Photo: Seamus Murphy
PJ Harvey and Egyptian recording artist Ramy Essam have come together to write and record ‘The Camp’ - and you can watch the video below. The track has been released to raise awareness and support towards the health and educational well-being of displaced children in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon.
Released digitally this Friday (June 9), the track was recorded in Bristol by PJ Harvey and Essam with Harvey’s longtime collaborator John Parish.
All net profits from the track to Beyond Association in the Bekaa Valley, a national Lebanese non-Governmental Organisation. Beyond Association provides services such as access to education, healthcare, and psycho-social support mainly through art therapy, neuro-physiotherapy, and recreational activities.
"It is hard to comprehend the scale of the crisis in Lebanon, a country of 4 million now hosting over 1 million Syrian refugees,” states photo-journalist Giles Duley whose photographs feature in the official music video, edited by Rick Holbrook.
“The infrastructure of the country is pushed to its limit, and nowhere is that situation more desperate than in the Bekaa Valley. However, there are some amazing organisations doing incredible, effective, and selfless work on the ground there, and of all the NGOs I have documented, none have impressed me more than Beyond. To visit their schools and witness their programs is to see hope - and that is something we have to support.”
Explaining how she worked with Essam, Harvey said: “I began putting some ideas on paper, and sent over rough demos of two or three songs in their early forms.”
“She is a humble person and true artist that I only could dream to even meet – and now I’m singing with her for this important cause, for humanity,” said Essam of the collaboration. “It was an honour to work with PJ Harvey, and I found it so inspiring. It gave me a chance to live my dream for a while.”
