Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Zarema, originally from Crimea, has just released her new single Child’s Prayer. Inspired by the true story of a young refugee child affected by war, the song is dedicated to refugee children who have lost parents or suffered life-altering injuries as a result of conflict.
The idea for Child’s Prayer came a few years ago while Zarema was working on a Netflix documentary about refugee children severely affected by war.
One of the stories featured a young girl who survived an airstrike but lost her mother and one of her legs. While recovering in hospital and being fitted for a prosthetic leg, she repeatedly called out for her mother. Her grandmother tried to comfort her by telling her that once they left the hospital, they could look for the brightest star in the night sky, where her mother now lived. From then on, the young girl would look to the stars each night and speak to her mother.
Zarema was deeply affected by the story and had to leave the room in tears. The following morning, she called her parents in Crimea and told them what she had heard. Her father responded by suggesting that she write a song about it. That same day, Zarema wrote the melody for Child’s Prayer, later writing the lyrics from the perspective of a young child looking to the stars and speaking to her mother.
The story is also connected with Zarema’s own childhood. She was around the same age as the young girl when she learned that the place where she had been born and raised was not somewhere her parents had chosen to live, but the result of the genocide and forced exile of the Crimean Tatars, the indigenous people of Crimea. Zarema explains that growing up as part of a marginalised minority, and experiencing oppression and injustice, made her particularly sensitive to the suffering and mistreatment of others, especially children.
She wrote Child’s Prayer to honour refugee children, particularly those who have lost their parents or suffered life-altering injuries through war. According to figures cited by Zarema from the United Nations, UNICEF and other international organisations, more than 60,000 children have been injured in war zones in recent years, including more than 5,000 who have suffered amputations, while tens of thousands more have lost one or more parents.
After completing the music and lyrics, Zarema was introduced to Grammy-winning composer and producer Kitt Wakeley. She sent him the song and he agreed to produce it. While Wakeley was working on another project with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London, he was able to have the orchestra record Child’s Prayer there too.
Speaking about the song, Zarema shares, “I am deeply grateful to Kitt Wakeley, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Abbey Road Studios for bringing this song to life. Their extraordinary contributions have added depth and emotional power to a piece dedicated to the world’s orphaned and amputee refugee children, young lives that deserve far greater attention and compassion. Despite these devastating realities, the needs of these children continue to receive far too little attention and support. As I have said in previous interviews about my earlier song, I Hold You Child, which was also dedicated to refugee children: ‘No child’s heart should beat in fear, and no child’s eyes should ever see the horrors of war.’”
Zarema is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and actress of Crimean Tatar descent. Born in exile in Soviet Uzbekistan, she returned with her family to Crimea following the collapse of the USSR. Raised in a musical household, she began studying piano at eight and writing songs in Crimean Tatar, with her music being played on local radio from a young age. She later moved to Kyiv, where she earned a degree in acting from the National University of Theatre, Film and TV, before co-writing two Turkish-language songs with Ukrainian producer Mikhail Nekrasov.
Zarema later signed with Sony BMG Turkey and moved to Istanbul in 2007 to produce her self-titled debut album. After touring, she relocated to Los Angeles in 2008 and continued working across music, acting and voiceover. Fluent in Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar and English, her voiceover credits include NCIS, FBI: International, Madam Secretary and The Queen’s Gambit. She has also continued releasing music in English, including her 2018 single Night of My Life, co-produced with RedOne and co-written with John Anthony Russell.
Jem Girl at the Piano 