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Heart and Soul

Iconic singer songwriter Annie Lennox was so moved and shocked by the stigma and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS that she put body, heart and soul into inspiring 23 female artists from Madonna to Celine Dion to perform an HIV anthem to raise money to help the AIDS crisis in Africa. David Taylor met up with the singer to find out more about her inspirational project.

October finds iconic artist Annie Lennox releasing her new album, ‘Songs Of Mass Destruction’. The album includes the poignant track ‘Sing’, which will be used to raise money for people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The HIV anthem will be available as a fundraising download to coincide with World Aids Day on 01 December. It features the vocals of 23 top female artists including Madonna, Shakira, Celine Dion, Dido, Gladys Knight, KD Lang and Joss Stone, not forgetting, of course, a choir made up of activists from South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign, known as The Generics.

It was a CD of music recorded by The Generics that first inspired Annie to make ‘Sing’. The charity single is intended to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS, raise funds for the Treatment Action Campaign, and also to call for the national implementation of a programme to prevent mother-to-baby HIV transmission.

DAVID TAYLOR: What first drew your attention to the AIDS crisis in South Africa?
ANNIE LENNOX: Well, I got an invitation to perform at the inaugural 46664 Concert; that was Nelson Mandela’s prison number when he was in Robben Island, and he agreed to use it for his HIV/AIDS foundation. That concert was held in Cape Town with Peter Gabriel, Bono, Dave Stewart, Beyoncé, The Corrs and a whole bunch of people. It was a very special event and it gave all the musicians the opportunity to appraise the affect of HIV/AIDS in that country.

DT: When did the point come when you just knew you had to take action?
AL: I‘d heard there was a pandemic in Africa, so I had a sense of it, but it wasn’t until I was in the country myself and I had that opportunity to hear what Mandela had to say that it really shook me. Madiba [Nelson Mandela] stood in front of his former prison cell and made a speech about HIV/AIDS. It was so shocking because he said: ‘We are facing a genocide’. You see figures and we hear statistics - and they’re horrific - but until you get that ‘Aha!’ moment it’s just too abstract to comprehend.

DT: When you visited the communities hit by HIV/AIDS, what was the reality?
AL: I was recently in the Eastern Cape, which is one of the poorest regions in South Africa. I went into a supermarket that’s very near one of the hospitals I visited and they’re selling different sized coffins next to the gardening tools. I’ve seen the holes that they’ve dug for the babies; every orphanage has got a graveyard and every hospice has got a place where they have to bury people. There are funerals taking place all the time, and still people are in denial.

DT: Because of the stigma attached to HIV?
AL: There is huge stigma. People get sick, and they don’t want to talk about it. What baffles me is that I don’t understand President Mbeki’s approach of denialism, and I don’t understand the Health Minister’s response. He says that AZT (the drug that fight HIV/AIDS) is so toxic it will kill you sooner than an AIDS-related disease will. It’s absolutely mad. It’s terribly ironic that they’ve come out of the battle of the apartheid regime and now they have a whole other kind of invisible war going on that is killing people like flies. 4

DT: What about anti-HIV treatments?
AL: They’re not getting access to treatment and many people are living with the added circumstances of chronic and endemic poverty. I just wonder why the wealthy white movers and shakers don’t get involved more. It’s like they’re turning a blind eye to it. ‘It’s happening right under your noses, get onboard with this. There’s a genocide taking place while you’re in denial of it!’ These people are dying; generations wiped out – I think that’s obscene personally.

DT: How did the brutal reality measure up to your preconceptions?
AL: It’s funny that the whole thing was so impactful on me it’s hard to remember what I was thinking before I went there. It was vague - that they have a lot of problems and HIV is just one of them. Like malaria is one of them, like TB is one of them, like dysentery is one of them, malnutrition is another one. They have the lot all served up to them. Women are often raped, or forced into sex and that’s how they become innocent victims. It’s not about choice, it’s not about choosing safe sex. Men don’t believe in safe sex. Using a condom is an anathema to them. Many men still believe that if they have sex with a virgin they might even be cured of the disease – it’s that mad. So they need education. Then you have the background of stigma and silence.

DT: You said in one interview that you hadn’t fully processed the experience yet.
AL: You are entering into a zone where the value of life and the quality of life is on a very different level. It does take time to adapt and it does take time to process. It’s very heart-wrenching when you go to hospitals and they’re so short-staffed, so under-funded, they don’t have the right kind of treatment and they don’t have the right facilities. These hospital staff, to me, are such heroes. They’re working 24-7, against all the odds, and they tell you ‘sometimes we bring food in ourselves - just to help’. Moment-by-moment people are wandering up and they’re like skeletons. You see a battle going on, and you know they can’t win it.

DT: How did you get involved with the Treatment Action Campaign, and why did their work in particular strike a chord with you?
AL: I was in South Africa at a banquet held for Mandela and I saw a man wearing a black t-shirt with ‘HIV+’ written across it in big letters, and I was very struck by that. I wanted to know who he was. [It was Zackie Achmat, Chair of South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign]. I went over right away and introduced myself. I was drawn to him and what he was doing. He was going to court, taking on the real issues, and dealing with them right at the grassroots level. It’s dangerous for people to come out and do some of the things he’s done.

DT: As a wealthy Westerner was it hard not to come away from South Africa with some sense of guilt?
AL: I wasn’t born with money. I come from a poor background. My father worked in the shipyard and the railways, so we knew the value of the pound that he earned. He worked damn hard for it. So I know about not having much. It just so happens that I’ve been fortunate. I didn’t start to have money in the bank until I was about 29 and I had been making music for quite a long time. There were a few rip-offs on the way. I have made a lot of money it’s true, but then you take your turn to be accountable. You take responsibility.

