ONE WORLD ONE VOICE
ONE MORE TIME
In 1990, as the BBC’s contribution to the One World Fortnight collaboration between broadcasters in 27 countries, music legends Kevin Godley and Rupert Hine set out to record and film the first ever genuine World Music composition. Together with recording engineer Stephen W Tayler, Director of Photography Joe Dyer and project producer Andy Ward, they travelled the world for three months, inviting hundreds of the world’s greatest musicians to add their own talents and voices to this uniquely ambitious project. The result was One World One Voice, a musical ‘chain tape’ with an essential message: we are all One World and music is the One Voice we share.
At this particularly resonant time of global pandemic, environmental warming, development concerns and unrest, a re-release of One World One Voice is on the cards; a special two-disc package featuring a digitally remastered recording together with a DVD of Kevin Godley’s epic music film and accompanying documentary, which was seen by more than 650 million people worldwide in May 1990. The music from the documentary was subsequently enjoyed by a billion people around the world. The profits from a special commemorative edition will going to a charity or charities nominated by Kevin Godley and Rupert’s widow, Fay Morgan Hine. We are very much aware of the confusion surrounding the delay of this release which is very frustrating to all concerned, and not least to Kevin Godley and the Rupert Hine estate. It WILL go ahead at a future date … and hopefully with some exciting developments and additions at its eventual emergence. Thank you for your patience.
650million views by a worldwide TV audience in May 1990
ONE WORLD ONE VOICE
ONE SPECTACULAR LINEUP
The CD and DVD feature the exceptional talents of all these musicians:
A message from Kevin Godley
"ONE WORLD ONE VOICE is the most significant piece of work I've done in the field of music on film...at least it is to me. It features over 250 well known and unknown musicians from all over the world, and the fact that I was given the opportunity to make it still mystifies me.Back in 1990 I was asked by the BBC to conceive a film featuring musicians from diverse cultures singing and playing together to illustrate global harmony and to act as a fitting finale to their environmentally themed ONE WORLD FORTNIGHT. This was to be a true example of World Music before the term was even coined. The Beeb's initial thought to mount a Live Aid style concert felt like a wasted opportunity to me and, as I'd had this vague notion of a 'chain tape' floating around my head for a while, I pitched it to the international TV powers that be fully expecting to be booted out the door, but they green lit it on the spot. I then had to figure out how to make it happen, and the fact that I actually did mystifies me even more.
Looking back on the experience and its outcome feels like chaos management gagging for technology that wouldn’t be invented for another twenty years. What we did have, however, was boundless imagination, conviction and access to a world of musical talent that gave notes, words, love and their valuable time to the OWOV theory. Wherever we are, whoever we are, music is our common tongue…and this is what we have to say. In 2020 the message is the same. KG"