What a joy to be sharing songs across the Winter:
May 23rd: Willie Smiths Serenades
June 1st: Afternoon Crooning – Republic Bar & Cafe
June 6th: Supporting Keanu Nelson
June 7th: Dark Mofo Winter Feast
June 9th: MONA – Museum of Old and New
June 5th: Dark Mofo Winter Feast
Dark Mofo‘s solstice banquet on the waterfront. Fire, live music, food and drink by candlelight.
June 6th: Keanu Nelson at the Playhouse Theatre
Keanu Nelson, a Luritja singer-songwriter and visual artist from Papunya released his debut album in 2023 under Altered State Tapes. Produced and recorded in Papunya by Yuta Matsumura, the functionally-minimal electronic backings provide the perfect canvas for Keanu to transpose the stories from his notebook, sung in both Language and occasional English, into sound. The influence of Papunya’s strong local church community is evident at times in the Casio Gospel sound of some tracks. As are the plodding, reggae-esque beats in others, not unlike those that are mysteriously distributed in community via USB sticks and phone transfers to be played on TV’s.
Also a semi-regular painter at the Papunya Tjupi Arts Centre, Keanu’s album can be seen as another manifestation of the intense creativity evident in the community, wherein dreamings of traditional culture, family and home are dominant themes.
Nelson is currently on a south-east tour and selling out shows at Dark Mofo and performing at the Playhouse Theatre in Nipaluna/Hobart on June 6th.