Occupation: five songs that shook the world

Welsh National Opera's Occupation: five songs that shook the world has seen artists as diverse as Carleen Anderson, Judith Weir, Cerys Matthews and High Contrast commissioned to create songs responding to issues in society and current news events. The final song, from composer Daniel-Wyn Jones is released on 23 January 2015. The song is inspired by and includes lyrics from comments and quotes from the general public collected over the course of the project, feeding in their thoughts about liberty, freedom and democracy via social media. It explores a range of issues including religion, the role of media, NHS funding cuts, violence against women, and the existence of prejudice and extremism in our society. 

The artistic partner in the project, Ffilm Cymru Wales has created an accompanying film, set in The Senedd, Wales's National Assembly building. The film can be viewed at the Occupation website, and Daniel-Wyn Jones's music is available for download from Soundcloud. The other four songs are also available from the Occupation website.

Cardiff-based bilingual composer Wyn-Jones studied at the Cardiff University School of Music and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and his tutors have included Judith Weir. He is influenced by a diverse selection of modern popular and classical music and draws heavily on other disciplines especially Theatre of the Absurd, modern dance, conceptual and performance art and a variety of classic 20th and 21st century literature.