Single and cover art tell story of Syrian struggle
CHILDREN of Syria is a charity single by local singer/songwriter, Jacqui Stevens, with cover art by local artist and illustrator Katie Lennon.
I met up with them in Rochdale Central Library to discover how this collaboration had come about.
Jacqui is a community champion, lead tutor for the Talk English project.
She told me: “I sing and write lyrics in my spare time, recently I have had my stuff played on radio stations in the USA.”
Katie recently graduated with a degree in illustration from the University of Central Lancashire and sells her drawings through her Etsy shop.
She explained: “I was recently in the Rochdale Observer, having been successful in a national competition to design a vinyl cover.
“We were given four or five songs to choose from, I picked John Lennon’s Imagine.
“They were exhibited and put on sale. It was after reading the article that Jacqui got in touch with me.”
Jacqui explained how she had come to make a charity single, saying: “The Syrian refugee CD came about initially because my daughter, who went to Falinge Park High School, had been raising funds for about two years for SKT-Welfare, a UK-registered charity that provides humanitarian relief across the globe.
“She came to me with a poster, telling me all about what she had been doing, things like baking to raise funds.
“I said that I would like to get involved in that.
“As my area of skill is writing lyrics and singing, I offered to write a song.
“I initially approached the school for some of the girls in the choir to sing harmony.
“We went into the studio and recorded it, we got the guys from Hopwood Hall College, L3 Media Students, who came and videoed it all.
“Unfortunately they lost all the video footage, that’s where plan B came in. I went to a musician friend, Alan Johnson aka MA56.
“He suggested that we bring in a narrator, which we did.
“John Cavanagh, a poet, wrote the words that are in the song and Hank Beukema from America narrated it, he has a great radio voice.
“We recorded it and then brought Katie on board.”
Katie added: “I started by listening to the song then we were backwards and forwards for a couple of months with sketches, drafts and then the final draft.
“We have now put it all together and it is available to buy.”