3 minute read
Songs from the heart
Music: Alyson Joyse, adding voice to social issues
BY CARMEL PILOTTI | PHOTOGRAPH: DAN MOLLOY
For Papua New Guinean songstress Alyson Joyce, rekindling her musical journey has seen her move into new sounds, styles and themes that are close to the heart.
To ’90s kids, Joyce was the beautiful, chic and fresh artist who appeared on the PNG music scene with superstar vocals.
After the force of her comeback, it is safe to say that she is singing from the soul.
Among her latest projects are what Joyce calls conscious collaborations – working with other Pacific Island artists, she aims to highlight social issues faced in local communities.
In production is a collaboration with Hawaiian artist Jay Keyz based on climate change.
Giving us a bit of a teaser, she says the film clip also features an incredible visual artist from New Zealand and Fiji and is directed by a talented PNG videographer.
“The collaboration comes from more than just one medium, and that’s what I always wanted to achieve – an opportunity to bring artists of all mediums together to share our work for the greater good.”
A follow-up on this track will be one based on suicide prevention, with a PNG female artist. Released in late July was a house track, Give in to My Love, a genre Joyce says she’s always loved and one she is moving into more now, along with island reggae. “When I began conscious collaboration, I wanted to find a genre that would be easy to listen to and would relate to Pacific Island audiences,” Joyce says. Her first conscious collaboration with
Justin Wellington and Stino, Into the Light, was released at the start of this year and carried a message about domestic violence on the beats of island reggae.
“It’s a beautiful sound and one that is definitive of our South Pacific,” Joyce says.
As an artist performing pop, jazz, soul, house, reggae, dance hall and more, Joyce is certainly open to everything and anything.
During this exploration, it seems she is going for more with her writing and recording and even says she’d love to record some folk, a favourite genre of her late father.
“The one thing I really enjoy about music is its vastness. There are so many genres, so many forms of expression. I have never been able to limit myself to one genre,” Joyce says.
“It’s a reflection of who I am also. I very much seek out all of life’s little intricacies that make us all so unique.”
Find Alyson Joyce on YouTube and Spotify.
Alyson Joyce on …
What she’s listening to:
On my playlist right now are the Gypsy Kings, Jorja Smith, Justin Nozuka and Christopher Cross. So very random!
Her favourite PNG musicians:
I have always been a huge fan of guitarist Michael Tamate; he’s insanely talented. I’m so proud of artists like Mereani Masani who continue to push musical boundaries with regard to social issues. I’ve always been a fan of B-Rad who is an incredible musician and producer and who I believe is an integral part and influence of the new sounds coming out of PNG. I love Ya’Nerl – I think her sound is a breath of fresh air and I’m looking forward to more from her. I also have to mention our greats like Anslom Nakikus, George Telek and Moses Tau who paved the way for our musicians and who weren’t afraid to speak out about social issues in PNG.
