“One love. One heart. Let’s get together and feel alright,” sing NHS staff, key workers and volunteers from London’s Turkish Cypriot community.
Their digital rendition of a Bob Markey classic not only aims to uplift spirits, but to also raise awareness of multiple good causes that need funding through the crisis.
The clip is the brainchild of Erim Metto, who runs the Turkish Cypriot Community Association and is heading the COVID-19 Turkish Cypriot Support Group in North London, and Gulay Ermiya, a producer at local online TV channel Euro Genç.
Just shy of 5 minutes, the clip opens with filmmaker Serkan Nihat’s haunting scenes of the empty streets of the capital on lockdown, as news reports in English and Turkish speak out about the impact of the deadly coronavirus.
Fittingly, the first words are from Husayn Hoca (Husayn Hashim El Bakayi), the UK community’s leading spiritual pastor who has been supporting the seventy plus bereaved Turkish Cypriot families , who have lost relatives to COVID-19. He says, “Against this virus we are all together. Together, we will conquer. One love. One human race. God bless you all.”
Music is supplied by oud star Huseyin Erdinc, actor and local café entrepreneur Aykut Hilmi, violinist Mohamad Zahra, and folk musician Mehmet Raif.
Dozens of others perform a mixture of singing and spoken word, including nurse Filiz Mustafa-Osman, Dr Mick Ozkur, Dr Zehra Yilmaz, Metrpolitan Police Team Leader Abi Osman, CTCA UK President Ertuğrul Mehmet, TV presenters Aysen Djemal and Ertanch Hidayettin, trade unionist Fevzi Hussein, and Erdoğan Baca, chairman of Yeni Boğazici Football Club.
For the Bob Marley purists, the singing in places does leave a lot to be desired, but there can be no doubting the sincerity and heart behind all those delivering the powerful lyrics of One Love, which co-producer Gulay Ermiya described as “a great team effort”.
The video, available on Facebook, has been viewed more than 11,000 times. The post also lists a number of appeals from the community and one for NHS workers:
Appeal to support deliveries of food to housebound elderly and vulnerable
https://www.gofundme.com/f/turkish-cypriot-elders-fund
Appeal to buy a new funeral ambulance for UKTIT – the charitable trust that administers the burials of British Turks
https://www.gofundme.com/f/ambulance-vehicles
Appeal to help families who are struggling to pay for funerals and other urgent needs due to the COVID-19 crisis
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ctcauk
