24-hour World TB Day music marathon begins at midnight, 24 March

With World Tuberculosis Day marked every year on March 24, advocates and supporters in the fight against TB are preparing to raise awareness on the disease. Among the most unusual events is "ToBe Continued..." which will be coordinated by Stazione di Topolò, Italy. To Be Continued - or TBC (which in Italian is the abbreviation for tuberculosis) - will be a unique sound experience - an original concert that will last a full 24 hours starting at midnight and ending at midnight on the following day, and therefore covering the entire March 24 World TB Day.

During this un-interrupted 24 hour marathon, invited musicians from all over the world will play live music (streamed through a web-site that anyone can access www.stazioneditopolo.it) and mark the day with sounds and musical pieces. Every musician, from all four corners of the world, will have at his/her disposal a 30 minute window, and thus create a relay of sounds and rhythms. The music featured will be varied, from classical music to the Jewish-influenced klezmer, from ambient to experimental sounds, from jazz to ethnic music - all un-interrupted for 24 hours.

Special highlight: TB or not TB (when I die) by Werner Durand will play from 9:30 to 10:00 GMT + 1. This piece is based on two Rembetiko songs by Kostas Roukounas : When I die and My suffering will be relieved (Greek TB Songs: Authentic Rebetica Recordings from the USA No4). These songs appear in edited sections, presented sequentially during the piece. The songs are performed by the singer until his coughing stops him singing. The coughing becomes the base for delayed loops, creating rhythmic patterns. Underneath, the continuous breath sounds of singer Amelia Cuni are supposed to have a healing effect on the singer /patient. In the first part, a selection of just tuned sine waves form melodic patterns. Together with the coughing and breathing they create a new environment for the original song. In the second part a soprano sax loop with multiple delays coincides with the tonal and rhythmic structure of the song , supposedly raising the spirit of the singer /patient.

The initiative is coordinated by Antonio Della Marina, a contemporary musician and computer music composer, and by Moreno Miorelli, artistic director of the annual gathering "Stazione di Topolò/Postaja Topolove". The concert is under the aegis of the Global Health Incubator, the 'laboratory' established in July last year in Topolo'/Topolove within the 'Stazione' event, to create links between the worlds of creativity and science.

Topolò, Italy. "ToBe Continued..." is part of the initiatives sponsored by Stop TB Italy for World TB Day. The event has been made possible thanks to a generous contribution by the Eli Lilly MDR-TB Partnership and to the collaboration with XDevel Stream Solution and the Culture Centre of the University of Klagenfurt, Austria, that will provide the facilities for the coordination of the concert.

For more information: +39 334 9752517 / +39 0432 731818 motrenok@libero.it / antonio.dellamarina@gmail.com