DT: By giving something back?
AL: You try to give a lot back. I have my own charitable foundation – the Annie Lennox Foundation. So I can look myself in the mirror. I don’t think I’ve exploited anybody and I don’t feel too guilty. Being wealthy doesn’t exempt me from saying poverty should be made history, and I’m better situated to can contribute to that. I enjoy flying First Class, I enjoy affording good hotels that are comfortable, but I don’t want to live in a castle and I don’t want to have a private jet. That’s my own decision. I live within my means and I try now to use some of the money I’m making to benefit other people. I think there’s the balance.

DT: What were the practicalities of co-ordinating 23 artists for Sing?
AL: First I had to write a letter - which was really a mission statement. It explained what I was hoping to achieve. Then I made a wish list of thirty people that I thought fell into the category of internationally renowned, powerful, female artists. I got in touch with their management, sent the letter and waited. Everyone replied. Not everyone was available, but plenty were and there was no messing - it was fantastic. Then we had all these strands of voices, so I’ve just treated everyone like a choir. I hope they’re not offended by that. Low and behold Madonna had sung a second verse, and I was thrilled. Madonna saw that by doing that, she not only endorses the product but also gives me access to her fanbase - which spreads the word even further.

DT: How does Treatment Action Campaign intend to use the money raised by ‘Sing’?
AL: Oh, on many different projects that we’re still discussing; places that I’ve visited, hospitals, orphanages... They would like to have more of an orphanage outreach programme. We came across child-headed households where the mother and father were both dead of AIDS. They are living with no support system, no welfare, no extended family and they don’t actually know that they are entitled to some form of benefit. So it’s really about grassroots support with the people in the community.

DT: Is it true there’ll be a special version of the song featuring Nitan Sawney?
AL: Yes, we’ve got Nitan doing one remix. I think the more remixes the merrier, so we’ll probably end up with about five. Remixes are quite interesting because ‘Sing’ can then become more of a theme that’s heard in different circumstances by different people. Hopefully more people will become aware of what ‘Sing’ is all about. It’s about HIV and AIDS. It’s about awareness.

DT: You’ve been quoted as saying your ‘blood and bones’ are in the new album.
AL: Metaphorically. It comes from a very deep place. It’s visceral for me. I pour my heart and soul into it.

DT: Is the creative process a painful one?
AL: No. I like the creative process. It’s a wonderful thing once it starts. What a beautiful thing to be able to do. I won’t say it’s easy. It is challenging, but I’ve put myself in that position.

DT: Do you ever feel that it’s too raw and you’ve exposed too much of yourself?
AL: I think that’s what music’s about. That you express something for people, that you make something that everybody can identify with. And they say, ‘Wow, that moved me to tears’ or ‘I know what she’s on about. I feel like that.’ To a point it’s personal, but to another degree it’s broad. It’s about what we all feel: the pain that we feel, the longing that we feel, the loss that we feel. I cover it all because I know it; I’ve been there. I am that person too.

DT: Which songs on the new album are you especially proud of?
AL: They’re all special to me. It’s like a necklace that’s strung with beads of different sizes and colours and shapes. They’re all beautiful. I like to look on it as a collection of songs that take you on a journey. You start with ‘Dark Road’ it carries you along through highs and lows.

DT: Listening to the album I sense that you’ve come through difficult times to a happier place?
AL: I’m possibly more accepting of certain things. It hasn’t been a walk in the park. I’ve had my struggles, and at some points I’ve thought it’s just too much. Happiness comes and goes. I think it’s all about your relationship to gratitude at the end of the day. How grateful am I to be on this planet? There were times when I didn’t want to be, but the one thing that’s kept me going is the sacred responsibility of my two daughters. I have to be here for them no matter what, and I have to be exemplary for them, and I have to make them feel that it’s OK. Otherwise, what the hell did I bring them into this world for in the first place?

DT: What do you think has brought this acceptance?
AL: Finally you sort of surrender. There have been years where I’ve struggled with something and not been able to come through it and just be at peace. I say it’s grace, but I honestly can’t put my finger on it. Thank God I feel that way at the moment. This process is good for me. I like feeling that I’ve created a work of value. I don’t mean material value, I mean this album represents something of worth and beauty. I hope people can get something from it because it does have a great deal of emotional investment in it. And that’s important to me, that I feel there’s dignity in it.

DT: When you look back on your career so far, can you actually believe it?
AL: I decided to take stock of it a few years ago. All my awards that were bubble-wrapped and covered in dust in various storage units; I thought maybe I should get them all out and list my legacy, which I’ve done. The project was to take photographs of every single one to put on my website for anyone who’s interested. [Smiles] It’s not like I need to go to the room every day and go: ‘Now let me see, how many awards did I win in 1983!’ It’s a good way of handling it.

DT: You lost a close friend recently.
AL: My dear friend Anita Roddick, who graced your cover. I adored Anita. I’m just devastated. There she was this shining example with incredible focus, and driven by amazing energy. My relationship with her was all about her campaigning for Human Rights, her campaigning for Fair Trade, her campaigning for indigenous people, justice, people who had been put in prison wrongly... she was something else! She would want people who loved her to carry on in that manner.

DT: And looking to the future?
AL: I’ll be on tour in America from the end of September all the way through October. I have sixteen dates, with one in Canada. After that? When you make an album you put out something then you just have to wait to see how people react. The immediate future really is about the ‘Sing’ campaign. It’s a big, big thing for me. That’ll be released on World Aids Day (1 Dec) and I just want to see how far the ripple effect will go from that stone I cast. Hopefully it will be the first step in a much longer journey. +

* The album Songs Of Mass Destruction was released on 01 October. The charity single ‘Sing’ will be available as a download around World Aids Day (1 Dec). www.songsofmassdestruction.info