New York – Actress and singer, Cynthia Basinet petitions the United Nations Sixty-second General Assembly Fourth Committee on behalf of issues facing the Western Sahara.

From the UN official site:

CYNTHIA BASINET, singer and actress, said that the international community had a moral responsibility as steward of the Saharawi people, and that a shift in heart and not just policy was required. Anemia, diabetes, tuberculosis, stunting and acute malnutrition were plaguing the Saharawi population, and yet 90 per cent of the population had attended school and were literate, according to a 1998 study.

She expressed deep concern over land mine explosions, such as that which had claimed the life of 8 year-old Fatima Bent Ibrahim this past year. Food prices rivaled those of Europe, with camel meat costing about €4 and the price of potatoes and milk equally prohibitive. Finally, refugees living abroad were unable to bring relatives with them because Western Sahara was not recognized by the United Nations, nor were documents and passports.

It took all facets to make the world a diamond, she said, and the international community must look beyond traditional methods of aid to consider public-private partnerships and microlending, among other forms of assistance, so that Saharawis were not “slowly delineated from the human map of the world”.

Cynthia visited the W. Sahara in ‘01 in efforts to raise awareness for the Saharwian refugees living in self-determination.

She was later nominated for a shared Nobel Peace Prize as part of the “1000 PeaceWomen Across the Globe”.

The singer is best known for hits “Santa Baby” and “Tea For Two” .

For more visit:
www.cynthiabasinet.com

McCoy Tyner

Rollins is a two-time GRAMMY-winning tenor saxophonist and 2004 GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. He emerged at the height of the bebop jazz movement, and his illustrious career has consisted of more than five decades of recording. Since 2005, he has recorded on his own record label, Doxy Records.

Rollins who was unable to attend the event due to a minor car accident, had his nephew and trumpet player, Clifton Anderson accept on his behalf.

Five-time GRAMMY-winning Tyner is a jazz pianist whose style has become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. He has released nearly 80 albums and in 2007 formed his own record label, McCoy Tyner Music, in partnership with the Blue Note Jazz Club and Half Note Records.

Tyner was truly moved by the evening and played two of his songs with the Gibson/Baldwin GRAMMY Jazz Ensembles.

Thirty talented high school students, representing 26 cities in 14 states, had been selected for a position in the Gibson/Baldwin GRAMMY Jazz Ensembles. The young musicians traveled to Los Angeles for a weeklong musical adventure under the direction of Justin DiCioccio of the Manhattan School of Music and Dr. Ron McCurdy of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.

###