Songlines 2026
Indie song contest to raise awareness of Parkinson’s
Last summer an unsolicited piece of music dropped into my mailbox. It came from “some boys and girls”, who wanted Grandpa E.J. Ballard be remembered. He was a lifelong musician, deeply committed to his craft, and continued composing music well into the progression of his illness. He passed away after following a long and tumultuous journey with Parkinson’s, his “malady”,
I liked that tune and imagined there must be more such songlines out there. A call for a song contest posted at Parkinson’s Europe and the World Parkinson Coalition had excellent response. The shortlist presented 18 original works, with genres from Country to Jazz, and you, the audience, were the jury to vote the best songs for 2026. Here they are.
- Rob Georg (US), cared for his Dad, 420 votes
- Justin Thomas (AU), musician, producer, 158 votes
- David Sangster (UK), Young Onset Pd, 135 votes
- E.J. Ballard (UK), musician, Pd and dementia
- Birdie Belgium (BE), carer for her Mum
- Katharina Beyer (DE), poet, Young Onset Pd
- Uwe Fischer (DE), DJ KI-BOT, Young Onset Pd
- René van Helsdingen (NL), pianist, Pd
- Jörg Veselka (AT), Singer/Songwriter
An interesting observation is, that today around 50% of artists make use of AI. Perhaps the reason is that artificial intelligence can turn a soloist into a symphonic orchestra. One person with Parkinson’s that stands tall in the crowd of one-man-bands is David Sangster. Not only is he a very creative CGI artist, he is also raising awareness of Parkinson’s. Shake the World Up!