Refuweegee EP – BESSA

We recently worked with our pal, Scottish musician BESSA (Sam), designing a cover for the Refuweegee 7″ EP—a collaborative project between I Belong To Glasgow, O Street and BESSA, to raise funds for the brilliant Glasgow charity, Refuweegee.

We worked with Sam a few years back when he created a unique soundtrack for our showreel. It’s been brilliant to collaborate again, so we invited Sam to tell us a bit more about the project and the finished design.

Here’s what he had to say:

The original idea was sparked by Dale from I Belong to Glasgow, who gave me a shout for any tracks that I would be willing to release. The main focus was to raise funds and awareness for Glasgow-based charity Refuweegee; I saw an opportunity to tie the project in with a design that highlighted my mixed background.

I asked my friends at O Street if they could help me with the sleeve design for the vinyl and I couldn’t be any prouder of the result!

We explored my Scottish and Algerian background which led O Street to come up with some unique and just brilliant ideas; in one of the designs they married images of Mount Tahat (Algeria) and Ben Nevis (Scotland).

Amazingly, looking at some of the images and designs we explored helped me build confidence in my own identity and heritage. I’ve found in the past it has been difficult to find belonging, coming from two cultures.

We settled on the image of my wee Algerian village with famous and personal Glasgow landmarks mixed into the space. For me, this image really worked by conveying what Refuweegee strives towards in making refugees welcome and safe in Our Glasgow.

—Sam

This illustration is an O Street collaboration with talented local designer Jack Batchelor.

You can purchase the BESSA Refuweegee 7″ EP here.

If you would like to donate directly to Refuweegee you can do so here.