wider audience. One of the biggst TV stations in the US is negotiating for the broadcast rights. Europe will also get better coverage, since International Management Group (IMG) has bought the rights for [European] distribution outside Norway. Here in Norway the concert will be shown in two versions on NRK1, most likely in the form of a 75 minute highlight show on Saturday, 12 December, and later in an extended version of 2 hours, 15 minutes. ALMOST SOLD OUT 1000 guests are invited this year, and with 4500 in the paying audience the concert is sold out.[1] With NOK2.5 million in distribution fees from IMG, director Geir Lundestad of the Norwegian Nobel Institute will probably be able to balance a budget of NOK37 million. No one thinks they will earn money on the concert, and until this year the budget fell short of expenses. "The most important thing for us is to reach s many people as possible, and this year we will reach more than ever before. But this has all developed so quickly that it will be a problem to keep improving things until the 100 year anniversary in 2001," says Lundestad. "In addition, we must do a better job of tying the concert to the Peace Prize, problems of war and peace in general, and the year's Peace Prize winner in particular." This year's winners are the cheif architects behind the peace agreement for Northern Ireland, Catholic John Hume and Protestant David Tremble[sic!]. [1] Oslo Spektrum's Web site confirms that the show is now sold out. I've heard much higher figures for the number of invited VIPs, but i suppose that's a moot point... - Cindy Kandolf cindy@nethelp.no