Deline Briscoe is a strong Yalanji woman of song from the Daintree Region of Far North Queensland. Her roots planted deep in Yalanji culture and Gospel vocals Deline combines the two worlds in her 2018 Album "Wawu".
ALWAYS LIVE will be one of the biggest musical series to ever hit Victoria and one of its most important events will be BLAKTIVISM - a powerful night of First Nations music led by Yothu Yindi at Arts Centre Melbourne.
BLAKTIVISM returns on December 8 – this time at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Hamer Hall – to present one of the most powerful First Nations music lineups Melbourne has ever witnessed, galvanised in direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement and its wide-reaching significance for First Peoples, as well as contemporary discussions of Indigenous sovereignty. GABA MUSIK’s artistic directors Deline Briscoe and Airileke have curated a collaborative performance from reggae pioneer Bart Willoughby, celebrated jazz and gospel artist Deline Briscoe, legendary soul vocalist Emma Donovan, composer, performer and archivist Lou Bennett, poet and writer Romaine Moreton, and the stunning flutes, drumming and dancers from Sorong Samarai.
Following this, Yothu Yindi will grace the Hamer Hall stage – figureheads in the Treaty movement for more than 35 years – to play an individual set. The evening’s MC will be renowned Butchulla Songman and Black Arm Band member Fred Leone. BLAKTIVISM is part of a stellar lineup of events coming to Arts Centre Melbourne throughout the three months ALWAYS LIVE takes over the city. The very next night at Hamer Hall, Sampa the Great will play her new album As Above, So Below – Front to Back in its entirety.
Throughout the months across Arts Centre Melbourne venues, including Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Texan psych-funk sensations Khruangbin, Richie Hawtin, Sama’ Abdulhadi, Victor Ruiz and Joseph Capriati will all perform. The Melbourne Music Bus Tour, running from October 15 until December 10, sees Melbourne musicologist Bruce Milne and music journalist Mary Mihelakos lead Melburnians on a tour of their own rich musical history; the dimly lit band rooms, recording studio revelations, side-of-stage secrets and revolutionary musicians who called Melbourne home.
Guests confirmed to join the tours so far include Angie Hart, Clare Bowditch, Jane Clifton, Paul Stewart, Wilbur Wilde as well as a special 70s Melbourne punk scene tout with The Birthday Party and Boys Next Door drummer, Phill Calvert. The Melbourne Music Bus’ first leg has sold out, but there’ll be a second leg announced on September 13. n the Arts Centre forecourt, a custom-made Spacecube structure called the ALWAYS LIVE SoundBox will offer visitors an insight into the buzzing energy of the Australian music industry; activated with music videos, performances, recordings and interviews. The multi-use cubed space will be used for recording and broadcasting, and include a lo-fi performance space for podcasting, co-writing and more, with a perfect front row viewing point.
Then there’ll be a series of very exciting workshops staged at Arts Centre Melbourne’s multi-use creative learning lab, The Channel, aimed at producers and beginners alike. Songwriting workshops, an Ableton and hardware integration workshop, and a workshop titled ‘Household Techno‘ – teaching artists to record and manipulate audio samples using found objects to create dynamic and fun tracks in Ableton Live. For regional Victorians in Horsham and Echuca, there will be a free series of incredible First Nations talent presented by ALWAYS LIVE, Live Nation, Songlines and Australian Music Vault called Hometown. The first performance will feature Isaiah Firebrace and will take place at at Echuca’s Girgarre Sound Shell on December 4. The second will feature Alice Skye at Horsham’s Sawyer Park Sound Shell on December 10.
To get tickets for BLAKTIVISM, head here. For more information on all of these ALWAYS LIVE performances visit artscentremelbourne.com.au.