By Emma Batha
LONDON, Sept 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Pop singer Neneh Cherry is releasing a new album partly inspired by a trip to volunteer at the “Calais Jungle” refugee and migrant camp, British media reported on Wednesday.
The “Buffalo Stance” singer’s fifth solo album “Broken Politics” – set for release on Oct 19 – tackles issues ranging from the migrant crisis and colonialism to gun violence.
Cherry, 54, told the London Evening Standard that a trip to volunteer at a community kitchen in the now disbanded “Calais Jungle” camp in northern France was “humbling, overwhelming”.
“We refer to ‘migrants’ but we’re talking about people who have left their homes, left people they love and walked into complete and utter hostility,” said the Swedish-born singer who has a home in London.
“I wanted to reflect lives that are as valid as the ones we live.”
The camp, a sprawling shanty town near the port of Calais, was once home to 10,000 refugees and migrants who hoped to reach Britain by stowing away on lorries, cars or trains.
