Rock Musician Carlos Santana Raises $2 Million for South African AIDS Group on 23-City Concert Tour
Rock musician Carlos Santana has estimated that his 23-city concert tour, which finished on Monday night in Los Angeles, has raised at least $2 million for Artists for a New South Africa's Amandla AIDS Fund, the AP/Miami Herald reports (Bridges, AP/Miami Herald, 7/15). Santana, who is thought to be the first artist to donate all proceeds from a concert tour to charity, hopes that he has spread a "spiritual virus" of compassion for HIV-positive people. ANSA will use the money to fund prevention and treatment programs and to care for AIDS orphans in South Africa, Sharon Gelman, executive director of ANSA, said. In addition, Santana used the tour as an opportunity to educate his fans about ANSA and the AIDS pandemic through information tables at each concert stop and speeches by ANSA artists in selected cities (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/9). "Because of you, there will be education, prevention and there will be healing. Thank you for coming forward with your beautiful heart and your energy," Santana told the audience at his Los Angeles concert (AP/Miami Herald, 7/15).
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