Youssou N'Dour's part in the song calls for Africans not to be "victims"

In total, 18 singers - including Youssou N'Dour and Baaba Maal - are featured on the song, called We Are The Drums. Cameroonian guitarist Yves Ndjock and saxophonist Manu Dibango, who composed the music, are also featured.

The single is released throughout Africa on 18 October, which is World No Poverty Day. It is a response to an appeal from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to compose and perform a song aimed at the fight against poverty and HIV/Aids.

"For once we're doing something together, to make our work as artists much more noble," explained Senegalese singer Baaba Maal, who is also a UNDP Youth Emissary.

"We decided that after the song, over the next 13 years, we want to make use of every possibility available to us to pass on these messages - record the songs together first, then, if necessary, go to primary schools, secondary schools and barracks, to meet young people, parents, the authorities."

Tam-tam drum

The song's lyrics surround people being "victims of poverty, victims of hunger".

It also calls for people to take responsibility themselves to stop the spread of HIV/Aids. so that the 2015 generation will not be affected by the disease - each person, it says, should "act as a tam-tam drum", passing the message on to those who have not yet heard it.

For once we're doing something together, to make our work as artists much more noble Baaba Maal Have your say: Can musicians save Africa?

In 1984, Bob Geldof brought together a number of the world's most famous artists as Band Aid to record the song Do They Know It's Christmas?, a charity record made to raise money for victims of famine in Ethiopia.

Since then, artists such as Geldof and Bono - who both featured on the record - have been strong campaigners on issues surrounding Africa.

We Are The Drums will be followed by an album that will include around a dozen individual songs in conjunction with other major artists involved in the project.

The titles of these songs will be inspired by the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The song and album are part of the Africa 2015 initiative launched by the UNDP, together with the various United Nations agencies.

The date of 2015 was set as the target for the MDGs, which include halving poverty in the world and halting the spread of HIV.

"Unless a special effort is made, Africa will not be able to attain the Goals before 2145, whereas the rest of the international community is talking about 2015," said Djibril Diallo, director of UNDP's Communications Office.

"The presence of these artists shows that this is not inevitable as far as Africa is concerned, and that there is a commitment to turning the situation around."

In a further initiative, African writers are preparing a book, coordinated by Nadine Gordimer, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.