Gurrumul by Adrian Cook
The first Boomerang Festival, to be held on the October long weekend, has made its first line-up announcement, with Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu at the top of the bill.
Following his lauded appearance with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra during Vivid Festival, Gurrumul will appear at Boomerang with the 24-piece Queensland Virtuoso Symphony Orchestra, re-arranging and performing hits from his Aria award-winning, multi-platinum albums.
Also in the line-up is Archie Roach. One of Australia’s favourite singer-songwriters, Roach has crafted a new show Creation, based around the first decade of his performing life, embellished by the sublime vocals of Lou Bennett, Emma Donovan and Deline Briscoe, and a ten-piece ensemble featuring a string quartet under the direction of Jen Anderson.
Other musicians to grace the stage at the first Boomerang Festival include Shellie Morris, The Medics and Thelma Plum.
But it is a multi-disciplinary festival, with theatre including I Don’t Wanna Play House by Tammy Anderson, performances by the Arakwal Dancers and a preview of the film Butcher Paper, Texta, Blackboard and Chalk.
Speakers include Ernie Dingo and Larissa Behrendt, and comic relief will be provided by Sean Choolburra.
Organiser Peter Noble and festival director Rhoda Roberts say Boomerang Festival will feature ‘the very best our original culture has to offer in the arts, culture and ideas, as well as emerging musicians, artists and dancers, theatre and much more. It features four stages, workshops, traditional healings and introducing the First Nations Film Festival, panels and forums over three days which define the Indigenous experience in Australia now’.
Boomerang Festival will be held on the October long weekend Friday 4-Sunday 6 at the Bluesfest site, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm just outside Byron Bay on Bundjalung land.
A limited number of three-day and single-day earlybird tickets are now on sale through www.boomerangfestival.com.au or by phoning the Boomerang office on 02 6685 8310. Artist playing schedule will be available on www.boomerangfestival.com.au
The Boomerang Festival – great idea, wrong place. How many more Koalas will die, how many more wildlife species, that use this site and the adjoining Nature reserve will die, and have their existing capacity to live and breed compromised? Byron Shires new cultural standard – killing wildlife for ‘cultural’ events