Toast to Freedom, performed by an ensemble of prominent musicians and celebrities, goes on sale
A supergroup of prominent artists and performers are to release a song on Thursday as part of celebrations to commemorate Amnesty International's 50th birthday. Singers including Jane Birkin, Marianne Faithfull and US country star Rosanne Cash have contributed to the recording, entitled Toast to Freedom.
The commemorative song will celebrate Amnesty International's global human rights work and was initially composed in sessions at Woodstock in upstate New York, in the converted barn studios of the rock musician and human rights campaigner Levon Helm, who died earlier this month.
The release of the fundraising song also helps to mark the long relationship between the Observer and Amnesty, which was founded following a 1961 article in the paper by the lawyer Peter Benenson about two Portuguese students reportedly imprisoned for raising their glasses in the name of freedom.
Full details of Toast to Freedom will be released on Thursday. More than 50 high-profile artists, including Carly Simon and Kris Kristofferson and many other folk, blues and pop legends will appear on the track, alongside A-list actors such as Ewan McGregor. The song was co-written by Carl Carlton, best known for his 1970s hits Everlasting Love and She's A Bad Mama Jama, and Larry Campbell, who was part of Bob Dylan's band and also played with Helm and Elvis Costello.
The idea for Toast to Freedom was conceived by Bill Shipsey, founder of the Art for Amnesty campaign, his colleague Jochen Wilms and Carlton, who has worked previously with Robert Palmer and Eric Burdon.
"We came up with the idea one day in November 2010, sitting in my garden outside Dublin," Shipsey told the Observer this weekend. "Carl Carlton came to visit me and said he wanted to do something to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Amnesty International and we came up with the idea of doing a song."
Alongside many British and American stars, the song features Israeli and Iranian artists singing together.
The video will be available on the Guardian and Observer website from Thursday, along with interviews with some of the artists talking about the project. The song will be available to buy from online retailers and proceeds will go to Amnesty.
"Carl was good friends with Levon Helm," said Shipsey, "so he asked Levon if we could use his studio to record the song and he kindly agreed. Most of the song was recorded in Levon's studio, then the various artists recorded their vocals in studios around the world."
Helm was the drummer with influential 70s American rock group The Band, Bob Dylan's backing group when he made the transition from folk to rock music in the mid 60s. He died of cancer this month, aged 71.
The new song, one of the last recordings Helm worked on, was produced by Bob Clearmountain, who has worked with the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, the Who and Bruce Springsteen.
Amnesty International was founded in London on the groundswell of support that followed Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners in the Observer on 28 May 1961. It called for a one-year campaign of amnesty for political prisoners. Thereafter, the campaign evolved into what has become a worldwide, Nobel prize-winning movement with more than 3 million supporters. The organisation was awarded the 1977 Nobel peace prize for "having contributed to securing the ground for freedom, for justice, and thereby also peace in the world" and the UN human rights prize in 1978.
"3 May is not strictly Amnesty's 50th anniversary," said Shipley. "But we chose that day to release the song because it's World Press Freedom day, to celebrate the bravery of journalists who put their lives in danger daily.
"We chose to announce the project in the Observer because without the Observer there would be no Amnesty International.
"Amnesty International has always relied on the support of artists who are prepared to stand up for human rights, be it musicians or painters, and Toast to Freedom is a continuation of that tradition."
Supporters of the charity are invited to stage their own Toast to Freedom parties by inviting friends to join them and saluting the achievements of 50 years.