This October, Australian singer-songwriter Dan Sultan joins forces with more than 200 musicians and vocalists for 'Songs Of Justice', a concert inspired by the music and ideals of social justice.
Dan will lead the ensemble, which features Leah Cotterell alongside the combined voices of the QPAC Choir, Queensland Children’s Hospital Choir, Lotus Place Voices, With One Voice Brisbane, Songlines Choir and the Absolutely Everybody Choir as well as Songwoman Maroochy of the Turrbal People.
“We’re talking about two very basic instincts: the difference between right and wrong, and also storytelling,” Dan says.
“Those are two very basic human instincts, having a conscience and storytelling, but also music and rhythm and the fundamentals that come along with that. That’s what we do as our day job and it’s very exciting.”
'Songs Of Justice' is a reflection on Australia’s history of injustice towards its Indigenous people as well as an acknowledgement of the significant role of musicians and songwriting in supporting justice and equality.
“The whole concept of 'Songs Of Justice' is something I’m really excited to be a part of and I’m going to be performing a song of mine with the choir there, which is about the Wave Hill walk-off,” Dan says.
Dan adds that he’s also relishing the rare opportunity he gets to perform at Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s (QPAC) Concert Hall.
“QPAC is such a beautiful venue,” he says.
“I’ve been there once or twice before so to play a room like that is a great opportunity and to be able to perform and sing to a room like that, I’m excited on a personal, sort of selfish level, in the nicest possible way,” he laughs.
Historically, 'Songs Of Justice' will also mark several key milestone anniversaries, including the National Apology To Forgotten Australians And Former Child Migrants (10 years), the Forde Inquiry (20 years), the National Apology To The Stolen Generations (11 years) and the Royal Commission Into Institutional Response To Child Sexual Abuse (1 year).
Themes of social justice, equality, and the struggle to achieve them are certainly not foreign concepts in Dan’s songwriting, which he says is a natural extension of his own personal value system.
“I’m just a person who has a strong moral compass and very strong opinions,” he says.
“Not just opinions but very strong self-knowledge about what I feel the right and wrong thing to do is. A big sense of justice as well, and the thing is I’m an honest songwriter. . . It always comes from a very honest, empathetic place. For me personally it’s not something I set out to do, it’s something that inevitably ends up that way. It’s what I am and it’s who I am, and I can’t really help it."
“I consider myself opinionated,” he laughs. “Not everyone is going to agree with me and I’m certainly not going to agree with everyone else, but I think there are fundamental rights and fundamental wrongs, that’s how I try to operate. I’m certainly not a saint, but I have a strong sense of justice and how I think things should be.”
