Frank Yamma, the 'Voice of Australia's Central Desert', Tours Canada in August

Frank Yamma, the voice of Australia's Central Desert, comes all the way from Ayers Rock to perform his fourth run of shows in Canada. 

Frank Yamma is one of Australia's most significant Indigenous songwriters.

With an ability to cross cultural and musical boundaries, when he sings, you listen and travel with him. An initiated Pitjantjatjara man, Frank sings in his Indigenous language, as well as in English, and his spirit belongs to the heart of Australia - Uluru. Docker River. Ernabella. Central Australia. As Frank says, "Wherever the Pitjantjatjara mob come from."

Over the past five years, the world has been discovering Frank and has seen him perform across Europe and the UK with shows in Latvia, Lithuania, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, and Switzerland. Frank has undertaken extensive live touring with highlights including the 2012 Cultural Olympiad (UK), Womad (UK), The New Hebridean Festival (Scotland), Festival Bled (Slovenia), Colours of Ostravia (Czech Republic), and most recently setting hearts on fire in Canada at Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg folk festivals. In Canada, he shared the stage with Buffy Saint Marie and The Mekons, as well as performing a coveted spot opening for Joan Baez. In 2014 Frank Yamma represented Australia at WOMEX '14.

Closer to home, Frank also performed at this year's TEDx Sydney in May and won an NIMA award for his latest album Uncle, which features songs of country, protection, heartache, and travel. And songs of love. Not of love lost, but of pure, present-day raw emotion. Uncle shows the continuity of a musician that is hitting his peak with grace and conviction.

Indigenous soulster Frank Yamma will bring his beautiful storytelling back to Canada to play the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival on August 5-7, Manitoba Aboriginal Music Week on August 10, Robson Valley Music Festival August 12-14, and he is performing a special, intimate show at Vancouver's Wise Hall on August 11 with Melbourne songstress (and recent Canadian immigrant) Larissa Tandy making a guest appearance.

Frank Yamma - 2016 Canadian Tour Dates:

• 5-7 August - Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival – Lunenberg, NS
• 10 August - Manitoba Aboriginal Music Week - Winnipeg, MB
• 11 August - The Wise Hall - Vancouver, BC
• 12-14 August - Robson Valley Music Festival - Dunster, BC

Keep up with Frank Yamma at frankyamma.com and facebook.com/frankyamma

Briggs, Thelma Plum, Dan Sultan Lead Nominations for 2015 National Indigenous Music Awards

Nominations for Australia's 2015 National Indigenous Music Awards have been announced. 

Leading the pack is acclaimed Yorta Yorta hip-hop artist Briggs who is nominated in five categories, including Artist of the Year, Best Song and Best Music Video (for "Bad Apples"), Best Album and Best Cover Art (for Sheplife). Briggs took home the award for Best New Talent at last year's NIMAs.

Following closely behind are singer Thelma Plum and "country soul rock 'n roll" artist Dan Sultan, who are each nominated for three awards.

Plum, who's latest EP, Monsters, was one of our favourite releases of last year, is nominated for Artist of the Year, and has two songs up for Song of the Year: "How Much Does Your Love Cost?" and the soaring anthem "Young in Love".

Sultan is also up for Artist of the Year, and his single "Dirty Ground" is nominated for Song of the Year and Best Music Video.

We're also pleased to see the NIMAs continue their Indigenous community focus by honouring several local musical initiatives produced by Desert Pea Media and Indigenous Hip Hop Projects in collaboration with local partners and Indigenous youth.

The National Indigenous Music Awards, which celebrate excellence in contemporary Indigenous music from across Australia, will be held in Darwin on July 25, 2015.

Here is the Full List of Nominees for the 2015 National Indigenous Music Awards:

Artist of the Year

• Jessica Mauboy
• Thelma Plum
• Dan Sultan
• Briggs

Song of the Year

• "How Much Does Your Love Cost?" – Thelma Plum
• "Young In Love" – Thelma Plum
• "Bad Apples" – Briggs
• "Dirty Ground" – Dan Sultan
• "Black Woman" – Emma Donovan

Album of the Year

• Sheplife – Briggs
• Dawn – Emma Donovan and Putbacks
• Uncle – Frank Yamma
• The Genesis Project – East Journey featuring Yothu Yindi National

New Talent of the Year

• Philly
• Lucky Luke
• Tjintu Desert Band

Cover Art of the Year

• Song of Arnhem Land – East Journey ft Yothu Yindi
• Cause N Affect – Radical Son
• Uncle – Frank Yamma
• Sheplife – Briggs

