Nairobi — Some of South Africa's biggest musicians will be on stage in Johannesburg today in what is billed as Africa's answer to the Live 8 concerts being staged simultaneously in five cities in the US and Europe.

Titled Africa Standing Tall against Poverty, the event is one of three planned by Global Coalition Against Poverty (Gcap), a lobby group representing a consortium of organisations working for debt relief and better governance in Africa. Among the artistes to participate in the Johannesburg concert are Lucky Dube, Malaika and Mahotella Queens.

"The other two events will be in Nairobi in late July and in Accra, Ghana, on September 10; all will feature music and speakers involved in the anti-poverty lobby," said Irungu Houghton, a Gcap representative in Kenya. He said the date for the Nairobi event had not been decided upon.

Organisers of today's event have negotiated for a satellite feed into the Live 8 concerts signal to allow the Johannesburg event a live broadcast in all the places where Live 8 will be received.

"We have requested that the Live 8 organisers allow both the music and the speeches from the Johannesburg event to be carried in the broadcasts," explained Houghton.

But it seemed unlikely that the entire event would be relayed on Live 8, and most probably only segments will be carried in the global transmission, which is expected to reach an estimated two billion viewers.

A local coordinator for Live 8 was reportedly negotiating with KBC to broadcast the Live 8 concerts, but no decision had been reached by the time we went to press.

A hundred musicians have signed up for the three concerts in Africa, and all have offered to play for free. "It is unlikely that all the signed up musicians will have a chance to perform, but they have shown great support for the events," said Houghton last week.

The South African event is the second concert today with an African billing, the other being Africa Calling, which is taking place at Cornwall in London. It will be hosted by Peter Gabriel, who has been a major promoter of African music overseas. Africa Calling is also expected to have a feed into the Live 8 concert.

Among the African artistes lined up for the London concert are Somalia diva Maryam Mursal, Kenya's Ayub Ogada (Job Seda) Youssou N'Dour, Oliver Mtukudzi and Salif Keita. There was also talk that Nairobi Yetu, which groups 38 artistes from various Kenyan slums, would also perform.

Though seen as adding an African voice to the lobby against poverty, the creation of separate events linked to today's Live 8 concerts has not eased criticism against the main event and its chief organiser Bob Geldof, with a general feeling that African musicians should have been included in the main event.

"We are living in a world where cultures of the world are interacting more freely than ever, and especially in music and African music deserved to be featured in the main event," said Damon Albarn, lead singer of the British pop group Blur. He was particularly incensed by Geldof's reported reference to Africa as a sick continent.

Already, controversy may have damaged Geldof's credibility and the event's, with key artistes pulling out. Eminem has announced that he will not be appearing as earlier indicated and Oasis have also pulled out, citing other engagements. But a statement from the group indicated disaffection with the organisation, saying that they did not have to jump just because Geldof told them to.

However, the event has still managed to gather a line-up of celebrated musicians, including Sting, U2, Paul McCartney, Mariah Carey, Destiny's Child and Madonna. Geldof also achieved a major feat by persuading the officially disbanded Pink Floyd to regroup for the event. All the artistes will have 17 minutes on stage and are expected to benefit enormously from the global exposure.

Earlier, Geldof had reportedly snubbed the Spice Girls, dismissing their music as trivial and unsuitable for the very serious nature of the event. But a massive Internet campaign ensued, with reports later last week, claiming that he had indicated willingness to allow the group to perform, but only as a complete line-up.

However, Geldof quickly disowned the claims, terming them a media campaign to garner publicity for Geli's new album.

Today's event will open in London, with Paul Mc Cartney performing the Beatles' classic Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts and will run simultaneously in Paris, Berlin, Rome and Philadelphia.

During the July 13 1985 LiveAid, Phil Collins performed in London as a Concorde waited at Heathrow to take him for his next appearance in Philadelphia.

That concert raised $60 million (Sh4 billion today) for famine relief in Ethiopia but this year's events are planned solely to raise awareness of poverty in Africa.

Entry is free, with entry tickets distributed through a lottery.

But fraudsters were quick to see an opportunity and set up a site on eBay to auction part of the 172,000 tickets issued for the London concerts.

Calling the fraudsters "electronic pimps", a fuming Geldof called on genuine supporters to sabotage the auction, which they promptly did by placing fake bids.

The choice of artistes has itself not be free from controversy, with some criticising it as an attempt to revive the careers of fading stars.