Butchulla Songman Fred Leone and musical innovator and contrabassist Samuel Pankhurst’s debut album Yirinda, invoke the sounds of thousands of generations of story and culture, while emerging as something entirely new.
Yirinda has been performed at Mona Foma, Melbourne Recital Centre, Brisbane Festival, HOTA and more.
It is a stunningly beautiful record that combines, ancient Aboriginal language with sublime modern production.
Fred’s role as a Songman sees him as one of the custodians of the traditional songs of the Queensland Butchulla tribe and one of a handful of keepers and custodians of their language.
Often described as ‘holographic’ and ‘visceral’, Yirinda’s sound is a result of Fred and Samuel’s willingness to be guided by the ancient stories of Fred’s old people. Yirinda means ‘Now’ in Butchulla language. Butchulla country is in the Fraser Coast region including K’gari.
Yirinda will be performed with a full band featuring a collection of exceptional artists, including strings, synths and percussion.
“The whole show felt like an invitation to understand the time and the distance that the songs had travelled to reach us”
Artists
Fred Leone:
Multidisciplinary Artist
Ngulungburra Butchulla
Ngulungburra Songman
Garrwa Tribe Mambaliya Clan
Samuel Pankhurst: Contrabassist, Producer
+ Strings & Percussion to be announced
Listen to ‘A Deadset Sick Warrior’ on ABC, in conversation with Boe Spearim, presented by Farz Edraki
All photography: Mark Crannitch
Tickets
Meet the ArtistS
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Fred Leone
Fred Leone is one of the Butchulla Songmen with Aboriginal, Tongan and South-Sea Islander roots. He comes from the Garrwa and Butchulla tribes.
Fred’s role as a Songman sees him as one of the custodians of the traditional songs of the Butchulla tribe and one of a handful of keepers and custodians of their language. Fred is active in his role as a Songman, ensuring that contemporary Butchulla stories are embedded into the collective memory of the tribes oral histories and ceremonies going forward.
As a Songman, his primary instrument is his voice, yet he uses Didgeridoo (Kuluru in Garrwa language), boomerangs (Bargan in Butchulla language), Emu egg (Ngurunj in Butchulla language), tree branches, sand and other objects from K’gari to form his traditional sound pallet.
Fred has been touring the world for over a decade, throwing rhymes and traveling with Public Enemy, Dead Prez and People Under The Stairs as well as receiving invites to collaborate and play with contemporary artists such as John Butler, Xavier Rudd, Amanda Palmer, best-selling author, Neil Gaiman and many, many more.
Fred blends his love of hip-hop rhyming and his singularly unique vocal style with his adeptness playing traditional instruments to create an utterly new and unique sound. He’s known for his abilities to transcend genre and form whilst bringing the true integrity of his life’s calling as a Songman to the forefront of all that he touches.
Recently, his guest appearance singing in Butchulla on his cousin Birdz’s track Bagi-la-m Bargan helped see the song become a hit, with millions of streams, a cavalcade of synch placements and a placement at #30 on Triple J’s hottest 100.
Samuel Pankhurst
Samuel has performed with Allan Browne OAM, Paul Grabowsky, Bernie McGann, Missy Higgins, Iain Graindage, Louis Burdett, John Rose, Kate Miller Heidke, Erkki Veltheim, Andrew D’Angelo (USA), the Sun Ra Arkestra, Brian Ritchie (USA), Erik Griswold (USA), Vanessa Tomlinson, Tony Buck, Katie Noonan, The Brodsky String Quartet (UK), Mike Nock, and Indigenous artists William Barton and Aunty Delmae Barton. He is a member of the Australian Art Orchestra and has premiered works by Alvin Lucier (USA), Nicole Lizee (CAN), and Paul Grabowsky.
Pankhurst’s collaboration with Butchulla songman Fred Leone – Yirinda – combines ancient Butchulla songlines with Samuel’s eclectic contrabass and compositional style. The were stand out acts at 2019 Supersense: Festival of the Ecstatic, artists in residence at MONA FOMA 2019, and performed at Golden Plains festival 2020.
Samuel is currently developing a large scale installation /performance piece with legendary Indigenous artist Archie Moore. The piece tackles Australia’s rich tapestry of racism in the media. He is working on a major commission to write for the Australian Art Orchestra and Yirinda, plus a new sound design for prominent Indigenous dancer/choreographer Thomas Kelly.
As a producer/musical director he has worked with celebrated indie rock act ‘The Trouble With Templeton’ (Bella Union records UK), Grammy award nominated Hiatus Kaiyote, Brisbane art-punk iconoclast Gerald Keaney and the Gerald Keaneys, and legendary Indigenous singer songwriter Shellie Morris. Samuel was commissioned to compose the original score for ‘City Crush’ and ‘Leisure’ by filmmaker Mia Forrest. Both have been screened extensively at festivals around the world whilst the former was selected by the Cannes Film Festival.
Pankhurst is the composer, sound designer and audio editor for Wunungu Awara as well as dialogue editor on Bluey. He curates a monthly DIY open mic night called Vomit Cabaret and is the owner and artistic director of Poverty Castles: an East Brisbane based record label which works with super marginal local artists, on their terms.
