Double CD for Amnesty with U2, Avril Lavigne, R.E.M., Aerosmith, Christina Aguilera, Green Day, The Cure, Youssou N’Dour and many others

CD to boost Amnesty’s work on crisis in Darfur

Some of the biggest international names in music have come together to raise money and awareness of Amnesty International’s work on the human rights crisis in Darfur, Sudan with the release today (25 June) of a new CD of classic John Lennon songs.

Twenty-eight stars - including U2, Avril Lavigne, R.E.M, Aerosmith, Christina Aguilera, Green Day, The Cure, Snow Patrol and Youssou N’Dour - appear on a double CD - Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur - featuring exclusive versions of iconic songs from the Lennon back-catalogue. Extra exclusive tracks are also available from an iTunes download package for the project.

The CD, released by Warner Bros. Records, has seen Yoko Ono generously donating all music-publishing royalties to the project, the proceeds of which will play an important part in helping to fund Amnesty International’s human rights work.

Speaking about the campaign, Yoko Ono said:

“It’s wonderful that, through this campaign, music which is so familiar to many people of my era will now be embraced by a whole new generation. John’s music set out to inspire change, and in standing up for human rights, we really can make the world a better place.”

Meanwhile, Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK Director, said:

“It’s fantastic that these new interpretations of John Lennon’s classic songs will support our human rights work. Darfur and other human rights crises are really motivating artists and their fans to take action, and this project is a brilliant example of that.“

The release of Instant Karma is part of Amnesty International’s campaign to stop human rights violations in Darfur in western Sudan, where over 200,000 people have been killed and at least two million people forced to flee their homes.

Amnesty International is calling on the Sudanese government to allow the immediate and full deployment of a joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force to the crisis-hit region. It is also pressing the Khartoum authorities to halt attacks on civilians, to disarm a regional militia (the Janjawid), to respect a UN arms embargo and to bring all human rights violators to justice, including by cooperating with the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

As well as being available in shops, all 28 tracks from the Instant Karma CD are available to download through the iTunes music store , where a further 10 download-only songs are additionally available.

Following its release in download-only form on 12 June, Instant Karma has already achieved substantial worldwide sales, reaching number one in the iTunes albums chart in Portugal, Greece and Ireland, and the top 10 in 13 countries. Meanwhile, the Instant Karma CD debuted at number 15 in the Billboard Top 200 chart in the United States following its release there two weeks ago.

All the songs from Instant Karma are available through the iTunes music store or via the Amnesty International ‘Make Some Noise’ website at: www.amnesty.org/noise /p>

Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur CD track list:

Disc 1

1. U2 - Instant Karma
2. R.E.M - #9 Dream
3. Christina Aguilera - Mother
4. Aerosmith ft. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars - Give Peace A Chance
5. Lenny Kravitz - Cold Turkey
6. The Cure - Love
7. Corinne Bailey Rae - I’m Losing You
8. Jakob Dylan ft Dhani Harrison - Gimme Some Truth
9. Jackson Browne - Oh My Love
10. The Raveonettes - One Day At A Time
11. Avril Lavigne - Imagine
12. Big & Rich - Nobody Told Me
13. Eskimo Joe - Mind Games
14. Youssou N’Dour - Jealous Guy

Disc 2

1. Green Day - Working Class Hero
2. Black Eyed Peas - Power To The People
3. Jack Johnson - Imagine
4. Ben Harper - Beautiful Boy
5. Snow Patrol - Isolation
6. Matisyahu - Watching The Wheels
7. The Postal Service - Grow Old With Me
8. Jaguares - Gimme Some Truth
9. The Flaming Lips - (Just Like) Starting Over
10. Jack’s Mannequin ft. Mick Fleetwood - God
11. Duran Duran - Instant Karma
12. a-ha - #9 Dream
13. Toyio Hotel - Instant Karma
14. Regina Spektor - Real Love

Additional tracks available exclusively via iTunes:

Gavin Rossdale - Mind Games
The Deftones - Jealous Guy
Ben Jelen - Woman
Meshell Ndegeocello - Imagine
Rocky Dawuni - Well Well Well
OAR - Borrowed Time
Widespread Panic - Crippled Inside
Emmanuel Jal - Mother
Fab Faux - I Don’t Wanna Face It
Yellowcard - Oh My Love