Music Blogs

This week, we've joined up with the British Red Cross to mark Refugee Week (15^th-21^st June) by looking beyond the "refugee" label and taking a look at some of the top tracks that refugees have brought to us.

Visit http://www.lookbeyondthelabel.org/  to learn more about how you can help support Refugee Week with Yahoo!

M.I.A

Born into a Sri Lankan Tamil family, M.I.A was forced to flee the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka in the 1980's moving to the UK as a refugee.

M.I.A - Sunshowers

From her album Arular (named after her outlawed freedom fighter father) this controversial track was filmed in the jungles of South India, the first country which M.I.A and her family fled to before coming to the UK.

Wyclef Jean

Former member of the "Fugees" (an abbreviation of refugees) Wyclef came to the US as a refugee from Haiti at just 9 years old.

Having helped set up the foundation Yéle Haiti to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to Haiti, last year Wyclef performed on stage with Carlos Santana in San Francisco on behalf of Yéle Haiti, OneXOne, and WaterPartners International to raise funds for clean water, education, health, environment, and community development in the USA and in the developing world.

Wyclef Jean - More Bottles

 

Emmanuel Jal

Former child soldier Emmanuel Jal fled Sudan in 1991.

Forced to become a child soldier at seven, Emmanuel started singing to ease the pain of what he has experienced during the Sudanese civil war. Rescued by a British Aid worker he came to the UK as a refugee and now uses his unique brand of hip hop, layered with African beats to promote a message of peac e. His music can be heard alongside Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Radiohead on the fundraising ‘Warchild - Help a Day in the Life' album.

Emmanuel Jal -Warchild

Bob Marley

Born to an English Jamaican father and Afro-Jamaican mother, Marley fled Jamaica for England in 1976 after an attack (thought to be politically motivated). In London Marley went to work on Exodus (1977). The title track draws an analogy between the biblical story of Moses and the Israelites leaving exile and his own situation.  The entire album stayed on the UK charts for more than a year and is considered to be one of the best albums ever made.

Bob Marley - Exodus

Mika

Born in Beirut in 1983 he was forced to flee war-torn Lebanon at just one year old moving first to Paris and eventually to London where he attended the Royal College of Music. In 2007, Mika won three awards, the most of any artist, at the World Music Awards.

To date he is the first artist to have won three World Music Awards in just one year.