Nouri Releases ‘Silent Night’
Kiwi-Kurdish singer Nouri releases a tender, deeply personal version of her favourite Christmas carol in support of Aotearoa New Zealand for UNHCR, encouraging donations to help refugees survive, recover and rebuild.
Nouri has reimagined Silent Night as a lullaby, sung by a refugee mother to her child, drawing on her own beginnings. Her family fled conflict in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in the 1990s and sought safety in a Syrian refugee camp, where she was born. The song is also a tribute to her late mother, whose strength and love helped the family through extreme hardship.
“Silent Night actually means a lot to me. It’s been my favourite Christmas song for the longest time. Being able to put my creative spin on it to help refugees is just very heartwarming to me. I hope it tells the story of the situations going on right now around the world.”
“It came from what I think my mother would tell me. We’re going to be safe. You’re going to be able to dream of anything you want to be. That’s where I got the inspiration to write it. It was just truly from my own mother’s love.”
After three years in a refugee camp, Nouri’s family received humanitarian visas to resettle in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Music became an outlet for young Nouri, who began singing in talent quests before going on to perform at national events and build an international career. Her debut single, Where Do We Go From Here, topped the New Zealand Hot 20 chart and spent 10 weeks on the Billboard charts.
Through it all, her mother has remained a powerful influence.
“My mum’s strength was indescribable. I watched her survive the impossible with six kids, and that taught me everything. Her name means ‘hero’.”
Aotearoa New Zealand for UNHCR is a national partner of the UN Refugee Agency, which protects people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution.
This Christmas, UNHCR’s fundraising campaign is focused on helping families enduring freezing temperatures in places including Ukraine, Afghanistan and across the Middle East. For people living in tents, damaged homes or inadequate shelter, winter can make an already precarious situation even more difficult. Donations help provide essential winter assistance, including warmth and shelter.
“It’s strangers helping strangers. It’s through compassion and it’s through love and that does travel so far, beyond borders, beyond race, beyond religion, beyond everything.
“To know that someone on the other side of the world is helping you truly goes a long way.”
Find out more about Aotearoa New Zealand for UNHCR and donate to help refugees facing winter without adequate warmth or shelter: unrefugees.org.nz
