Bit late on the details for this one (sorry!), but I wanted to fill you all in on the single release for the track "While we sleep tonight" which happened at the start of the year, to coincide with the 2 year anniversary of the Haiti quake.

The aim of the single release was largely to raise awareness of the situation, and to raise a bit of money for Tearfund too.

The video has been watched quite a few times on YouTube, and played on Radio 2, and I did a number of radio interviews at the time, which is all really good.

Here's the video:

Here's the press release that went out at the time:

On 12th January 2010, at 4.53pm local time a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti, poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It entrenched poverty, making over a million people homeless, as well as claiming more than 200,000 lives. Many people across the world responded to the disaster with thoughts, prayers, money.

Says Paul, “I remember making breakfast on the morning after the earthquake hit. I had the radio on and the news was breaking. The good night’s sleep I’d had in my comfortable bed was hard to reconcile with what had just happened in Haiti.”

This juxtaposition was to prove the spark for the song “While we sleep tonight”, which explores the issues of suffering in the world.

Paul comments “At times like this, there are lots of questions, but not a lot of answers. I certainly don’t have them, but something in me wanted to respond.”

The song is taken from Paul’s recent album of the same name, and is probably one of the most emotional moments on the record. The beauty of the music provides an atmospheric backdrop to some of Paul’s most thoughtful and poetic lyrics to date.

A few months after the album was released, Paul heard about an exhibition by Sheffield-based photographer, Richard Hanson, of images taken in the aftermath of the quake in Haiti. The exhibition was held in conjunction with Tearfund, who commissioned the photos.

“I remember wandering around the gallery space, looking at these stunning images, reading the stories of the subjects. I love the way Richard’s pictures focus on people – their stories of pain, loss, resilience and hope are written on their faces.”

Tearfund and Richard kindly gave permission for their images to be used in the stunning video to accompany the song, which can be viewed on Paul’s website (paulbellmusic.com).

If you haven't already got the song and would like to get hold of it, you can get it here in the download store or on iTunes and the proceeds all go to Tearfund. If you've already got the song, of course, you can just donate some money to Tearfund.