Hegsy and The Elements - Free (Official Music Video)

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► Read the lyrics for "Free": genius.com/Heg...
► Follow Hegsy and The Elements: ffm.bio/hegsy
This song and film was produced for a Welsh Women’s Aid Empowerment Event. This song is based on the true stories and testimonies of female survivors. They wanted to share their stories to let others know life improves when you break free. The film features some of these survivors and the track includes part of their testimonies. The song also features the voices of 100 female voices from all over the world who wanted to give survivors a voice.
Below is the speech made by Hegsy at the Survivors' Empowerment Event, which tells you everything you need to know.
“Thank you for inviting me to this event today. It’s a privilege and an honor to be here. It was equally a privilege to write this song. When I met Vicky and she told me about this event, I’d just started my journey of educating myself to learn what men can do to try and end violence against women and girls. I'm still on that journey and will continue to work with you to try and show how men can adjust behaviours and try to make women feel safe as opposed to feeling threatened.
"I’m a songwriter and I wear my heart on my sleeve. I write music that heals and always try to produce music that is uplifting. I was petrified by this project but something kept telling me I had to do it. I am so glad I did. It's taken 8 months of personal torture to get here! Listening to the stories of survivors broke my heart, no-one should have to experience domestic violence or any kind of violence, and I am so sorry you have had to go through this. What amazed me when listening to these stories is that they all had the same cycle. They all started with overwhelming love, followed by darkness, pain, despair and isolation then that ‘light bulb moment’. When you took control of your situation, escaped and grew. Then life actually became better as you became empowered. I’m absolutely humbled by the strength and courage you have shown and the kindness and understanding to tell others, who may not yet be in a position of understanding, that life doesn’t just improve, it gets better than it was before. That today is the start of the best days of your life.
"I wanted this song and film to celebrate your strength. My hope is that if it gives one woman who is currently in a dark place, the courage to understand she can break free and fly then I’ve achieved my goal. The song became an obsession for me because I never underestimated the responsibility you gave me to tell your story and I obsessed over every word to ensure I honored you. These are your words that I have interpreted into your song. The music production became bigger. I wanted real strings, I wanted real woodwind instruments, I wanted real trumpets and trombones. I wanted real banjo - hey I’m a country music fan if you listen carefully you’ll hear it! I’m lucky I have a wonderful producer who was very patient with me as the project got bigger and bigger. I wanted every listener and every viewer to “feel” your spirit and, somehow, managed to pull together 100 female voices from all over the world to add their energy and sing the finale of the song. so that the world could “Hear Your Voices” and celebrate your freedom.
"I always wanted my friend Liz to feature in the film - isn't she amazing! Liz told me of the challenges deaf and hard of hearing survivors face, this cemented my thought that film needed to be fully BSL so that we honor those ladies too. This song and film is for EVERY survivor. Thank you for sharing your photos, thank you for sharing your stories, this is your song and this is your film. I hope, in some way, you can relate to it, you can resonate with it and it touches you, and that your voices continue to be heard.
Diolch."
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Directed by Matthew Tyler-Howells and Mark "Hegsy" Hegarty
Camera/Editing by Matthew Tyler-Howells
BSL interpretation by Liz Mayhill
With thanks to Welsh Women's Aid (www.welshwomen...)
Filmed at St Andrew's URC, Cardiff (standrewsurcca...)
A production by MMN MATTHEW'S Media Networks LTD (matthewsnetmed...)
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"Free"
Performed by Hegsy and The Elements
Written by Mark Hegarty and Al Steele
Produced by Al Steele
Strings: Richard Mainwaring, Claudine Cassidy & Korine Colborne
Trombone: Phil Jarvis
Trumpet: Jon Mainwaring
Keys, Synths & Other instruments: Al Steele
Featuring the voices of 100 females from across the world
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© Hegsy and The Elements, 2021.
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[@abireed2515]

Thank you so much x

[@ceridarknell4183]

Well done Hegsy and all who took part - sunds great and just Inspiring! :)

[@happyh1ppiechick]

Love this! So proud to have been a part of it