On 8 August I rehearsed and recorded my first ever ‘charity pop ballad’ (never thought I’d say that!). This was organised by journalist Susan Merrell, who is currently working closely with people in Papua New Guinea, as part of a campaign in the fight against men beating their wives. The lyrics were written by Susan and the music composed by my friend Morgan Merrell, who also played percussion in the piece, and we were joined by Samantha Warhurst (vocals) and Emma Stevenson (piano and synth) in Trackdown Studios, Fox Studios. The song was recorded by Jacob and Matt from Hospital Hill Recordings.
Wife beating in PNG is still a huge problem, with surprisingly little publicity here despite Australia’s proximity to PNG. Even today in PNG as many as 97% of women suffer domestic abuse from their husbands: ‘We pay for our wives, so we own them and can belt them any time we like,’ was how one Government minister put it back in 1987. This is still how many men in PNG ‘justify’ their actions today.
Song for Melanesia will be broadcast in PNG via tv, radio and sent to all phones with MP3 capabilities. This is just one small step in the fight but through the power of music will hopefully inspire the men and women of PNG to take a stand and not accept this inexcusable behaviour.
