TOP END ROCK! NT MUSIC PROFILED

TOP END ROCK! NT MUSIC SCENE PROFILED
June 7, 2010 | Author:Greg Phillips

AUSTRALIAN MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHTS THE NT MUSIC SCENE AND CHATS WITH MUSIC NT'S MARK SMITH
Ever got into a yarn about the Australian music scene? The talk generally turns to Melbourne and Sydney acts and venues pretty quickly, right? And more recently, Perth and Brisbane too? However the Northern Territory rarely gets a mention and that’s a shame, because there’s a plethora of talented artists creating some really interesting music and performing it in extraordinary places. Top end musician Mark Smith would like to see more focus on artists from the Northern Territory and he and his team at Music NT are working hard to give their artists the profile they deserve. Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips chatted to Mark about the Northern Territory music scene and the great work that Music NT is doing.

AM: Mark, when was Music NT formed?
MS: Music NT was formed as an organisation called MIDI (Music Industry Development Incorporated) in 1996. It was formed by a number of musicians from a desire to create a representative body to push for increased opportunities for local original musicians to perform and develop careers. MIDI changed its name to Music NT and has developed into the lead contemporary music body in the Northern Territory.

When did you come on board and what was your background in music?
I have been involved with the organisation in various capacities over a number of years. Firstly, as a musician and band manager I utilised the services offered by the organisation and eventually was elected to the Board of Management. Throughout the years I have worked on particular projects coordinated by Music NT and in April 2008 successfully applied for the position of manager.
My background in music is as a drummer. I grew up initially learning through school and performing in various groups including Darwin Symphony Orchestra and Youth Orchestra as well as forming small bands with other musicians. Around 1996 myself and a number of other musicians who grew up together formed a group called Drum Drum, which was essentially a world music group. From small beginnings Drum Drum soon established a strong proﬁle locally and nationally and eventually this group took us around the world touring to over 14 countries. I also worked in a management and performing role with a hip hop group called Culture Connect out of Darwin. I’m currently freelancing, as Music NT takes up a lot of time. I have worked most recently with Yilila which is a group from Numbulwar on the East Coast of Arnhem Land and we secured a showcase spot at the Womex conference in Copenhagen in October 2009.

Tell me about some of the programs Music NT is currently running?
Music NT aims to deliver programs that are relevant for any musician regardless of what level they are performing at or where they are located in the Territory. Some of Music NT's programs include the:Indigenous Music Awards - Celebrating excellence in Northern Territory indigenous Music, iNTune Music Conference - Bringing national music industry to the Northern Territor, RAMP (Regional Areas Music Program) Bringing activity, music programs and music workshops to regional and remote areas in the NT. NT Music Month – a month-long celebration (August-September) of music festivals, gigs and community music events that happen right around the Territory.

Tell me about some of the key people behind Music NT and what they do.
Music NT emerged from a desire amongst musicians in Darwin to support local music and the local music industry. There are a number of key people involved in the development of the organisation through its formation as MIDI (Music Industry Development Inc) through to Music NT as we know it today. In terms of staff on the ground … well I’m the manager. I am responsible for overseeing our programs, liaising with government and other agencies – and I spend a lot of my time applying for funding to get programs up and running. I also spend a lot of time strategically planning how to best serve the NT music industry and musicians, and also making strategic alliances with other agencies, schools, organisations and individuals. We work in tandem with many others – that’s very key to what we do too.

We also employ a Music NT Coordinator in Alice Springs, Milyika Scales. Milyika has a really interesting background in arts, theatre (including burlesque), festivals and music in Alice, having worked in marketing and with key Alice
organisations, including CAAMA Music. She represents Music NT in that region – including the Central Desert and Barkly regions - and facilitates the MuNT programs. She also travels to communities to meet musicians, see what they’re up to, and to work out how Music NT can support them best with programs and resources.

Micah Wenitong is our Indigenous Music Development Officer. He spends a lot of his time travelling to remote areas in the NT, and working in communities with musicians, schools and cultural organisations. He runs music workshops, meets with key community members, and sometimes just helps out where needed. Not long ago he was part of a break-dancing workshop on Bathurst Island! Hailing from a musical family, Micah is also a musician – he’s part the Wenitong family from hip hop group The Last Kinection, and has even been known to jump on stage for a song or two.

