UK singers support flood relief campaign

UK Singer Sami Yusuf has dedicated his latest single “Hear Your Call” to Pakistan’s flood relief efforts.

British musicians are supporting Pakistan in dealing with the worst natural disaster in the country’s history. While some are donating through the sales of their latest tracks, others are making exclusive songs to urge the international community to donate to flood relief efforts.

Called “Islam’s biggest rock star” by Time magazine, singer Sami Yusuf has dedicated his latest single “Hear Your Call” to Pakistan’s flood relief efforts. All the profits from the song will go to Save the Children.

Talking about his decision to make donations, Yusuf told BBC, “This is an enormous disaster and I personally feel we all, as fellow humans, have a responsibility to help the victims in any way we can.”

“The floods have completely changed many people’s lives and through our actions, we can offer hope. In such times we have to align ourselves with the right organisations to reach out to the affected areas as effectively and urgently as possible.”

Asian bands in the UK are also working for the flood relief campaign.

Rapper Sabotage has teamed up with underground artists in UK. Featuring Raxstar, Da Poe, Sam Khan, Rkz, Swami Baracus, Faze, Kaution and Arjun, the song titled “United We Stand” has just been released. Appealing for donations, all the money earned from the charity single will go to Disasters Emergency Committee, an organisation coordinating all the funds from UK to Pakistan.

With images of the disaster sites in the video, the song features lyrics condemning the attitude of politicians in the time of crisis. Calling for support from the international community by “putting aside the differences,” the rap number also censures “religious backbite” as a major cause of the divide.

“This is a track we are making for the 20 million people that are affected there [in Pakistan] without food, without aid, without medicine. Every single penny we’ll make, we’re going to donate to Disasters Emergency Committee,” said front man Sabotage.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2010.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: September 4, 2010

Due to an error, an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated 'Last Ramazan,Yusuf did a duet with Atif Aslam for Olpers’ Ramazan Campaign. The line.' The line has been removed.