Kadim Al Sahir has teamed up with the United Nations for a song in support of Palestine.
Hold Your Fire was released on Friday, and for the track, the celebrated Iraqi singer and poet collaborated with the UN Chamber Music Society, a classical music ensemble that promotes the humanitarian values of the organisation.
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Composed by Al Sahir with lyrics provided by British songwriter Tom Lowe, the orchestral track is a rare the occasion where the Iraqi singer performs in English.
The resonance remains, however, as Al Sahir sings of the anguish upon seeing civilians suffer as a result of the Israel-Gaza War.
"Deep in our hearts we hold a longing for peace / We pray for a time when the fighting will cease," the song begins.
"Our frightened children running for their lives / Violence steals their innocence / Only sadness in their eyes / Just for being born of a race or a creed."
The track then illustrates some of the everyday heartbreak caused by war: “Two lovers torn apart / He weeps to the sky / She paid with her life / No time to say goodbye / No, no time to say goodbye."
The chorus has Al Sahir joined by a choir as they declare: “Hold your fire, hold for those who you love. For you and for me, we are tired."
Al Sahir announced the collaboration earlier this month at the Sharjah International Book Fair.
He said the track aims to raise awareness about the increasing death toll in the conflict in Gaza, with more than 13,000 killed in Palestinian enclave, the majority of whom are civilians.
The Israeli strikes are retaliation for an attack by Hamas that killed about 1,200 people.
Speaking during his book fair session, Al Sahir said he was moved to write the song as a way to cope with the trauma of conflict.
“And this is why the idea for Hold Your Fire began as soon as the war began,” he said. “From that day, there were phone calls and messages with fellow artists, where we asked ourselves what we should do?
“From the beginning, I wasn’t really interested in doing a nationalistic song, I wanted a song dedicated to a global audience.”
This is not the first time Al Sahir has written songs calling for peace.
In 1998, he won the Unicef award for the song Tathakkar (Remember), which spoke of the “wounds of innocent angels” caught in conflict.
He also went on to perform the song at the UN headquarters in New York. During the US invasion of Iraq, Al Sahir teamed up with Lenny Kravitz for the anti-war song We Want Peace in 2004 and collaborated with Sarah Brightman the following year on The War is Over (Entahat Al Harb).
Hold Your Fire follows by US record label Empire, which released the song Rajieen in October.
Translated as “returning", the near eight-minute track features 25 Arab artists singing and rapping verses over a dramatic backdrop provided by Jordanian producer Nasir Al Bashir, alongside Egypt’s Marwan Moussa and Amr Shomali.
Those featured include two of the Arab world’s biggest hip-hop stars, Afroto and Marwan Pablo from Egypt, in addition to Jordanian viral sensation Issam Alnajjar, Syrian singer-songwriter Ghaliaa Chaker and Tunisian singer Balti.
All funds generated by the song will be donated to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