Megan Spencer works in Marketing and Special Projects, but mainly as our Online Content Manager, for both the Music NT website and Forum. Coming from a broadcasting and film background, she helps facilitate discussions, keeps news and gigs up to date, and writes profiles on our members and other reports and stories. Our Music NT Forum has been really successful in creating a music community across the NT – it’s been the perfect way to unify musicians from all over the Territory, and give them a platform from which to speak, and a network in which they can share and really interact with each other. Physically, in the NT we are often disconnected by distance; people often work in remote areas and in isolation. Our Music NT Forum has brought over 320 people together from all over, and it’s gone off in a relatively short amount of time.

Phillip Eaton is part of one of the Top End’s beloved ska and reggae bands, Wild Water (frontman Paul ‘Djolpa’ Mackenzie has also performed with renowned Indigenous group, Black Arm Band), and the amazing Cinco Locos, amongst others. He is a musician’s musician, and runs the Music NT Rehearsal Space, which especially helps develop young NT bands in their formative years. Phil also assists in admin support, and is responsible for updating and maintaining the all-important Music NT membership database. Our members are our life blood.
Lisa Buchanan is our Head of Administration. She has lived in Darwin for donkeys and was part of one of its best and most infamous DJ and dance clubs, Club Kongo, where many influential musicians, bands and DJs sprang forth. She has an amazing number of music contacts and local music knowledge, and is the glue that holds Music NT together. She’s also a DJ who never fails to get an entire dance floor on its feet. I’d also like to point out that most of our staff work part-time – a lot gets packed into their time.

What is local government's relationship with Music NT?
Music NT has a very strong relationship with the Northern Territory government. They are our major funding partner. We are developing relationships on the local government front also, throughout the shires, with a view to developing partnerships with them for the delivery of services to their regions.

Who are some of the emerging NT artists we should be looking
out for?
The NT is full of great new music at the moment – it’s an incredibly exciting time. I think this is a reﬂection of the increased awareness and engagement also that NT music is having with the rest of the country. There are so many, but some artists to watch out for are: Jess Ribeiro & The Bone Collectors (Darwin) Tracey Bunn (Darwin) Garrangali Band (North East Arnhem Land) Unbroken Expanse (Tennant Creek) Dr Strangeways (Alice Springs) The Moving Targets (Darwin) Leah Flanagan Band (Darwin) Tjupi Band (Papunya) Pott Street (Darwin) Seldom Party (Alice Springs)

What's your favourite ‘feel good’ story in relation to the positive effect Music NT's programs have had on an artist?
At the iNTune Music Conference in 2009 Warren H Williams, one of the NT's leading Indigenous singer-songwriters, was attending. And through a chance meeting with Peter Noble (Director of Byron Bay Bluesfest), he was able to successfully get a slot at the Byron Bay Blues Festival. This was a great opportunity for Warren as he had just released an album through ABC Music. Without Peter being in town for iNTune, it may never have happened.

WAMI has been successful in developing a music scene in WA whereby many high proﬁle artists have emerged. Do you see NT blooming in a similar way?
In the long term that is our goal. The scene is still small in comparison, and is affected by factors including small population, isolation from key industry and vast distances within the Territory. But - I want to stress - there has always been interesting, high quality music produced in the Northern Territory, and at certain times acts have achieved great success, including Yothu Yindi, Sunrise Band, Gurrumul and Jessica Mauboy.

The WA story is one of success from a number of artists creating a watershed of interest in what else is happening in the WA scene, followed by music industry organisations setting up ofﬁces there, and the proﬁle then rapidly increasing. The Northern Territory is a different model in some respects and will always suffer from a smaller population base from which to create that interest.

Darwin has quite a transient population with a lot of tourists. Do you think the cultural mix/input affects the music that is
produced there?
More so than the tourist population, the music here is inﬂuenced by the make up of the Darwin population. The multi-cultural mix is what really drives the sound, range and diversity of music in the Territory. It ranges from strong Asian and South East Asian inﬂuences through to Paciﬁc Islanders and their culture, and Greek heritage. And it goes without saying that Indigenous heritage is strongly prevalent across all areas of the NT and therefore the NT’s music. I think that easy access and a ready understanding of a number of different cultures has informed the development of the NT music scene.

