Samini in US to raise funds for clean water in Ghana

With this in mind, Ghanaian musician Samini has been invited to perform in the USA to help promote water awareness and raise funds to provide safe drinking water in Ghana. The Safe Water Network summer benefit concert will be held on Thursday 23 July at the Fairfield Theatre in Fairfield, Connecticut, not far from New York in the north-eastern USA. The popular Ghanaian singer will perform with a full band from Ghana.

Combining the transformative power of music and life-changing access to safe water, this benefit will fund Safe Water Stations in Ghana, where 40% of the population still lacks this essential resource. Safe Water Stations are small community businesses that improve health and create jobs in poor communities, while providing long-term access to safe drinking water. The revenue generated by a Safe Water Station pays its operators and creates a reserve for maintenance and repair, ensuring the system’s longevity and the community’s independence.

Samini recently announced on his Facebook page: “We all know the importance of water in our everyday lives. That’s the reason for this project. Join me on the Safe Water project on the 23^rd of this month at the Fairfield Theatre in Connecticut. Let’s make this happen, raise some funds and make some people have water, as they need it.”

Currently in the running at this week's MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) for an Evolution Award, which honours Africa’s most influential and iconic contemporary stars, Samini blends highlife, reggae, Afro-pop and R&B into a unique style of African Dancehall that earned him the title of MTV Africa’s Artist of the Year in 2009. Following sellout concerts across the US (including at the prestigious SXSW festival in Austin, Texas and last weekend in New York City) and in Europe, Samini and his band of dynamic musicians will bring the house down in Fairfield in a rare opportunity to see this versatile star in an intimate setting while benefitting safe drinking water in his native country.

The Safe Water Network was founded in 2006 by American actor and philanthropist Paul Newman. It envisions a world with thriving, healthy communities, each managing its own sustainable supply of safe drinking water. To date the organisation has reached nearly 500 000 people in Africa and India, and is expected to reach one million by 2017. According to Ghana’s former UN Secretrary-General Kofi Annan, “What is exciting about Safe Water Network’s approach is that it is truly sustainable.” Learn more by visiting the Safe Water Network website.

Ticket prices for the benefit concert range from $45 (general admission) to $150 (VIP) and can be purchased through the Fairfield Theatre Company website.