Home > Arts and Entertainment > Banding Together: Singing Out for Disaster Relief

Banding Together: Singing Out for Disaster Relief
Floods, famine, fire and drought — when disaster strikes at home and around the world, Canadians are ready to help. For musicians and actors, helping often means organizing large relief concerts. These shows are great entertainment and have raised millions of dollars. But at times, critics have questioned the long-term benefit of these extravaganzas. CBC Archives looks back at Canada's disaster relief concerts from Manitoba's "Flood the Fund" in 1950 to B.C.'s "Fire on the Mountain" in 2003. To support Canada For Asia, please visit www.cbc.ca/canadaforasia/

	Flooding the fund for Manitoba		'Boat people' benefit opposed		Recording 'Tears Are Not Enough'
	A concert at Maple Leaf Gardens asks Canadians to donate money for victims of Winnipeg's 1950 Red River flood. (Radio; runs 6:05)		The CBC broadcasts a benefit for Vietnamese refugees in 1979, but gets a lot of negative feedback. (Radio; runs 1:40)		More than 50 Canadian stars lend their voices to a 1985 song to help Ethiopian famine victims. (TV; runs 5:45)

	Can Live Aid feed the world?		Rockin' on the Red River		Power Aid Live puts the lights on
	Duran Duran, U2 and Madonna are among the performers at a mammoth two-continent rock concert aiming to end famine in Africa. (TV; runs 8:32)		Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings perform at a concert for Manitobans affected by the 1997 flood. (TV; runs 5:01)		A free concert in Ottawa raises over $5 million to help people hit hard by the ice storm of 1998. (TV; runs 2:29)

	Musicians without borders		Just 'Say Hay' for drought relief		Toronto Rocks for SARS relief
	Between benefit concerts, Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies ponders the role of the entertainer after Sept. 11. (TV; runs 12:20)		Canadian country musicians put on a show to help ailing Prairie farmers survive the drought in 2002. (Radio; runs 6:02)		Musician Sam Roberts tells the CBC what it's like to play for the largest crowd in Canadian history. (TV; runs 2:27)

	'Fire on the Mountain'		From concept to concert in a week
	A benefit concert in B.C. aims to help victims of the province's massive wildfires in 2003. (TV; runs 2:43)		Canada For Asia's tsunami relief concert pulls together a huge lineup of stars in just a few days. (TV; runs 3:30)

LINKS Related Topics from CBC's Archives Boat People: A Refugee Crisis Canada's Earthquakes and Tsunamis Devastating Dry Spells: Drought on the Prairies Fighting Forest Fires Red River Rising: Manitoba Floods The Ice Storm of 1998 The Saguenay Flood Rolling Stones headline concert for SARS CBC.ca CBC News Indepth: Disaster in Asia Twenty years after Tears Are Not Enough, the charity single returns The CBC assumes no responsibility for the content of external links.

7 Additional Clips about Banding Together: Singing Out for Disaster Relief Printer-friendly topic page Send this page to a friend Add this topic to your personal bookmarks Cite this page

Copyright © CBC 2006 All Rights Reserved Privacy