Actor Benedict Cumberbatch has thrown his support behind a new release of Crowded House’s “Help Is Coming,” a song being used to raise funds for Syrian refugees.
The Sherlock actor recorded an introduction for a special video for “Help Is Coming,” which features images of the Syrian civil war and refugees leaving the country. It was directed by Mar Whitecross and also features interviews with Syrian children.
“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,” music critic Pete Paphides told the BBC. He helped organize the new release of “Help Is Coming” with his wife, journalist Caitlin Moran.
“‘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,” Paphides said.
For his part, Cumberbatch quotes a poem by Warsan Shire, who emigrated to the U.K. from Kenya as a baby.
“As people watching this tragedy unfold from the safely of our homes, with our safe children, we want to say that we see you, we hear you and help is coming,” Cumberbatch says in the video.
Crowded House is supporting the effort, also re-releasing the song on a special 7” single. Frontman Neil Finn told the BBC that the song has always about refugees and was “grateful” for Paphides and Moran for realizing the song’s potential.
The is on iTunes now and will be released on vinyl on Sept. 29.
The single comes as Europe is dealing with the largest wave of migrants since World War II, as people try to escape conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama has said that the U.S. will welcome 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com
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