On Sunday, June 28th, over 50 artists and tens of thousands of fans came together for Justice Comes Alive, a one-day, virtual festival harnessing the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. The donation-based streaming event generated $55,000 and counting in funds for the participating artists, who remain out of work as the pandemic continues, as well as a number of social justice-oriented causes via PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund.
The 12-hour live-stream marathon featured new contributions by an array of amazing artists from around the world including guitar prodigy Brandon “Taz” Niederauer who offered up a cover of Stevie Wonder‘s “Living For The City”. The 17 year-old guitarist opened his one-song slot with a thank you to all of the artists and activists who came together to make JCA possible before launching into the tune off 1973’s Innervisions.
As Brandon noted ahead of his tune, “As a person of color myself, I think it’s amazing that a group of musicians of this caliber and, also, people like you, could come together and support a great cause. … This is “Living For The City” by Stevie Wonder, it’s a song that I feel truly illuminates some of the harsh realities and circumstances that some people unfortunately have to go through. We have to change that. Hopefully, I can do the song justice.”
Though Taz is best known for his scorching solos on the electric guitar, Brandon’s Justice Comes Alive performance saw the evolving young artist perform on an acoustic guitar and place the emphasis on his vocals. It’s clear that the child that came to prominence for exceptional guitar abilities appears to be growing into a man of many talents.
Watch Brandon “Taz” Niederauer perform “Living For The City” by Stevie Wonder at Justice Comes Alive below. If you enjoyed the performance and have the means, consider making a donation to Plus1 For Black Lives Fund via www.JusticeComesAlive.com.
Brandon “Taz” Niederauer – “Living For The City” (Stevie Wonder) – Justice Comes Alive
As a special bonus, you can also revisit Brandon’s performance of original tune “Paralyzed” at the precursor to JCA, Quarantine Comes Alive, on May 30th below:
Brandon “Taz” Niederauer – “Paralyzed” – Quarantine Comes Alive
Presented by Live For Live Music in partnership with PLUS1 and Nugs.TV, Justice Comes Alive was conceived as a way to harness the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. All funds raised from Justice Comes Alive will be split evenly between the artists on the bill and the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund, which was developed to address and continue the fight against anti-Black racism and violence in the U.S.
Directly supporting organizations like Equal Justice Initiative, Impact Justice, and The Bail Project, the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund focuses on empowering Black communities, movement building, keeping people out of the criminal justice system while dismantling it more broadly, and a collective, international narrative change toward the equitable treatment of Black people. 30% of the PLUS1 for Black Lives Fund is also committed to small grants for Black and Indigenous-led grassroots efforts combating racism. For more information on Justice Comes Alive, head here.