OXJAM gears up for the biggest UK music festival…ever!

• 8th Jun 2007

Klaxons and DJ Shadow are spearheading this year's Oxjam festival now in it's second year. With Kaiser Chiefs, The Kooks and Kasabian all involved, this year is estimated to be twice as big as last years.

Organizers aim to raise awareness of poverty and famine in Africa and hope to raise £1 million during the course of the festival in October.

Oxfam is calling for music fans from right across the UK to get involved now and organise an event in time for October, helping to raise a total more than £1 million for Oxfam. Around 40,000 musicians and an audience of 300,000 are expected to take part in 3,000 music events in October for Oxjam, the biggest music festival ever in the UK.

Last year, around 20,000 music lovers took part in 1,100 music events, and the festival generated £500,000 for Oxfam.

DJ Shadow, who travelled to Africa in April with Oxfam to support Oxjam, said:
“I went out to Kenya to see how some of the money from Oxjam is being spent and saw first-hand that it really does change lives. I'll certainly be doing my bit for Oxjam this year, and would encourage DJs, producers and MCs to get together and put on an event this October. Together, we can use our music to make a difference.”

Musicians taking part in Oxjam in 2007 will also have the opportunity to appear on MTV. Bands can upload videos of their Oxjam event in October at link. The most popular artists as voted for by the public are then filmed by MTV, with an entire MTV show dedicated to the overall winner.

Highlights from Oxjam in 2006 included:
· Kasabian forming a string quartet to try something new for Oxjam;
· The Futureheads busking on the London Underground;
· Oxjam live dates from the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, Embrace, Hot Chip, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, De La Soul and Scissor Sisters;
· A tour from the 'charity shop DJ', visiting charity shops across the country, performing DJ sets with the records he found on his travels;
· Around 1,100 club nights, gigs, mini-festivals and concerts attended by more than 100,000 music fans nationwide.

The target of £1 million from Oxjam this year would be enough to provide safe water for almost 1.4 million people, 20,000 emergency shelters or essential medicines for 10,000 villages. The call for music lovers to get involved comes now, as Oxfam estimates that the average gig takes three months to organise.

To find out how you can get involved with Oxjam this year, visit link or call 0870 905 9060.