People often ask me why I don’t make music videos to promote my songs, like most other artists do these days. Those who know me well know that, the idea of producing expensive music videos is very uncomfortable for me. I made one video several years ago for a song called Midnight, with a donation from a gracious benefactor and a thrifty production team. Though the video’s subject matter of conflict resolution was very important to me, I still vowed I would be cautious about making videos regularly for just PR purposes. Multiple tens of thousands of dollars spent on recording studios, marketing contracts and short video clips seems imbalanced to me when factored against the extreme poverty that exists in this world all around us.

However, it excites me tremendously when I see young, independent film-makers using technology and their creativity to bang out incredible videos on their home-computers…the way I try to create and share my music. Platforms like Youtube make it possible for passionate artists to develop their talents and reach global audiences, without lining the pockets of executives or middle-men. 12 year old Yusuf Ahmed is one such artist.

Yusuf has created an independent film to go with the new song “Pages of Hope” I had the privilege of producing for and with the Hip-Hop duo Lines of Faith.

Yusuf Ahmed’s video/image-montage for “Pages of Hope” sends chills down my spine when I view it. Nobody on our production team asked him to make the video… in fact I just found out about it by accident through a friend. I couldn’t imagine a better and more grass-roots visual tribute to Anne Frank than what was created by Yusuf Ahmed for “Pages of Hope”. I am honoured that Yusuf decided to collaborate with Lines of Faith and I on this song.

Power to all the young independent artists like Anne Frank and Yusuf Ahmed. We CAN change the world – bridging nations and tribes through education and the arts, one song at a time!”

Check out the video here.

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