One of the many highlights from CKUA’s festival season broadcasts was our visit from Barcelona-based five piece Hamsa Hamsa. The band is fronted by singer Anna Casado Colao who describes their sounds as based “in the Sephardic tradition with the musics of the Middle East [influenced by] flamenco, jazz, and Balkan music”.
During their appearance on Journeys live at the Calgary Folk Music Festival, Anna Casado Colao spoke to Leo Cripps about a new track they performed live which was inspired by the current European migrant crisis. “It talks about the crisis of the refugees in the Mediterranean Sea,” says Casado Colao. “We have a lot of people trying to come from Syria — but also coming from Africa. Our governments don’t care, they prefer them to die on the sea than to arrive to our coast. This is something that we find so sad. This is something that really hurts us. We dedicate this song to these people that really try to fight to survive and have a good life, and also to the people who take great risks to try to save them on the sea.”