Film Clip of the Year (aka Best Music Video)

• "Bad Apples" – Briggs
• "Song of Arnhem Land (Salas/Moore Mix)" – East Journey
• "Human Behaviour" – Radical Son
• "Dirty Ground" – Dan Sultan
• "Parlingarri" – B2M (Bathurst to Melville)

Community Clip of the Year [now National]

• Breathe In, Breathe Out  - Produced By: Indigenous Hip Hop Projects was proud to partner with Katherine West Health Board and Bulla Camp
• Got a lot Going On - Yarn Safe Produced By: Indigenous Hip Hop Projects and Indigenous creative agency Gilimbaa
• Uncle Alfred’s Mens Group - Spear of Destiny Produced By: Desert Pea Media
• Cairns Murri Crew - Built To Last Produced By: Desert Pea Media
• Tagai Buway - Two Worlds Produced By: Desert Pea Media
• Call On Me - Produced by: Indigenous Hip Hop Projects was proud to partner with Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service and St. Mary's College

WATCH OUR PLAYLIST OF 2015 NIMA NOMINEES

For more information visit: National Indigenous Music Awards

Aboriginal Hip-Hop Star Briggs Drops Inspiring New Single, "The Children Came Back"

Briggs' new song, "The Children Came Back", inspires a new generation of Indigenous youth to rise up and celebrate their survival.

Raise up your ancestors. Raise up Indigenous heroes.

That's the first thing that hits you when you watch Briggs' epic new video.

The acclaimed Shepparton-based, Yorta Yorta hip-hop artist brings together a heavy list of collaborators and video guest appearances in this respectful homage to the 1990 Archie Roach anthem "Took The Children Away". But where that song mourned Roach's own experience of being taken away, and lamented the dispossession and removal of Indigenous children that have come to be known as the 'Stolen Generation', Briggs responds with an inspired sequel that—twenty-five years later—champions "black excellence" and the accomplishments of Indigenous Nations across 'Australia'.

A literal generation after Roach's anthemic and sorrowful call to account for historical injustice, Briggs swaggers boldly to the fore of an Indigenous peoples' movement unafraid to celebrate their success.

Featuring a who's who of famous contemporary Indigenous musicians and sports stars, including Lionel Rose, Jimmy Little, Adam Goodes, Cathy Freeman and Patty Mills, the song also makes sure to represent indigeneity in the music as well.

As VICE Australia notes, "With Gurrumul and Dewayne Everettsmith adding vocals, the song features traditional instrumentation including clap sticks, a yidaki from North East Arnhem Land, and a haunting chant from the B2M, a group of musicians from the Tiwi Islands.

The video features Briggs, Everettsmith, Archie Roach, Paul Kelly and 3-year old Samara Muir who recently made national headlines with her distressing experience of racism by kids her own age."

But perhaps the highest tribute comes from Archie Roach himself, who has proudly endorsed Briggs' tribute:

"I love Briggs’ song. It's about our Indigenous heroes," says Roach. "Using a part of my song, where it says 'the children came back' is really what the song is about. I feel proud to be a part of what Briggs hopes to achieve and I really love that he used young children to play the heroes because they are our future heroes."

"The Children Came Back" is a new anticolonial anthem of resurgence and return. As Briggs observes, it's equal parts "history lesson, monologue, celebration and education in one song”.

Released July 3rd to coincide with NAIDOC week in Australia, this is the sound of a generation rising.

Watch Briggs - "The Children Came Back (feat. Gurrumul & Dewayne Everettsmith)"

Decolonize Your Playlist: Stream the New Mixtape from Sovereign Trax

Sovereign Trax is back with their June playlist of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

Our cross-continental collab continues with the crew from Sovereign Trax, bringing you the dopest sounds of "nue & old trax...from contemporary and experimental" artists from the lands of occupied 'Australia'.

Last month, SovTrax launched the second issue of their new zine, Sovereign Apocalypse, blending artful contributions into future imaginings of Indigenous sovereignty. Their latest issue, appropriately rocking on an Indigenous Futurism vibe, is themed around "Galactic Imaginings"—and features an interstellar mix of interviews, art, poetry, fashion photography, lyrics, recipes, and more. Equal parts Indigenous intervention and aesthetic subversion, SOVAPOC is bringing new forms to decolonizing self-representations and Aboriginal reimaginings of our collective present and future freedom.

