As part of Progress – a Festival of Ideas, a solid billing of artists are bringing their personal selection of protest music together in an intimate gig called Songs of Freedom at the Jazz Club. The venue is a part of the Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts at Monash University's Clayton campus.
Included on the line-up are singers Thando (the Voice season 3), Sophie Koh (Triple J Unearthed, Spicks and Specks), hip hop artist N’fa Jones (1200 Techniques) and jazz-singer and cabaret artist Mama Alto (2019 Australian LGBTI Awards Music Artist of the Year). This performance will be a celebration of this movement, with songs from genres such as hip hop, soul and folk.
Protest music has often accompanied progress throughout the decades, allowing the plight of a group of people to become part of the mainstream consciousness. The artists are going to bring their individual experiences of protest through their music in a night of celebrating the power of music to unify and connect us as people.
Expect not only music but storytelling and performance, with original compositions alongside MLIVE's specially commissioned band led by bassist/composer Tamara Murphy, who has worked with Casey Donovan and Christine Anu among several other contemporary jazz and pop artists.
The festival runs from May 16 to 26 and has a program filled with comedy, music, theatre and performance to open the discourse around the idea of progress.