Tom Morello, Nandi Bushell, Julien Baker and a host of other musicians have joined forces with Afghan charity The Miraculous Love Kids for a new single, God Help Us All.
The track – a reimagining of Morello's The Nightwatchman song of the same name – is produced by the organization's founder Lanny Cordola and Pakistani record producer Sarmad Ghafoor, and features contributions from System of a Down's Serj Tankian and Five For Fighting's John Ondrasik.
Other guests include Victoria Williams, Beth Hart, Cass McCombs, William Dagsher, Gary Griffin, Frank LoCrasto, David Mansfield and Nils Lofgren. Check it out below.
The Miraculous Love Kids works to provide guitar tuition to young Afghan girls, though it was recently forced to halt its activities after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021.
God Help Us All aims to raise awareness around the charity’s mission, and draw attention to the struggles that young girls have faced since the switch in power.
Girls who have been supported by the organization can be seen in the music video playing acoustic guitars en masse and supporting the chorus’ main lyrical hook.
“Members of The Miraculous Love Kids, a non-profit organization that served as Afghanistan’s only school of music where guitar lessons were taught to war-torn, poverty-stricken girls and young women until that fateful day, have been greatly affected,” reads a statement on the charity’s website.
Cordola adds, “It has been a hellish past six months trying to evacuate and relocate the girls and their families. Tom Morello’s soul hymn perfectly encapsulates this feeling.
“The convergence of all these talents truly shows how music can unify artists from different idioms and cultures to lend their voices to the vulnerable, marginalized suffering souls of the Earth.”
Of the new single, Morello offered, “God Help Us All is a song both for and with some very special girls in Afghanistan who are in grave danger. Prior to the Taliban takeover, Girl With A Guitar took in street orphans and other girls in Afghanistan that have endured significant trauma and used music as a rehabilitation tool and means of working through their problems, their histories, and their hopes.
“I’ve had the honor of collaborating with these wonderful kids,” he continued. “Since the Taliban takeover, their school has been destroyed and the girls are in hiding as they are at extreme risk.
“This song, which features their beautiful playing and brave voices, is a prayer to the heavens and an appeal to the world to save them and all those suffering from poverty, danger and injustice.”
Head over to The Miraculous Love Kids to find out more.
