Taking Names

A whole new ‘World’

The 1985 African famine relief benefit song “We Are the World” is being revived for tsunami relief efforts in a new Chinese version featuring Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung and other top Hong Kong stars.

The new rendition, titled “Love,” will be the featured song in the Crossing Borders charity performance Friday organized by the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild, Associated Press reported yesterday.

Organizers felt “We Are the World” captured their belief that disaster relief shouldn’t discriminate by ethnicity or national boundary, guild official Patricia Ho said.

More than 139,000 people are reported dead around southern Asia and eastern Africa, most killed by massive tsunamis that smashed coastlines after a Dec. 26 earthquake off Indonesia’s coast.

“Love” retains the English chorus of the original song, but otherwise it contains entirely new Chinese lyrics. Hong Kong’s version will be sung in the Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese dialects.

Unlike the original song, “Love” will not be released commercially, Miss Ho said.

Meanwhile, director Stephen Chow successfully lobbied Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. to donate a portion of tomorrow’s earnings from his movie “Kung Fu Hustle” to relief efforts, a spokesman for Mr. Chow’s production company said.

Remember Africa

While the world reels from the Asian tsunami disaster, Live Aid impresario Bob Geldof says: Don’t forget Africa.

Mr. Geldof urged yesterday that Africa’s debt problems remain a priority despite the massive relief efforts under way in the Indian Ocean region.

“The tsunami must be dealt with; it is an act of God, an act of nature,” he told BBC radio, voicing concern that the disaster would sideline chronic issues elsewhere.

However, “Africa’s an act of man,” Mr. Geldof added. “Millions die each year completely unnecessarily, and that can be adjusted… . The issue is one of poverty and debt, and it need not be.”

Skate bait

Brad Paisley couldn’t just sit idly by while skateboard enthusiasts in his native West Virginia have nowhere to roll.

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