Cypriot singer Alexia Vassiliou still remembers the sound of the sirens wailing eerily over her house when she was just a child to warn of the Turkish invasion.

She and her family fled the northeastern town of Famagusta in 1974, and decades later she has never returned to live in the place she once called home.

But Alexia’s experiences shaped her future, and today she uses her international acclaim as an artist to help shine a spotlight on the plight of the displaced and refugees around the world.

I am a refugee… This is why I am here today,”  she says, in an online concert which is being re-streamed on Wednesday to global audiences. 

“There was a moment when I did not have a home. I was 10.”  

The novel coronavirus pandemic upended ideas for a live concert in Nicosia as part of events to mark World Refugee Day on June 20.

But Alexia, whose career spans four decades and who has recorded with jazz great Chick Corea, was determined to move the show online, incorporating performances and messages of solidarity from artists around the world.

They include American jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux and British rock star Peter Gabriel, but also local asylum seekers and refugees.

A revamped version of the concert is being streamed on Alexia’s Facebook page on Wednesday at 9:00 pm (1800 GMT).