Actress Emily Watson writes song for refugee choir The Citizens of the World ahead of St Paul’s performance

The Citizens of the World choir: Watson's song will be performed at St Paul's

Emily Watson has written a song for a refugee choir which will be performed at St Paul’s Cathedral.

The Citizens of the World choir asked the south London-based actress, 52, who is their patron, to help them create a track for Refugee Week.

Members are migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and friends and the choir aims to show the impact they have on society. In Watson’s first ever attempt at song-writing, she transformed contributions from the choir into song Manamou — which means “ my mother” in Greek.

She said: “They wrote it really. They gave me all the material. I wove it together, as it were.

“I’ve always enjoyed writing. I do very private, painful and shall-remain-so scribblings - I have dabbled in screenwriting, but I write to express myself for myself mostly, that’s what I do… but if I was asked to do this again I would do it like a shot. It was a very powerful experience for me and for everyone involved.”

Next month the track will headline the choir’s performances at iconic London venues including Shakespeare’s Globe and Parliament.

Watson, currently starring in HBO/Sky’s series Chernobyl with Stellan Skarsgard, added: “It’s something I was raised to be proud of, that our country was a destination of choice for people who were not safe elsewhere in the world, that they would come here to be safe. We shouldn’t lose sight of that.”

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