Shout out to co-creators Hannah Donnelly and Gabi Briggs for pushing the #IndigenousMusic and media movement forward. Check this recent review via The Lifted Brow:

The zine was launched last month in Melbourne with an all-star line-up of live performances by Seeka, Birdz, GekkZ, Tahu Dubs and Marze, as the SOVAPOC collective continues to update your essential listening list with the best of contemporary and experimental music by black artists. Blackfulla musicians, artists and writers en masse whether in performance, playlists or publications can evoke a great sense of solidarity and excited strength among blackfullas, but also offer something thrilling and new to a general public. This is what this eye-catching, tactile zine is doing in Melbourne, I think, and perhaps its applicability is because it feels as if it has come from Wiradjuri country, country pre-colonisation (only 230 years ago, I’ll keep saying it, it’s such a short time), and country now urbanised, slick and gritty and flashy – the mix of both these truths finding popularity in the hand-selling and online selling of this publication.

On the musical tip, the latest selections of Sovereign Trax celebrate indigeneity and resistance in multiple forms, featuring new songs from the likes of R.3.B, JPoint, Robbie Miller, and Lady Lash. The talent runs deep and the sounds are an effortless mix of hip-hop, electronica, R&B, reggae, and bluesy-acoustic...all representing Indigenous pride and power.

Enjoy.

STREAM: SOVEREIGN TRAX - JUNE MIX 

Sovereign Trax: June Playlist - Track List

1. E.T.P - Habit’s Die Hard
2. Nathan Morrison x Robbie Miller - Oceans
3. Golden Features x Thelma Plum - No One
4. Coedie Ochre Warrah - GRIIIND
5. Marze x Seeka - Lady Lady
6. Lady Lash - World Gone Silly ft. Pyne
7. Philly - Dreamchaser
8. JPoint - Get Wrecked
9. Zaacharia Fielding - She is the Light
10. Scott Campbell - Tipsy
11. Bow and Arrow - Midnight
12. Paul Gorrie - Pay the Rent
13. Karate Surfing - Shadows
14. Eastern Reggae - Grog’s No Good
15. Marlene Cummins - Pemulwuy

Listen to Golden Features' Epic New Track, "No One", Featuring Thelma Plum

Could this be the song of the summer?

Mask-clad Australian dance music producer Golden Features just dropped an epic new track featuring rising Indigenous star, Thelma Plum.

And oh what a track it is.

Plum's ethereal vocals provide the perfect complement to Golden Features' floating, melodic production. And the ever-intensifying, four-on-the-floor dancefloor destroyer that "No One" becomes is some kind of beat-based hypnosis. By the time the "it's getting higher" refrain arrives, you'll forget how you even got there. And then with that drop? Forget about it. It's over.

Blast this one with the windows rolled down and the midnight summer heat still blazing. Thelma Plum's stellar ascent continues its rapid rise.

STREAM: Golden Features - "No One (feat. Thelma Plum)"

Golden Features' new EP, XXIV, is available to pre-order on iTunes

Artists Join Forces Against the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities in "Australia"

Indigenous artists are fighting back against colonialism genocide and the forced closure of remote communities by the Australian government.

Leave it to the artists to #SoundtrackTheStruggle: eight First Nations artists from occupied "Australia" have joined forces to contest colonial occupation of their homelands and resist the Australian government's attempt to force the closure of Indigenous communities.

Over a rugged hip-hop rhythm, Provocalz, Lady Lash, Djarmbi Supreme, Task, GekkZ, Mad Madam, Mr. Krow, and Felon spit fire—calling out colonial forces, racist ideologies,  histories, and speaking urgent truth to power.

Solidarity in resistance to our brothers and sisters in the southern hemisphere.

Listen to "STAND PROUD" and download it below:

DOWNLOAD: "STAND PROUD"

Listen to a New Sovereign Trax Mixtape of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music

Our cross-hemisphere comrade Hannah Donnelly of Sovereign Trax just dropped a dope new mixtape for Australian art and culture magazine The Lifted Brow.

Sovereign Trax continues to compile the best in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music and in addition to the monthly mixes we've featured in the past few months on RPM, she's put together an exclusive new mix for The Lifted Brow.

Featuring a slick blend of hypnotic beats and hip-hop from the likes of Ancestress, Inonymous, Elijah the Profit, Deekay, Provocalz, Djarmbi Supreme, and The Medics, SovTrax's latest mixtape keeps the fires of Indigenous resistance and revolt from throughout occupied "Australia" burning bright.

Read more about the mix over at The Lifted Brow and get down with the get down. Full tracklist below.

