Nadine Khouri Releases Beirut Fundraiser Single | The Quietus

Nadine Khouri Releases Beirut Fundraiser Single

The Beirut-born musician's new single has been released to coincide with Bandcamp's latest fee-waive day. Photograph by Steve Gullick

Nadine Khori has just released a charity track, ‘To Sleep’, recorded live at The Crypt Studios in London.

All proceeds are going to Baytna Baytak, an independent NGO striving to relocate the 300,000 people rendered homeless overnight by the recent explosions in Beirut. Nadine grew up in the city and said that ‘To Sleep’ was written as "a lullaby from a war zone."

She expands: "As I child, I sometimes struggled to sleep because of the sound of shelling. I’d lie awake for hours and watch strips of light streaming across the ceiling, maybe because it reassured me there was still life outside."

Speaking about the horrific disaster in her native city, she adds: "I was in London, where I live, when I received videos from my father of our family home in shambles. I had a moment of dissociation processing the images. My bedroom destroyed. Dismantled doors, collapsed ceilings, sprayed blood, shattered wood, shredded curtains, piles of glass… Even from abroad, the pervasive sound of crackling glass across the city had become nauseating. My father had been spared his life and from serious injury, others were not as fortunate.

"It is hard to find the words to describe the aftermath of the horror. The stories coming out of Beirut are harrowing. What happened on 4 August will never be forgotten and I implore the world not to forget the Lebanese people."

All proceeds from the track will go direct to the charity and Bandcamp will waive its fees today. You can purchase ‘To Sleep’ here.

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