Beth Gibbons Covers Bowie And Joy Division: Watch
Beth Gibbons of Portishead has contributed lead vocals to a new song with Afghanistan’s the Miraculous Love Kids. Atmosphere/Heroes is a medley of the Joy Division and David Bowie classics.
The Miraculous Love Kids is a non-profit organization started by American activist and musician Lanny Cordola that served as Afghanistan’s only girls school of music and also taught maths, reading and other essential life skills.
When the Taliban took over in 2021, they banned girls from attending school and performing music. The young women in Miraculous Love Kids subsequently fled Kabul, Afghanistan, for Islamibad, Pakistan, with their families.
Since then, the Miraculous Love Kids have teamed up with artists like Tom Morello, Serj Tankian, and Julien Baker and Blake Shelton, Joe Walsh, and more to cover songs as a way to raise awareness and get their music out into the world.
The release marks two years since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, severely limiting women’s rights and freedoms.
Gibbons said in a press release, “I was so honoured to guest on the Miraculous Love Kids’ reconstructed cover track, Atmosphere/Heroes, and to be a voice next to these brave and beautiful girls of Afghanistan.”
Cordola said he first met Gibbons in Islamabad, “just days after the Taliban takeover.” He continued, “She confirmed her support and extended a generosity of spirit to the girls that was invaluable as she is truly one of the great voices in the world today. The words exemplify the plight of the harshly oppressed people of the world. In particular, the girls and women of Afghanistan, where the Miraculous Love Kids hail from.”
The previous release from the Miraculous Love Kids was Breathless/Beautiful, a collaboration with Nick Cave based on Wife With Eyes Closed,” a poem Cave wrote about his wife Susie for Issue #60 of his The Red Hand Files