Nestled in the folds of the Ribble Valley and in the shadow of Pendle Hill, the children of Stonyhurst St Mary’s Hall are fervently rehearsing a newly written song for Christmas 2019. With all profits going to Survival International, the choir is hoping their singing will bring some respite to the children of the rainforest, victims in August of ‘truly apocalyptic’ fires in the Amazon. The choir have joined their voices with London electronic pop duo Ooberfuse, and will release an original track called ‘Christmas Time’ on 6 December 2019.
Here is a preview of ‘Christmas Time’ https://youtu.be/b8-5xYtw0a0
Choir Director Greg Mann says : “The children have really enjoyed the whole experience of working with Ooberfuse to help their peers who traditionally dwell in the Amazon rainforest. We hope and pray that this charity single will raise money for Survival International who work directly with indigenous peoples in some of the worst affected areas of South America.”
Hal St John of London band Ooberfuse, adds: “When the Amazon rain forest burned like an apocalyptic inferno in August this year it was not only flora, fauna and wildlife that were destroyed : the homes, habitats and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples went up in smoke too. When the Guardian said donate to organisations that support the forest, forest dwellers and biodiversity’ (The Guardian, 5th September 2019) we started to think about how we could use our music to make a difference. A chance conversation with friend of the band, Greg Mann, led to this exciting collaboration with his choir of 7 to 10 year olds at St Mary’s Hall.”
A 7 year old pupil from the choir says : “When we heard stories about the indigenous children of the rainforest losing their homes we asked ourselves the question : what will our peers from the rainforest be doing this Christmas now that their homes have been destroyed? When we are unwrapping our presents with our families around us in our homes what will they be doing? We hope that our song can raise some money for them to make their lives a little more comfortable this Christmas time.”
The Ooberfuse and SMH choir single will feature on Now XMAS on Sky 371, Virgin 346 and on Freeview 83 – it is on a show called ‘8 New Songs for Xmas 2019′ and is scheduled to be on air at 7am Thursday 5th December and 8am Saturday 7th December.
