Veteran rock stars Bono, Dave Stewart and Joe Strummer have written a song in tribute to former South African President Nelson Mandela.
"48864" is the number Mandela wore as a prisoner of the apartheid regime. The three entertainers will play the song at a Feb. 2 AIDS benefit concert on Robben Island, where Mandela was held prisoner.
Mandela, 84, emerged from prison to become South Africa's first democratic president in 1994. He stepped down in 1999 and since has become a vocal activist in the fight against AIDS.
The song, which focuses on Mandela's courage in speaking out against apartheid, ends with the musicians defiantly chanting "48864," Stewart said Thursday.
Many artists "have responded to Mr. Mandela's call to arms on the issue of HIV-AIDS," said Stewart, the concert's musical director.
Performers at the daylong concert will include Queen, Macy Gray, Nelly Furtado, Shaggy, Jimmy Cliff, Johnny Clegg and Youssou N'Dour.
Organizers said 2,500 tickets will be distributed to invited guests and those who win radio promotions.
A simultaneous concert will take place in a Cape Town stadium that can hold 30,000 people, said Ned O'Hanlon, the concert's executive producer. A large screen will show the Robben Island concert, and several of the musicians will play both venues.
The "Mandela SOS" concert will be broadcast live on the Internet, and TV rights to a two-hour concert special are being negotiated, he said. Money from those sales and sponsorships will benefit AIDS charities.
An estimated 4.7 million South Africans — one in nine — are HIV positive, more than any other country in the world.