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 celebrated composer Shaun Martin who, in addition to one of his own songs, paid tribute to Bill Withers. The Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist started his performance with a run through “The Yellow Jacket” from his debut 2017 album, 7Summers. The light instrumental tune is defined by an uplifting piano melody that rises and falls throughout the piece as Martin’s musical prowess is on full display.
After his original composition, Martin set his sights on “Lovely Day” by late singer-songwriter Bill Withers. While the song became a popular cover after Withers’ death back in April, none of them sounded like Martin’s. By using a vocoder effect on his microphone, his voice was filtered out into sounding like a synthesizer itself. Meanwhile, underneath the unorthodox and adventurous vocal stylings, he still managed to play the song’s usual keyboard part, resulting in lush harmony on several different levels.
Relive the Shaun Martin performance from Justice Comes Alive below. If you enjoyed the Justice Comes Alive performances and have the means, consider making a donation to Plus1 For Black Lives Fund via www.JusticeComesAlive.com.
Shaun Martin – “The Yellow Jacket”, “Lovely Day (Bill Withers) – Justice 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.