Australian band The Bluesberries is today launching a song they recorded with more than 70 musicians in four cities across the world to raise money for people displaced by the Ukraine war.
Band members Daniel Fallon (musician and BBC journalist), Paul Beard (composer, producer and keyboardist) and John McMurtrie AM (Australian entrepreneur and musician) began writing Blue Skies earlier this year, to promote peace and raise funds for Australia for UNHCR to help those displaced.
"Blue Skies is our response to the terrible conflict in Ukraine," Daniel Fallon said. "It's a song that reflects on the experiences of refugees – people with ordinary lives who have been forced to flee and who dream of a day when they can come together again to live in peace."
The band collaborated with dozens of Australian and Ukrainian musicians, including some of Ukraine's most talented youth, to record versions of Blue Skies in both English and Ukrainian.
The Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine recorded a symphonic arrangement of Blue Skies at a cathedral in Düsseldorf, Germany, while 28 members of the Shchedryk Kyiv Children's Choir recorded choral arrangements for the project in a studio damaged by the war.
Blue Skies will be used to raise much-needed funds for Australia for UNHCR's campaign to support people who have fled Ukraine or been displaced in the country and are now facing a harsh winter.
"Australia for UNHCR is incredibly grateful to the members of the Bluesberries for their generous support of the Ukrainian people," CEO of Australia for UNHCR, Trudi Mitchell said.
"UNHCR is currently focused on helping Ukrainians who've been displaced by the war to get through winter. The funds raised by The Bluesberries will help the UN Refugee Agency to do this vital work," Ms Mitchell said.
With the arrival of winter, people in Ukraine are facing freezing temperatures in damaged homes or buildings, with disrupted energy, heating and water supplies.