STREAM: Sovereign Trax Mixtape for The Lifted Brow

Sovereign Trax – A Mix for The Lifted Brow by The Lifted Brow on Mixcloud

SOV TRAX - LIFTED BROW MIXTAPE TRACKLIST

1. Paul Gorrie – Pay the Rent 2. Ancestress x Yilinhi – Speak the Truth 3. Inonymous – Sometimes ft. Leelow 4. Elijah the Profit – The Fallen Kingdom ft. BSK 5. Birdz – All We Know 6. Iron Link – Kin and Kings 7. Seeka – Late Ambience ft. Gekkz x Mad Madam x Marze 8. MC Bunz – War of the Words 9. Lady Lash – Blind Love 10. Dubbzone – Extraordinary But I’m Black 11. Deekay – Time for Sum Akshun 12. Provocalz – Cop Shot 13. Dizzy Doolan – Strictly Women’s Biz 14. Gekkz – What Does It Take 15. Coedie Ochre Warrah – High^Notes 16. Djarmbi Supreme – Go to Hell 17. The Medics – Wake Up

Stream Thelma Plum's "Young in Love" (Yosi Horikawa Remix)

Chiba-based producer Yosi Horikawa adds nature sounds and a touch of magic to this deft remix of Thelma Plum's "Young in Love".

Thelma Plum's "Young in Love" was already a great, haunting slice of pop noir with a video to match, but Japanese sound artist Yosi Horikawa's remix elevates the tune in unexpected ways.

Known for his sonic deployment of everyday objects like table tennis balls, kalimbas, shakers, and insects in his electronic compositions, Horikawa leaves Plum's melody intact, but suffuses the track with the warm and welcoming acoustic atmospherics of nature sounds—thunderstorms, falling rain and bird song—mixed with synthesized bubbling beats and electronic currents.

Tasteful, delicate, beautiful, compelling listening.

Stream Thelma Plum's "Young in Love" (Yosi Horikawa Remix)

PREMIERE: Blue King Brown's "Born Free" - Album Stream

In an already incredible week for Indigenous music, Blue King Brown drops Born Free, a strong contender for album of the year. RPM is very excited to bring you an exclusive first listen.

Calling on all nations to 'rize up' and be counted, Blue King Brown's new album Born Free is an uplifting and powerful soundtrack to global struggles for freedom and unity.

Riding the wave of their massive lead singles, "Rize Up" and "All Nations", the anticipation for their new album has been building for almost a year. And by all counts, it's been worth the wait. Born Free is easily BKB's most accomplished album to date.

Production on the new album is handled by Styalz Fuego, Notis, Mista Savona, James ‘Bonzai’ Caruso, and Chris Macro, and was recorded at the legendary Tuff Gong studios in Kingston, Jamaica and studios in Melbourne, Australia. As lead singer Natalie Pa'apa'a (newly dubbed Natalli Rize) says: "After spending most of the year in studio mode and off the road, we are proud to be bringing our new album...to the world, and returning to the stage with the full force live show".

BKB already has a reputation as one of Australia's premiere live acts, and the songs on Born Free demand to be heard on a huge sound system—performed live to a massive mob of freedom fighting warriors.

From chanting down the evils of Babylon on "Rize Up" and "Renegade", to calling for love, unity and change in the deep grooves of "Fyah", "Like A Lion", and "Babylon A Fall", Born Free sounds out hope and possibility at every turn.

Righteous without being preachy, optimistic without being naïve, Blue King Brown's unique mix of urban roots, dancehall, reggae and rock flows effortlessly through an album with no missing pieces and no weak links.

Powered by the clarion call of Natalli Rize's voice, Born Free is a wake up call to sleeping masses lost in a world of manipulation and continuous distraction. Like Rize says, on the album's closing track: "If you have a conscience / you should know just how to use it".

Blue King Brown is leading by example. Born Free is fire.

Stream Blue King Brown's "Born Free" 

Check out the video for their latest single "All Nations", filmed in the jungle and streets of Vanuatu and Melbourne, in solidarity and support for the West Papuan struggle for self-determination and freedom.

Download "Born Free" from bluekingbrown.com and follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and SoundCloud.

STREAM: Blue King Brown - "All Nations"

Indigenous Australian urban roots crew Blue King Brown is back in a big way with their massive tune, "All Nations".

Lead vocalist Natalli Rize and her reggae and dubwise BKB comrades are set to release their powerful third album, Born Free, on November 7th and their latest single and video are already catching fire.

