MoneyGram Intl launches ‘Cricket For Peace’ album

MoneyGram International, a leading global money transfer company and an ICC partner in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, launched a unique music album, ‘Cricket For Peace’.

The ‘Cricket For Peace’ album was launched by Kunal Ganjawala, a popular Indian film music singer, in Mumbai, India. MoneyGram Cricket for Peace is the culmination of a three-month-long program from February-April 2011 during the ICC World Cup 2011. MoneyGram’s ‘Cricket For Peace’ was a multi-country, multi-lingual initiative conducted in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka and attracted compositions from more than 100 bands.

The ‘Cricket For Peace’ album of 10 songs includes the compositions from winning bands from the nine cities and the MoneyGram ‘Cricket For Peace’ Anthem, which is a unique feature of the album. From Sri Lanka, the band from Colombo – Highways – won the Sri Lanka round of auditions and their composition ‘Let There Be Love’ was selected and features in the album. Highways consists of Thushara, band leader and keyboards; Rayan, guitar and Vocals; Thushantha, drums and saxophone; Sheryl, bass; Keith, Sajith and Anne on vocals.

The anthem,  written by lyricist and film writer Ravinder Randhawa,  drives the message that cricket can foster brotherhood and peace not just within a country but amongst nations too. The music for the anthem, composed by noted world-music composer Nishith Mehta, is sung in English, Hindi, Bangla and Sinhala by a team of 11 artists from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

From Sri Lanka, the singers who featured in the ‘Cricket For Peace’ Anthem were Damien Fernando, Leonard Vittachi, Shehan Wanigasekara and Dilan Jayakody from Colombo. The other singers from Indian and Bangladesh included Megha Suresh from Mumbai, Dipti Sharma and Jigardan Gadhavi from Ahmedabad, Amith Sivashanmugam from Chennai, Joel Maxwell from Mangalore, Rabiul Awal and Kazi Nowrid Amin from Dhaka.

‘Cricket For Peace’ was a theme-based music contest that linked cricket with world peace. The program invited music- and cricket-lovers across the three ICC World Cup 2011 hosting nations to create musical compositions depicting ways cricket can foster the spirit of world peace. Auditions were held in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Dhaka and Colombo. The participants were encouraged to create compositions in local Indian languages, Bangla and Sinhala, plus were free to use local flavors of their regions in their compositions.  Gautam Kalro, Regional Manager South Asia, MoneyGram, speaking at the launch said: “Cricket, like music, can be a great unifier. It is universal and can bring people from around the world together for one purpose.

The MoneyGram ‘Cricket For Peace’ initiative is a unique programme aimed at delivering a relevant social message using the game of cricket as the platform. MoneyGram’s brand and services are well known in ‘cricketing countries’ and with our commitment to cricket, we aim to create a greater socially-relevant connection with our customers.”

MoneyGram International’s partnership with ICC offers the company a multi-country opportunity to reach its target customers across South Asia, Middle East and Africa. The company plans to grow its service network across South Asian regions and especially in key receive markets such as Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

MoneyGram International, a leading global money transfer company, enables consumers who are not fully served by traditional financial institutions to meet their financial needs. MoneyGram offers money transfer services worldwide and bill payment services in the United States through a global network of more than 227,000 agent locations—including retailers, international post offices and financial institutions—in more than 190 countries and territories around the world.