Having had a personal upbringing in Darwin - in which interaction with people from this diaspora is natural rather than something created - it results in a scene free of pretension and full of originality. Jessica Mauboy is a prime example of this, being a mixture of Indonesian and Indigenous heritage. Darwin also acts as a sort of ‘half way house’ for many musicians wanting a change - for many reasons - and this inﬂuence is passed on to musicians here.

From what I hear, the venues for gigs in the NT can be quite exotic. Tell me about some of the various kinds of places where music is performed in NT.
If ‘exotic’ means rare and hard to ﬁnd, then YES!! Once you get out of the main centres, the beauty of the place is that anything is a venue whether that be a basketball court, on a river bed, next to a waterfall, on the back of a truck, inside a shipping container, on a lawn, on someone’s verandah, at a WWII gun turret, up a treehouse, on the tip of a peninsula under the full moon … anything!

Bands from the southern states generally tour up and down the east coast. Would you encourage them to tour the NT? What kind of venues are available for them to play?
We would deﬁnitely encourage bands and artists to look at any opportunities in the NT – perhaps more artists tour and play here than people realise, especially in the Dry Season (May – September) in the Top End, and at the many Festivals that run all over the Territory at different times of the year (eg: Alice Desert Festival, Barunga, Darwin Festival, Wide Open Space, Garma etc). Some acts even weave it into their year’s schedule to come and stay and play in the NT at certain times of the year. The key original music venue for Darwin is Happy Yess which is a community venue run solely to support original music. In Alice, Ki Warehouse is a great option.

What are the major hurdles performers come across in NT?
Isolation, the cost of travel and lack of performance opportunities.There are similar issues with a lack of venues willing to try original music as well as a lack of support amongst audiences for original music. The distances in the NT make touring quite a major proposition in terms of costs, so bands ﬁnd it difﬁcult to ﬁnancially justify it.

You have a conference coming up in August. What is that all about and what is the relationship with the ‘NT IMAs’, the NT Indigenous Music Awards?
The Music Conference – iNTune - has been initiated to try and bring opportunities into the NT music industry and culture. Namely to connect the national music industry to local Northern Territory musicians and music industry. With a limited industry infrastructure in place, musicians ﬁnd it hard to make the connection and develop industry relationships, and we view this as a key role for the Music NT organisation. The conference involves panels, workshops and a showcase program, and over 20 national industry ﬁgures. In 2010, we will be bringing the conference to both Darwin and Alice Springs, widening the reach of the program and providing greater opportunity for interaction and connection. Additionally Music NT hosts the NT Indigenous Music Awards which celebrates excellence in the Northern Territory Indigenous music scene. The awards are judged by a number of national and local industry representatives, and are a vehicle for celebrating excellence as well as providing a platform for the promotion of high quality music from the Northern Territory. 2010 is the 7th year of the Awards, which are growing in strength and stature each year. 2009 had a massive audience with many interstate guests in attendance – it was hugely successful.

What are some of the goals you have set yourself with Music NT?
One of the most recent – and most important too I think – is that Music NT has made a conscious effort to deliver support, resources and activity to regional and remote areas in the past 18 months. The Northern Territory is a vast area and there exists a number of barriers to providing an equitable division of opportunities to musicians who live remotely. But through a series of programs called RAMP (Regional Areas Music Programs) Music NT is working hard to bridge that gap.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Living in the NT is like nowhere else in Australia; it’s beautiful, rugged, diverse, spacious – a frontier in many respects. But it’s also changing rapidly too, and evolving. That is reflected in the music here. I think some of the most interesting, progressive, experimental and marketable music in Australia is being made right here. We have such a diverse range of artists, who are incredibly talented. And such a diverse range of music genres, that often fuse in the most surprising and satisfying of ways. The transient nature of the place also contributes to that, in a really positive way. Isolation often means you have time to experiment and refine, without the distraction or pressures or competition that musicians in larger regional centres or cities perhaps have to deal with on a daily basis. Music in a sense is the life blood of the Territory; it’s how people communicate and meet and tell stories and convey ideas. And entertain each other. Simply put, the NT rocks. We’re just waiting for the word to get out!

Visit www.musicnt.com.au for more information

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