As Sting took up the refugee crisis for his latest album, he met in Berlin with musicians who fled Syria. The rock legend asked for their permission to record his song.
“I felt it was important to have that sanction,” Sting told AFP of the track “Inshallah,” in which he envisions himself on a boat like a refugee desperate for safety.
The song appears on Sting’s album “57th and 9th,” which comes out Nov. 11 and marks the most rock-driven work in years by the former Police frontman.
The long politically engaged artist and Amnesty International supporter, who turns 65 on Oct. 2, also reflects somberly on his own mortality on the album.
Sting asked the Syrians to share their stories and performed with them a version of “Inshallah” — which means “God willing” in Arabic — for the album’s deluxe edition.
“’Inshallah’ is a beautiful word from the Arabic language which is kind of resignation — it’s God’s will, it shall be — or it’s a word that describes some sort of hope, courage,” Sting said.
“I don’t know what the political solution is,” Sting said of the refugee crisis that brought more than one million asylum seekers to Europe’s shores last year alone.
“But I think if there is a solution, it has to be rooted in empathy — for the victims of the war that’s going on in Syria at the moment for example, the victims of poverty in Africa, and perhaps in the future the victims of global warming.

Source: Arab News