Bristol’s online Jewish-Muslim broadcast project Radio Salaam Shalom will debut a rap song exclusively commissioned to deliver a global message for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) on Wednesday 27th January.

‘Pages of Hope’ is the work of an international musical trio with close links to Bristol. It features the rap lyrics of Lines of Faith’s Danny Raphael and Mohammed Yahya, coupled with powerful contributions from Canadian singer songwriter Dawud Wharnsby.

Set for its world debut on local airwaves for Holocaust Memorial Day, the Lines of Faith rappers will be in Bristol to talk about the song and work with a young people’s choir before joining the evening’s HMD events at Bristol Cathedral.

The international project was developed in Bristol by Salaam Shalom after visitors to last year’s “Anne Frank [+ you}” exhibition, at Bristol Cathedral, were asked to write their thoughts on leaves which they attached to the exhibit’s ‘Hope Tree’. These words were then were incorporated by the musicians into their lyrics. Now the performers are set to visit Bristol to air the song for the first time.

The HMD theme this year is ‘Legacy of Hope’ – a perfect fit with the song title and with the reality of pages in the famous teenager’s diary. Tel Aviv-based Jewish rapper Danny Raphael sings the voice of Anne while Mozambican Muslim Mohammed Yahya responds with the voice of someone alive in today’s world. Dawud Wharnsby’s melodic and infectious chorus focuses on the fragility of the separation for those in the tiny hidden rooms in Amsterdam during World War 2. This was where Anne Frank and seven other people hid for two and half years before being found and sent to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps.

Radio Salaam Shalom Station Manager, Kyle Hannan, is delighted with the global creation of the song resulting in its first airplay back in the city where the idea had started. “We commissioned the song as a reminder that we have the power within us all to turn the page, to move on from tragedy into a more positive place,” says Hannan. “It is an absolute pleasure to work with these talented artists from the Muslim and Jewish communities around the world, and to share their work with everyone as we approach Radio Salaam Shalom’s Third Anniversary”

The song is the first to be created as part of Salaam Shalom’s Jewish and Muslim Sessions (JAMS) initiative and was made with support from Rolls Royce plc, the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and BamJimba Productions.

The song will be made available for free download on the internet. Intercultural musicians world-wide will be invited to create their own remixes of the song for inclusion on a Jewish-Muslim music song collection under Radio Salaam Shalom’s JAMS banner.

For further information, interviews or photo opportunities, contact Salaam Shalom Station Manager Kyle Hannan on 07961 441769 or kyle@salaamshalom.org.uk or Peter Brill on 07977 219016.
Notes to Editors:

1. Salaam Shalom is an internet-only media project which went ‘live’ on 1 February 2007. It broadcasts both live and podcast-based programming from its website www.salaamshalom.org.uk. Its stated aim is to create dialogue and understanding between Muslims and Jews and the wider communities in which they live.

2. For more information about LINES OF FAITH visit http://www.myspace.com/linesoffaith

3. For more information about DAWUD WHARNSBY visit www.wharnsby.com

4. For more information regarding Anne Frank and Holocaust Memorial Day (Weds 27th Jan),
visit www.annefrank.org.uk, and www.hmd.org.uk