Many people have been shocked into action by the harrowing image of the refugee child Aylan Kurdi lying face down in the water. Among these people are UK broadcasters Caitlin Moran and Pete Pahphides, who have organised the release of the Crowded House single for charity.
“I started imagining my family in a similar situation, and almost without me realising it, a song I hadn’t heard for several years started playing in my head. Help Is Coming was recorded by Crowded House over 20 years ago, but it evokes with uncanny empathy the howling uncertainty faced by thousands of families arriving in Europe for the first time” said Pahphides.
“Pete and I were just doing what everyone else was doing, really. He’d found the perfect song… and I just went on Facebook and told everyone what we were doing. And everyone was desperate to help – everyone felt the same way” said Moran.
Crowded House’s own Neil Finn had this to say; “There is such a huge scale and urgency to the current refugee crises that barely a day goes by without some crushing image or news account to confront us. We can’t be silent anymore. Like the diverse immigrants that made America great, these are good people that just want to find somewhere safe to create a better life for their families.”
Apple, Universal Music Group, the artists and producers behind Help Is Coming, Crowded House and Capitol Records have all agreed to donate all the profits from the single to Save The Children.
This release was accompanied by a short film by Mat Whitecross, with an introduction from Benedict Cumberbatch which you can view below.
For more information and to donate, visit: https://www.savethechildren.org.au/ or to pre-order the single, visit: http://www.vfeditions.com/product/view/287
