VIDEO Fionnuala Sweeney meets the performers Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

December 17, 1999
Web posted at: 5:08 p.m. EST (2208 GMT)

From Fionnuala Sweeney
CNN WorldBeat Correspondent

OSLO, Norway (CNN) -- A companion tradition to the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony -- which this year honored the French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders -- another Nobel tradition completed its last billing of the 1900s this week: The Nobel concert, for which Norway's royal family turned out in force.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee arranged the concert, held the day after the Peace Prize award ceremony. Created as a "musical tribute to peace," it was this year held in the Oslo Spektrum auditorium so a large audience could participate, according to a statement from Geir Lundestad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

Tina Turner opened the evening with a performance of her latest single, "When the Heartbreak Is Over." Other big names on stage included Sting, The Corrs and Bryan Ferry, who interrupted a tour for his latest album of 1930s love songs, "As Time Goes By," to participate.

Peace Prize concert organizers pride themselves on bringing together artists from different musical traditions, a goal artists like Joseph Shabalala of Ladysmith Black Mambazo say they're grateful for. "This is very important to me," he says.

"It's an honor which does not befall everyone to be recognized and appreciated, in this tradition of music. Even my guys are are very happy, because all along this tradition of music was just overlooked and underrated."

The concert also does its best to bridge the age gap, this year recruiting British pop sensation of the year, A1, for the show. The four members' combined ages total less than 100 years, but they say they're not afraid to perform with artists old enough to be their parents, or even their grandparents.

Says the group's Ben Adams, "I think when it comes to doing a concert with such artists, it is nerve-wracking but we have so much confidence in our abilities and we are so proud of what we are doing that we tend to concentrate on what we are doing and just be proud of that."

The evening ended with a piece by Irish-Norwegian world music duo Secret Garden. The theme of the band's new album, "Secret Garden," meshes closely with the Nobel sentiment, says Fionnuala Sherry.

"'Dawn of a New Century' is the title song of our new album," she says, "and when we began to work with it, it really was our reflection of this very special time. It's how we feel about the approaching millennium and the spirit of this piece is one of hope and looking forward to the future and looking forward to global peace and all the wonderful things the wonderful things that everybody can look forward to."