7 minute read
HEALING TIME
When I last called Indigenous singer-songwriter Kutcha Edwards in 2016, he was preparing for a special event. He’d been nominated for both the Melbourne Prize for Music and the Distinguished Musicians Fellowship. Signing off from our chat, he was about to get his glad rags on for the awards night. Edwards was awarded both accolades. That night became significant for a couple of other reasons. The Mutti Mutti man was the driver behind one of the artistic gifts bestowed on our community during 2020’s big COVID lockdown. The collaborative online video of ‘We Sing’ lifted us up during the tough time. It features on his new album Circling Time. ‘Kutcha recalls, “The song had festered in its infancy the night that Trump got in [as US President]. This is how dumb I am. I was the Melbourne Prize recipient that night but in the back of my mind, I’m thinking, ‘Great. I just received the prize for music and the fellowship aligned to that. But if a businessman is now leader of the free world, what’s going to happen? Everything’s gunna become about economics not humanity itself.’ He was all about the red button and the world was going to be thrown into disarray. One of his main platforms was building a wall between Mexico and the US.” Kutcha breaks into a Trump impersonation. (‘Build a wall! Build a wall!’) “So, I started thinking about some lyrics: ‘I hear a baby crying in the night, whispers in the wind, echoes calling out your name. Rocked to its core, sounds we cannot ignore. Time to reignite the flame.’ The flame is referring to Cathy Freeman. See, the Olympics is supposed to be apolitical. But for aboriginal people, it was supposed to be this form of unity, Cathy being this light. The second verse: ‘It’s time for us to hear, beyond the new frontier, waking to a brighter dawn, blessed by the sun, united as one, when a new child is born.’ That refers to unity and bringing a child into the world where all they’re hearing is bombs and so forth. Which, sadly, is still happening…” The chorus declares: ‘We sing for love, we live for justice, we long for freedom, we dream of peace.’ I suggest those principles would qualify
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the song as a new national anthem. “If only,” he says. “But I’d have to agree to the terms of engagement of the Australian constitution as it stands and I will not. That constitution has no connection or bearing to my ancestry. The powers that be understand all that. They know my stance.” Guests adding their voices (remotely) to ‘We Sing’ included Emma Donovan, Joe Geia, Archie Roach, Paul Kelly, Judith Durham, David Bridie and Emily WurraMara. Kutcha says, “The logistics for the recording were astonishing. I think it was 70 people in the choir. Each did two different vocals in two chord structures. So that’s 140 channels in itself. Producer Andy Stewart [Gotye, Paul Kelly] had to bring those vocals down to one channel to become 70 again. Then editing maybe 10 each into the one because the computer was going ballistic! Everybody sent film of themselves performing – on smart phones or whatever capability they had - to Luke McNee (Seagrass Films director). Luke kept creating that wall of people you see on the video. It’s an amazing piece of technology.” Kutcha believes there’ve been over 66,000 hits on YouTube. “I hope people will re-visit it after this album release.” Kutcha’s music has always suited fireside gatherings. Whether uniting by the hearth at home or a campfire in the bush. He says, “This [his fifth studio album] is a bit different from Beneath The Surface (2016) and Blak and Blu (2012). They all have their own different character, purpose and story to tell.” Circling Time again features stories representing characters on the fringes of society. A survivor of the Stolen Generations, Kutcha tells a poignant personal story on the new album. ‘Mrs Edwards’ portrays the visit of his mother to her ‘removed’ children. Authorities dictate the little time allowed. “To be coerced after a three hour visit that you have to exit, when it took you five hours to get there… And a lifetime to get to after us being removed. It’s those memories of childhood that tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘Do you remember?’ Me and my
HEALING TIME Kutcha Edwards’ new album Circling Time features stories representing characters on the fringes of society. By Chris Lambie
mother only had a short sort of togetherness, from when I was 13 to 18…but it was very strong. She taught me a lot.” Somehow, despite no dialogue of his mum being sung, her pain is palpable across the track. “When I sat down to record that vocal, I felt a presence. I’m sure it was mum. I asked Andy – still at the desk – ‘How was that, old son?’ He wouldn’t turn around. I said, ‘Are you ok? What’s going on? Was it that shit?’ He was very emotional. He said, I’ve recorded all around the world and that’s the best vocal I’ve heard. I said, ‘Funningly enough (sic, a classic Kutcha-ism) I’m sure the old girl was in the space’. He said, ‘Why do you think I’m a mess? I heard the moment when your delivery changed from singing a lyric to entering the lyric.’ It’s affected all the guys who recorded the album. Satch (Marcus Satchell) who played bass, Col Matthews (lead guitar), Dean Roberts (rhythm guitar/keys) and Tom Lynch who played piano on that track, I think. I find myself listening to it and it takes me back to that day, not to the moment that I recorded it, but to that day. That’s what music is supposed to do. Take you on a journey in life or remind you.” Kutcha says, “There’s a lot of subliminal messages in the tracks. Andy is a deep thinker. He’s a different cat. He looks at audio differently. He’ll go right into the structure of notes, patterns. All producers do that, but he’s very particular. One day he asked Col to play a G chord. He recorded it then zoomed right in on it, put it through some phaser or something, and said, ‘That looks a lot better!’ The stunning ballad ‘Singing Up Country’, in three movements, sends shivers up the spine. Its outro features singer/linguist Wayne Thorpe singing the Gunnai words Boondjil Noorrook would have sent across Country 250 years ago, alerting neighbours of the approach of ‘ghost ships’, the First Fleet. Former Watbalimba bandmate from the 90s, Thorpe initially couldn’t quite match the vocal to the timing of the accompanying piano. “I told him, ‘Sit quietly, let the timing into your spirit and you’ll get it’. And that’s what he did. It’s an amazing vocal. Stops you in your tracks. When people hear it, they get very emotional. At the ending, there’s a crack of lightning and thunder. A portent of the storm to come.” The hypnotic track ‘Trying To Outrun The Sun’ sees Kutcha singing falsetto, a surprising contrast to his familiar baritone resonance. It was inspired by the singer and his wife watching the rapid setting of the sun on the west coasts of Tasmania and Broome. “One minute the sun’s there, the next it’s gone. It’s actually freaky. It was the first time I’d used the Omnichord in recording. I don’t play it when I’m with a band but I use it when I’m doing solo. Andy persuaded me. ‘You have a relationship with the Omni because you do all your writing on it’.” ‘Homeless’ is a song inspired by Kutcha’s work in the community. “You understand your purpose when you go to men’s behavioural change gatherings. They’re looking for that guiding spirit. Struggling in the journey of life itself. Until you find your actual purpose, you’re chasing your tail, looking for affirmation with the wrong connections.” ‘Today’ is dedicated to Kutcha’s wife. The pair had surgical procedures just weeks apart in 2020. Their healing brings hope, echoing the spirit of the 2021 NAIDOC theme. Much longer than Kutcha’s previous albums, Circling Time was recorded over 15 months. “I loved the process. It’s about the journey not just the destination. The relationships born in the studio. I really appreciate the guys who created it with me, not for me, but with me. Creating this bed and entering into my songline. As non-aboriginal people, I’m giving them access to spirit of place that not many people get. Everybody carries a spirit whether connected to an aboriginal songline or not. I can access that. I hope I’m not trying to be overly culturally connected. I just understand process and the responsibility I take in explaining, not just my personal journey, but my family’s journey in that.”