"All Nations" is an uplifting anthemic call out to all people worldwide to reclaim our freedom and to make what BKB calls "music for this movement, for the battle and the fight for People over profits, Justice over Greed, Freedom over Slavery".

"'All Nations' at its core is about people power", says Rize, "Calling out to All People from All Nations to recognize their power and reclaim it, use it, assert it in these times of shifting consciousness, a time of discontent with the current world system and paradigm". To this end, the band dedicated and premiered the song in support of the self-determination movement to Free West Papua.

BKB have built a huge audience for their socially conscious and politically engaged music in support of Indigenous rights and global struggles for liberation. And they've stepped up every aspect of their production and songwriting this time around: Born Free was recorded at the legendary Tuff Gong studios in Kingston, Jamaica, Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne, and Blue King Brown's own studio in Melbourne, Australia.

Capturing the sound of the struggle and the essence of what art and activism can do to inspire change, "All Nations" will have you waving the flag of freedom and singing along with a raised fist.

Stream: Blue King Brown - "All Nations" 

And check the video for this epic tune below:

Watch the Haunting Video for Thelma Plum's "Young in Love"

Fresh off the summer success of her Monsters EP, Indigenous Australian singer Thelma Plum drops a haunting video for "Young in Love".

Thelma Plum is going to be big. There's no question about it. Her voice, presence and songwriting are riveting. We first discovered her music through a hypnotizing acoustic folk performance she did in-studio at a local Australian radio station. Since then, she won the triple j Unearthed competition, joined forces with hip-hop producer M-Phazes, and dropped the mesmerizing Monsters EP earlier this summer. Her transition to rich soundscapes and brooding, dark pop has gained her serious attention and massive radio play. You'll be seeing and hearing a lot more of this rising talent. Guaranteed. Catch her on the road this fall on a national tour (full tour dates below).

Stream Thelma Plum's "Young in Love"

Watch: Thelma Plum - "Young in Love"

Thelma Plum Fall 2014 Tour Dates

THU 30 OCT | THE SMALL BALLROOM, NEWCASTLE NSW Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

FRI 31 OCT | OXFORD ART FACTORY, SYDNEY NSW Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au | 1300 GET TIX

SAT 01 NOV | TRANSIT BAR, CANBERRA ACT Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au | 1300 GET TIX

SUN 02 NOV | ANITA’S THEATRE, THIRROUL NSW Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

FRI 07 NOV | KAROVA LOUNGE, BALLARAT VIC Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

SAT 08 NOV | CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE VIC Tickets available from www.cornerhotel.com | 03 9427 9198

SUN 09 NOV | BEAVS BAR, GEELONG VIC Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

FRI 14 NOV | PLAYERS BAR, MANDURAH WA ^ Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

SAT 15 NOV | AMPLIFIER, PERTH WA ^ Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

SUN 16 NOV | NEWPORT HOTEL, FREMANTLE WA ^ Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

THU 20 NOV | JIVE, ADELAIDE SA Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au | 1300 GET TIX

SAT 22 NOV | THE DARWIN RAILWAY CLUB, DARWIN NT ** Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

FRI 28 NOV | THE SOUNDLOUNGE, GOLD COAST QLD Tickets available from www.soundlounge.com.au

SAT 29 NOV | THE ZOO, BRISBANE QLD Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

STREAM: Mau Power - "Island Home"

Torres Strait Islander hip-hop artist, Mau Power, reworks an Australian classic into an uplifting homage to his Indigenous homeland.

Mau Power is a force to be reckoned with. As a community leader, a hip-hop workshop facilitator with Desert Pea Media and UNICEF, and an ambassador for Indigenous hip-hop coming from the Torres Straits, he speaks to the synergies between Indigenous and hip-hop cultures with ease and confidence. Power's new album, The Show Will Go On, chronicles his autobiographical journey through experiences of incarceration, transformation and personal growth into fatherhood.

The lead single from his album, "Island Home", reworks the Warumpi Band hit from 1988 and samples Christine Anu's pop classic into an impassioned hip-hop tribute to his roots, homeland, people and relations. "Coming from the Islands", Power says, "I want to share our beautiful culture and proud history with the world. Yes I am Australian, but the Torres Straits are my heart, my soul, my love and the inspiration for much of my music."

The closing lyrics of "Island Home" distill the essence of Mau Power's music into a call for action and regeneration: "Unite the music / heart and mind reconnect / ancestors take me on that quest".

STREAM: Mau Power - "Island Home"

And keep an eye out for Mau Power's forthcoming single and video, "Freedom" featuring the legendary Aboriginal Australian artist Archie Roach.