NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--April 14, 1997--

Lineup in Alphabetical Order:

A Tribe Called Quest Pavement

Beastie Boys Porno For Pyros (acoustic)

Biz Markie Radiohead

Bjork Rancid

Chaksam-Pa Patti Smith

De La Soul Sonic Youth

Foo Fighters Michael Stipe & Mike Mills

Ben Harper Taj Mahal

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Plus Surprise Guests -- More To Come --

The Milarepa Fund, in conjunction with Delsener-Slater, has announced the lineup and location for the second annual Tibetan Freedom Concert, a two-day event at a soon-to-be-announced venue in New York City. All proceeds will benefit the Milarepa Fund, which funds various educational projects regarding Tibet and nonviolence.

This year's event features a number of returnees from last year's Tibetan Freedom Concert, which netted over $800,000 for the Milarepa Fund and drew over 100,000 people to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to see 20 bands perform in favor of global responsibility and human rights, and to learn about U.S. corporate involvement in human rights abuses abroad and their lobbying power in the U.S. government.

The Milarepa Fund, a non-profit co-founded by the Beastie Boys and based in San Francisco, has again organized this year's concert with the purpose of raising awareness of the ongoing injustices in Tibet. "The Tibetan Freedom Concerts are about the message, not the money," said Erin Potts, director of Milarepa. "Until the situation in Tibet is resolved, we will continue to educate people to the situation there. The Tibetan struggle is nonviolent and therefore a timeless example of how social change may be achieved through peaceful means."

1997 is an important year for Tibet, as the world will see the premieres of several films on the subject -- Martin Scorsese's Kundun, on the life of the Dalai Lama, and Seven Years in Tibet starring Brad Pitt. The Milarepa Fund is also producing a concert film and documentary of last year's Tibetan Freedom Concert, entitled Free Tibet, slated for theatrical release later this year.

Since 1949, an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a direct result of the occupation by the Chinese government. Countless others have been tortured and imprisoned, often for trying to exercise their basic human rights. Yet under the leadership of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans have based their resistance on principles of compassion and nonviolence, while suffering some of the worst human rights and environmental abuses on the planet. (See also: http://www.businesswire.com)