Words by Abi Scaife
‘Hope Reborn’ is the latest piece from British pianist and composer Fabio D’Andrea with Rose Leslie as they raise funds for Overcoming MS and the MS Society.
Fabio has created the first-ever piano-video album, featuring ‘Hope Reborn’. Putting on another hat as director, Fabio created a video starring Rose Leslie of Game of Thrones.
Fabio, who is passionate about using his music and video content to raise awareness about social issues, got the idea for the video when he talked with a friend of his who happens to be the CEO of Overcoming MS - and the rest is history.
“That, for me, just fitted in really well with this subject of hidden disabilities, because MS is a condition which is so visceral, but so hidden at the same time,” explains Fabio.
“I thought, well, that's great. That's something I can use to talk about this concept of hidden disabilities within my videos because I can show that quite easily. You can see that juxtaposition of somebody struggling one day, then the next day they look absolutely normal.”
Multiple Sclerosis is an illness that damages nerves in your body and makes it harder to do everyday things, like walk, talk, eat and think. Currently, there is no cure for MS.
Symptoms can include pain, fatigue, muscle spasms and vision problems. It can also impact your memory, thinking and mental health, and every year 7,000 people get a new diagnosis of MS.
Fabio has previously teamed up with other celebrities to raise awareness of other issues. His collaboration with the Spice Girls’ Mel B was designed to raise awareness of domestic violence, while his video featuring Russell Tovey was all about mental health.
“Music and art have always been used to spread social messages if we look through the history of music,” explains Fabio. “Art is so powerful and music is so powerful because people feel it on that emotional level.”
Hope Reborn features heartstring-tugging scenes, many of which are based on the real-life experiences of a focus group Fabio interviewed prior to filming. One particularly poignant scene sees Amy, Rose’s character, as she is knocked into by someone in a shop, and falls over. The young man laughs at her, not thinking long enough to think something might be wrong, and leaves Amy on the floor.
“I hope my art can help someone – anyone – just stop and think in a situation and make life a little bit easier for every single person," says Fabio. “For me, it's not about album sales or things like that," says Fabio. "It's how can I use my art to better society as well?”
Throughout the extensive history of classical music, composers have taken it upon themselves to create a composition in each of the minor and major chromatic scales for the piano. Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff are all composers that created these 24 compositions across their lifetimes and Fabio is the first 21st-century composer to join them.
Each of the 24 pieces has an accompanying music video, and many of which have an important social issue at their core, just like Hope Reborn.
“With my videos, what I'm trying to get out is the real, human, one-to-one relatability so people can look at it and think, ‘oh, gosh, yeah, this is a huge, big thing’,” explains Fabio.
“What can I do as an individual? I might not have a hidden disability, but how can I make life simpler for other people, and it's just maybe, having awareness that, if I see somebody struggling, there might be a reason for it.”
All of the proceeds from sales of the song which is available to purchase from iTunes & Amazon will raise money for charities Overcoming MS and the MS Society in the UK.
If you want to support people who are diagnosed with MS by purchasing the single, you can do so here on iTunes or here on Amazon. If you wish to support charities directly you can do so either on the Overcoming MS or MS Society website.
This article aligns with the UN SDG Good Health and Wellbeing.
