Together For Palestine have officially shared their new charity single ‘Lullaby’, and are hoping it will reach the Number One spot on the Christmas charts. Listen below.
News of the single first arrived in November, and the song comes from the same team that helped pull off the huge ‘Together For Palestine’ charity show back in September – which saw household names from across the entertainment industry come together to raise money for the people in Gaza.
For the new track, Brian Eno, Celeste, Bastille‘s Dan Smith, Leigh-Anne and more have all contributed, and it is a powerful reimagining of a traditional Palestinian lullaby.
Released today (Friday December 12), all profits raised from the star-studded track will be donated to Choose Love’s ‘Together For Palestine Fund’. This is an organisation which supports three Palestinian-led charities: Taawon, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and Palestine Medical Relief Service.
The lullaby it is adapted from is ‘Yamma Mweel El Hawa’ – a Palestinian song of love and resilience and translates to ‘Mama, Sing To The Wind’. The new rendition of it is arranged and recomposed by Shards’ Kieran Brunt and Palestinian musician Nai Barghouti, and features English lyrics written by Peter Gabriel.
Others who are in the recording are Lana Lubany, The London Community Gospel Choir, Mabel, Nadine Shah, Neneh Cherry, Sura Abdo, TYSON, Yasmeen Ayyashi and Ysee. The official artwork is courtesy of Gazan painter Malak Mattar and inspired by her piece ‘Shelter’.
There is also a powerful music video directed by Lina Makoul and shot by Ashraf Dowani that accompanies the single, and it contains footage from across different parts of Palestine, in a bid to “draw viewers closer to Palestine and Palestinians – reminding them of the beauty of the land and the resilience of its communities”.
Announcing the single last month, Brian Eno – who helped organise the massive show at Wembley Arena – said: “After a year defined by unimaginable loss, grief and injustice, we
want to end with an act of love for Palestine’s children.
‘Lullaby’ reflects their beauty, their longing and their hope. If we rally together and download it, we have a real shot at landing Christmas Number One – and turning that moment into vital life-saving support for Gaza’s families.”
Lina Makoul, who directed the visuals, said that the video came as “I feel it’s my responsibility to push against that imposed image [of destruction and devastation] and show us as the humans we are first,” and artist Nai Barghouti shared how while the original lullaby “has been with me since early childhood,” now, “it returns at a much-needed time as a reminder of what Palestinians will never lose: hope, defiance, beauty, and dignity.”
In a bid to help get the song to Number One and to raise more funds for the three charities, fans are urged to purchase the single – which you can do so here – and consider also buying it as a gift for someone else on Bandcamp and iTunes.
The star-studded gig in September saw Eric Cantona, PinkPantheress, Richard Gere, Benedict Cumberbatch, Florence Pugh, and Nicola Coughlan lined up as presenters, and performances from Paul Weller, Damon Albarn, Nadine Shaw, Cat Burns, Rachel Chinouriri, Yasiin Bey, Dan Smith and more.
It helped raise over £2million to help provide aid and support for the people in Gaza.
For his slot, Damon Albarn performed with the London Arab Orchestra, Yasiin Bey, and more to play a medley of Palestinian traditional songs, and ahead of the show, Billie Eilish, Finneas, Joaquin Phoenix, Cillian Murphy, Steve Coogan and more featured in a video message for Together For Palestine.
Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos also took to the stage to share that “as someone who survived the darker chapter of our shared history”, he “knows what it means to be stripped of dignity, of land, of hope.”
“That is why I remain steadfast in my commitment to the Palestinian people. Their struggle for freedom, justice, and return is not separate from mine, it is a part of the same cry for humanity,” he continued.
Find out more about what went down on the night here.
Backstage at Wembley, NME spoke to Eno about the show and asked what it told us about culture, politics and change.
“That’s a kind of act of hope, that there is a relationship,” he replied. “I hope that culture is upstream of politics. I think it is. I think the state of mind that culture creates in people encourages or provides a frame in which people can operate and in which politicians can operate, but I don’t know if that’s true – it’s an act of faith.”
Also in the running for Christmas Number One 2026 is Kylie Minogue, who dropped a 10th anniversary reissue of her ‘Kylie Christmas’ album with four brand new tracks, Olly Murs, and McFly‘s Tom Fletcher who has recorded a new track for the new Paddington Bear musical.
