Andrew Jones
"I can testify how well HIV medications can work. I was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS in 1993 after being exposed 10 years earlier. Because of the new treatments, my immune system is again functioning within a normal range. Medication and music saved my life."

Andrew Jones not only sings and writes songs from Nassau, Bahamas, he speaks eloquently about living with HIV/AIDS. His music is heard throughout the Caribbean, and the video from his hit single, Can't Hurry Love, has been one of the most-played on the Caribbean satellite network. Andrew and his band, Spirit House, have three albums: Spirithouse Band, Cadillac Heaven and The Cat Island Sessions.

Son of Americans who moved to the Bahamas in the 1950's, Jones lived in New Orleans, New York and Massachusetts before returning to Cat Island and the Bahamas, where he feels most at home. "Bahamians are very musical", he says, and "music is at the heart of being Bahamian for me." More about music and AIDS in the Bahamas.

His own is a fusion of different styles and types—jazz, country, rock, pop, folk, African—and it has a spiritual quality which comes from his belief that "everybody carries spirit (and) spirit unites us."

"Artists have a responsibility to speak about tribulation, life and death issues, to comment on these things and give people a way of bearing up," he says. Andrew does that, whether making music, speaking to people about HIV/AIDS or fundraising for local charities. He is excited about his involvement with One World Beat and Keep A Child Alive for the same reason.

Andrew and his band's concert is named Concert for Positive Living. "Because of time constraints our concert will feature mainly the danceable, party, celebratory styles but we are planning to have pre-show and post-show clips from a broad range of styles and performers. Talented young Bahamians called Funk Squad will be performing their blend of Island/Reggae/Rap and R&B. They have recorded a song called Wrap It Up, which contains a powerful HIV/AIDS awareness message in an upbeat contemporary production which should be a worldwide anthem for the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. Spirit House will be performing. We will have a Junkanoo group or two, a big-band jazz group, and a Bahamian revue with many of the best contemporary performers, as well as some living legends from the Bahamian music scene."

Check the Spirithouse website where we will be adding updates on the performers until showtime. At http://www.bnnplus.org, we will be live-streaming the OWB concert with links to and bios of the many Bahamian musicians participating in or supporting this event. This website bnnplus.org will stream the entire four hour show live from 2-6 pm Saturday March 20, with the generous help of Yorick Brown, a young Bahamian internet entrepreneur . Our event is on the grounds of the British Colonial Hilton Hotel in Nassau which showcases the beautiful Nassau harbour. We will be featuring a selection of the best of Bahamian music against a backdrop of the turquoise blue Bahamian waters. From now until showtime we will have video clips of some of the performers on our site as well as other Bahamian musicians who we are not able to include in this year's program. It is deeply gratifying to have this opportunity to participate in this global affirmation of our commitment to the cause of HIV/AIDS awareness.

Join Andrew and the many other musicians in this global project!

Previous featured artists include: Larry Edoff / USA and Stuart Blance / Scotland.

The One World Beat music festival on March 19-21 2004 is an opportunity for local musicians and bands to participate in a global charity project and make a real difference with their music. United artists perform in music venues around the world. Proceeds are donated to an AIDS project selected by One World Beat.