WATCH: The Travellers Dedicate Their Latest Single To The Anti-Racism Movement… Racist Comments Ensue

Music is a powerful tool that can often be used to spread a message and bring people together. And that is what Maltese mainstream sensations The Travellers wanted to do with their latest single, Umani. Little did they know, that their noble intentions would still end up getting backlash.

In the run up to the release, The Travellers shared teaser images of the single, with the message “LE G?AR-RAZZI?MU” (“no to racism”) written across the centre, urging people to download the images and share them.

The lyric video that accompanies the single includes visuals reminiscent of an underwater scene; showing fish and sea creatures swimming around the depths of the ocean. As the song goes on, we move further up closer to the water’s surface. And this is where things start looking problematic.

Apart from the sea creatures, random items enter the scene; pieces of plastic, bottles, paper bags, jerry cans, and items of clothing. While this can be seen as pointing towards the littering problem that we face in Malta, the items of clothing hint towards a more painful reality that surfaces towards the end.

The final second of the video presents a poignant image: bodies floating at the water’s surface. Just like that, the aim of the video becomes crystal clear; to raise awareness of the Mediterranean migration issue that has been making international headlines and sparking many discussions back at home.

Unfortunately, some people were not pleased to see a local band tackling this issue, inciting some problematic comments

Since Umani’s release, The Travellers responded to these comments, ensuring followers that hate speech would not be allowed on their page

What do you make of these comments? Let us know in the comments and tag someone who needs to watch this!

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