Why Artists Like Ed Sheeran And Jessie Ware Have Been Performing In People's Living Rooms

Yesterday 1000 artists, including the likes of music royalty Ed Sheeran, Rudimental and Jessie Ware, put on a total of 300 gigs around the world... in people’s living rooms.

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And the best part? It was all a show of solidarity for refugees around the world.

The global concert series, organised by Amnesty International and Sofar Sounds, was called Give a Home and went to 60 countries yesterday, bringing together refugee artists and activists with some of the most famous faces in music. All the money raised went to support Amnesty’s human rights work around the world.

Here's a bit of Ed doing what he does best.

Jessie Ware also did a live-stream of her performance on Facebook.

Let’s face it, governments haven’t been the most compassionate in reacting to what has been the biggest refugee crisis since WW2. Although the refugee crisis affects the lives of more than 22 million people worldwide, more than HALF of refugees are being hosted by just 10 out of the world’s 193 countries... and those 10 aren't even the world’s wealthiest nations!

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That’s why Amnesty started their campaign ‘I welcome’ (which Give a Home is part of) – to call for a better reaction to the crisis from governments around the world who should be playing a more equal part in hosting refugees and helping them reach safety, rather than shutting them out.

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Commenting on the concert series, Secretary General of Amnesty International (Salil Shetty) said, “Give a Home is about celebrating what people can do and are doing in support of refugees. Where governments are building walls, deploying warships and closing doors, we are singing a different song: We welcome refugees."

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Yaas, we LOVED this campaign. Not just because some of our fave artists took part (also among the list of performers were Emeli Sandé, Jake Bugg, Tom Odell, JP Cooper, Gregory Porter and Hozier), but because it was all about people around the world opening their homes in a huge gesture of inclusion, solidarity and empathy for the millions of people out there who’ve been forced to flee their homes to reach safety.

To see more from the event and to contribute to Amnesty's campaign, click here.