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Human rights activist singer-songwriter Patrick Burgess draws from the stories of ordinary people who have inspired him during his travels to many of the world’s conflict areas. He has worked in Rwanda, East Timor, Myanmar, the Congo, Cambodia and dozens of other countries, always carrying a guitar. Just back from human rights work on the Thai Burma border Ethiopia and the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh…Patrick Burgess returns to Australia to launch his new single ‘Stolen Children’ with an exclusive live preview performance of the song and music video on Saturday 22nd April, 6pm at the Old Manly Boatshed, 40 The Corso, Manly. Supported by Bombora and The Foam Controllers. Patrick Burgess’ new single, ‘Stolen Children’ tells the story of Nina, one of the thousands of children taken from their parents by Indonesian soldiers during the military occupation of then East Timor. Thirty years later Patrick and others from the non-profit Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) have been painstakingly tracing some of those children in Indonesia and bringing them home to their parents, many of whom believe their child had died decades before. The song follows six year old Nina’s journey: “I was holding on tight to your old blue dress when the car came into view, The man in green said I’ll take this one, I thought he meant to school, They put me in the car and drove away, rivers of tears ran down your face, Thirty years pass slowly by, mama, but today I’m coming home, I’m coming home...” Patrick’s resonant vocal wanders across a bed of chiming guitars, bass and drums, with contributions from some of Australia’s most well-known musicians including drummer Rob Hirst from Midnight Oil and multi-instrumentalist Paul di Giacomo (Taman Shud, Matt Finish.) All proceeds from the ‘Stolen Children’ release will go directly to the program to reunite more of those ‘stolen children’ with their parents. Stolen Children’ will be released digitally and available through Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple music and all major streaming platforms 25th April. A music video for ‘Stolen Children’ will premiere on YouTube on 2nd May.