Ewan McLennan
Album: Lampedusa
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 1
Website: https://ewanmclennan.bandcamp.com/

Traditional songs of emigration have always held a strong attraction for Ewan, since (whether Scottish, Irish or English in origin) these songs invariably tell powerful tales of all-too-common experiences - tales of hard life, hope and bitter disappointment, of separation and longing. Ewan's sympathetic response to these themes now expresses itself in the identification of their keen resonance and distinct parallel with the current migrant crisis, and he has now written a song depicting the all-too-real plight of migrants today.

Lampedusa is a Sicilian island roughly equidistant from both Libya and Italy, which has latterly become a regular destination for migrants fleeing the unrest in North Africa, as a key staging post on their onward journey to mainland Europe via Sicily. Ewan writes and sings this simple song with genuine compassion, and he and his guitar are joined by Lauren MacColl (fiddle) and Sid Goldsmith (slide guitar). The track is released in conjunction with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), an organisation rescuing migrants stranded in the Mediterranean (at least 1900 people have died crossing that ocean so far this year), and all the money raised from the download of this track will go direct to them.

David Kidman