Paul Oakenfold, Armin van Buuren and Paul van Dyk have collaborated on a track called 'Remember Love', an homage to the 21 victims and visitors of this year's Loveparade event. All proceeds will be donated to charity.
July 24th 2010 is a date the dance scene will never forget. At the Loveparade, celebrated in Duisburg, Germany, more than 500 people were injured and 21 people were killed after panic broke out due to overcrowding in the tunnel entrance of the festival terrain. The Loveparade attracted more visitors than it could handle, resulting in mass hysteria and the death of 21 young dance lovers. Organiser of the Loveparade, Rainer Schaller, declared that the event would not be held again. The dance scene, along with its DJ's, has been in shock ever since and to help remember the spirit of the famed dance event, three world-famous DJ's have now united to create awareness and support the victims family-members and those injured.
Paul Oakenfold, Armin van Buuren and Paul van Dyk have all played various times at Loveparade, some of them in the early years, when the it was still held in its original concept, in Berlin. They joined forces to produce a track, 'Remember Love'.
The initiator of the track was Paul Oakenfold. "I think the Loveparade represents a big part of the essence of the dance movement", he explains."It's a gathering for people from all over the world to come together to share their love for electronic music. I was watching television and a newsflash came up about the Loveparade. I really felt for the people that were there. I just thought we should do something to help them. In many other music genres artists come together, like 'Live Aid' and after the Haïti-disaster. We should do something. So I wrote this song and contacted Armin van Buuren and Paul van Dyk. I asked them if they were interested, cause I thought it was a good idea to have England, Holland and Germany coming together. Us coming together to do a track and all the money goes to help people. I think this is the first time this has ever been done in the dance scene, to give back, to help people."
Both Paul van Dyk and Armin van Buuren joined the project immediately. Armin van Buuren, confirms: "For the first time an Englishman, a German and a Dutchman teamed up and became united in the studio, creating a track that I hope people will love and treasure. Our purpose was united in the sense that we wanted to pay homage to those whose lives were lost, and to have their memories live on in the spirit of our record."
All proceeds will be donated to the Association of Non-statutory Welfare in North Rhine-Westphalia Germany (LAG), which started an appeal to support the victims family-members and persons injured.