Music for the Greater Good
Australia is currently fighting a war against itself. The country has been burning for over six months. Over 2000 homes have been destroyed, an area bigger than Belgium and Denmark combined has been burnt and at least 28 lives have been lost.
At least eight volunteer firefighters have lost their lives during this bushfire season, including three Americans.
On the 11th of January, ten of thousands of Australians took to the streets, calling for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to be removed due to his inadequate response to the crisis. Morrison has been heavily criticised for his reluctant acknowledgement of the fires, delayed allocation of funds towards relief and decision to go on a family holiday to Hawaii during the most devastating bushfire seasons on record.
The crisis has spurred people from all over the world to donate what they can, in support of those on the frontline.
All across Sydney, artists have been holding fundraising gigs in support of bushfire relief, with profits going to key organisations such as the volunteer-driven Rural Fire Service (RFS), the Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities and the New South Wales Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES).
The Oxford Art Factory, in collaboration with Astral People, hosted the Sweet Relief Bushfire Benefit Gig on the 23rd of January. The gig sold out nearly immediately, with 100% of profits going to bushfire relief services.
Sydney DJ Lex Deluxe has been heavily involved in fundraising events throughout the city, performing at both Sweet Relief and Freda’s Make It Rain fundraiser.
“There have been so many fundraisers for any bushfire affected area, and I feel like because we are so privileged being in Sydney, the fact that people have been so willing to help out those who are less fortunate than themselves is amazing,” Lex said about the outpouring of community support for those affected by the bushfires.
“For things like this, it’s usually the creative people who end up doing most of the fundraising. Donating their time, donating their art and it’s a very good natured thing. Being able to give my time is the least I can do.”
Lex, however, sees that her role as an artist during this time is to spread what positivity she can and maintain the morale of the community.
“At the start of the bushfires, there were a lot of traumatic images coming up... of kangaroos getting trapped in fences, fire tornados, etc. It got to a point where I didn’t want to keep sharing them and looking at them, because it was really affecting my mental health.”
“The role of anyone who has a following; DJ, artist, band, is to show that there’s still positive things going on. You can still go out and have a good time, whilst having a dialogue about the crisis, because it’s so easy for people to get bogged down with all this negativity and not have the spark to get back up again. I think it’s really important for us to promote that balance.
For electronic musician and DJ Basenji, being involved in the Sweet Relief gig was a no-brainer.
“The world of art is really valuable as a means of expression,” he said about his role as an artist in fundraising for the bushfires. “I think art in general, whether music, dance, etc, it’s all about expression and communicating ideas. It’s first nature for people in art to want to raise their voice and talk about problems that are happening, on a community or wider level.”
“For the arts its very normal to be political active, working in art is a politically charged sphere. We’ve always seen this in Australian music, there is a political undercurrent because music is a voice for people.”
The Australian Government have been heavily criticised for marginalising the arts. In late 2019, the federal Arts Department was dissolved into the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. On a local level, Sydney’s music and nightlife culture has been pummeled by lockout laws, mandatory police presence at festivals and a ‘war’ against live music.
So for many artists, like Basenji, taking a stand against Government inaction in order to support and uplift the wider community is second nature.
“The [bushfires] created a total change in the general atmosphere, the moods of people out there. I felt it hard to celebrate the Christmas period, because my mind was out there with the people affected, and I think that’s the same for a lot of people as well.”
“My process is very insular, I spend a lot of time working in the studio or travelling alone, so sometimes I feel a little disconnected from the broader scene. But I know that what the government is doing will not be good for the arts scene or community at all, I would even like to see the complete reverse of what’s currently happening.”
Like Basenji, Sydney DJ Merph feels a responsibility to use her scientific literacy as a PHD student to communicate the dangers of the bushfires and the climate crisis to the public through her music.
“I’m a scientist, so I think a lot of my activism is based on my contability around science literacy,” Merph said about her involvement in the fundraiser. “The arts brings everyone together. It’s based in emotions and emotions are universal able to be communicated with everyone. It offers this platform for people to become engaged.”
“I do what I can from a science perspective and I try and channel that in a more universal sense through art.”
After her agent made her aware of the Sweet Relief gig, there was no question for Merph that she would donate her time to the cause.
“Every individual has a responsibility to be engaged on some level with the climate crisis on a global scale, and a symptom of it being the bushfires throughout Australia. I have friends who have lost family homes, which is really sad to see. But the important thing to remember is that even if you aren’t directly impacted by the fires, everyone is indirectly impacted.”
“That’s why it’s so important to be able to be engaged, it doesn’t take that much for me to give my time to this cause and it’s so humbling to be able to give back.”
Other major artists, such as Cosmo’s Midnight, Winston Surfshirt and Young Franco all donated their time for the cause.
In the event’s Facebook listing, the hosts stated that “it’s a heartbreaking and scary time, but positivity, community and hard work is prevailing, as we see people from around the nation and the world, band together to support in every way imaginable.”
Across Sydney, gigs such as the Original Wiggles Bushfire Relief Reunion Concert at the Castle Hill RSL and Mary’s Loves the Bush at the Lansdowne have been held to raise much needed funds. Most notably, acts such as Queen, Michael Buble and Peking Duk are rallying for the Fire Fight Australia Concert on the 16th of February. The concert, hosted by comedian and fundraising powerhouse Celeste Barber, has been likened to a 21st century Live-Aid.
The outpouring of support from the Sydney music scene has shown the current of community and activism which lives within art. The power of an entire society rallying together in the name of the greater good holds true to what Australian music and art represents. While the bushfires are sadly still raging, the continued work of artists and ordinary Australians to help those most affected will play a vital role in helping the country recover.
If you’d like to help, you can donate to:
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade
The Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities
https://au.gofundme.com/f/fire-relief-fund-for-first-nations-communities
New South Wales Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service
https://www.wires.org.au/donate/emergency-fund
The Red Cross
https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate