Von Hertzen Brothers have released a video for their new single Jerusalem.
The song features on the band’s 2017 album War is Over, with the poignant video launched as a reaction to the European refugee crisis and subsequent asylum debate which started in 2015 in Finland.
The video stars Bakr Hasan – one of 32,000 immigrants who arrived in Finland three years ago – and shows his emotions about receiving a negative asylum decision from the Finnish Immigration Service.
Guitarist Kie von Hertzen says: “It also speaks for all those genuinely distressed asylum seekers who under critical circumstances of war have had to flee for their lives from their own countries and who ultimately have ended up in some remote and unknown destination only get a return ticket right back to the middle of persecutions or war.
“Bakr Hasan comes not only from a country where there is war, but also from a culture where the state and family have for religious reasons rejected him because of his urge to do art.
“He has experienced persecution, violence and death in his immediate family because of the war.”
The video has also been launched to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the declaration of human rights and can be seen below.
Von Hertzen Brothers 2018 UK tour dates
Dec 10: Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Dec 11: Birmingham O2 Institute 2
Dec 12: Manchester O2 Ritz (with Uriah Heep)
Dec 13: Glasgow SWG3 (with Uriah Heep)
Dec 14: London Shepherd’s Bush Empire (with Uriah Heep)
Dec 15: Nottingham Rock City (with Uriah Heep)
Dec 16: Hull City Hall (with Uriah Heep)
