Furtado, Rahman to welcome 2007 in NNYE tomorrow

Mumbai, Dec 30: Grammy Award winner Nelly Furtado and music composer A R Rahman will usher in the New Year in the Metropolis with a global musical extravanganza to be held at the Andheri Sports Complex tomorrow.

The proceeds of the ticket sales will go to the A R Rahman Foundation for underprivileged children.

Apart from Nelly Furtado and Rahman, Bollywood stars Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapur and Koena Mitra will also perform.

The show is part of the Nokia New Year's Eve (NNYE) being held in five cities in different parts of the globe.

NNYE will begin at Hong Kong's Ocean Terminal with Atomic Kitten making their first international appearance since they split in 2004. Moving west, Mumbai will be the second city to celebrate NNYE. Berlin's Brandenburg Gate will hold the third and biggest celebration with Scissor Sisters and Sugababes entertaining the crowd. It will be followed by Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro where the leading group Black Eyed Peas will perform along with John Legend, Sergio Mendes and Brazil's DJ Marlboro. The night will round off in New York with feature performances from Rihanna, Ludacris and KT Tunstall.

Addressing a press conference here, Director (Marketing) Nokia India Devinder Kishore said Nokia New Year's Eve is a natural extension of his company's brand promise of connecting people. This is the first ever global party of this stature in India and ''we are pleased to give Indian audiences the best of global and Indian entertainment as they connect with their friends, families and loved ones to welcome 2007.'' Commenting on her first live performance in India, Nelly Furtado said India holds a special place in her heart as she is fascinated by the country's diversity and rich heritage. Sharing details of his performance, Rahman said music has been his passion since childhood and he was delighted to perform at NNYE.

''I look forward to wishing my fans across the world a great start to 2007 by performing among such an exciting line up of Indian and international artistes,'' Rahman said.

UNI