Nattali Rize, enigmatic front woman of Blue King Brown, has gone from strength to strength, spending most of last year living in Kingston, Jamaica, working on a fresh new musical project that is currently top secret!
Her vision is to manifest new sound and energy creating music for a new era.
Nattali, how would you say your approach to music has changed since you started out?
Like most artists from all crafts, I am an evolving creator. Music is an incredible force and a very powerful communicator… I only become more and more aware of its power, the more I see and overstand how everything has a vibration, a sound frequency that it resonates at.
As a woman in the music industry, are there key messages you like to deliver? Lines you won’t cross when it comes to how you are represented?
In my own philosophies I acknowledge and recognise the importance and prominence of women in the revolution, the global shift, and this will inevitably come through in my music.
I am also aware of the importance of having multiple strong, grounded female presences onstage and how the female energy is potent and inspirational to other generations of females.
What does it mean to you to be a socially conscious musician? What are the issues that you are passionate about that you
try to connect people with?
I think it is as important as ever for artists and musicians to be saying, singing, bringing something real! Something of substance. One of the main issues we continue to focus on is the freedom movement of West Papua.
Bringing the horrendous human-rights abuse history of this small island nation, only 250km from Australian shores, to the attention of the people is something we have been actively engaged in for the past two to three years.
West Papua was invaded by Indonesia more than 50 years ago, and ever since more than 500,000 peaceful Papuans have been killed; they have been and continue to be brutalised, marginalised, raped, tortured, exploited… the list goes on.
It’s been an extremely violent and aggressive colonisation campaign that continues right now as I write this.
Please got to FreeWestPapua.org and follow the FreeWestPapuaCampaign on Facebook to get all the up-to-date info. Papua Merdeka!
How do you believe music can change things or alter people’s consciousness?
I believe that music is a very powerful key that has the vibration that can raise consciousness.
It does it in ways, perhaps more than what we are even aware of, that can seed a thought or a feeling in a listener and then continue to have an effect on their thoughts, their perceptions, their words, the way they act and ultimately their reality.
What is the inspiration behind your latest album Born Free? Where did you record? How did you feel about the end result?
Born Free was recorded in Australia and Kingston, Jamaica. The music has its inspiration from both of these places
but also from around our globe, the parts of the world we are grateful to be touring to with our music.
We took our time to make sure this body of work was the cream of the crop of the songs we’d been working on, the pick of the bunch so to speak, and so I can honestly say that I am really happy with the album as it is, and am honoured and excited to present it to the world.
What should we expect for your Bluesfest shows?
The Blue King Brown Born Free tour party are well and truly ready to bring our full live show back to our hometown festival, the Bluesfest! Always up-ful, always lively. Most of all we’re bringing a highly energetic experience, bridging the gap between danceable rhythms and conscious reasoning, between band and crowd.
It’s a celebration of who we are, where we’ve come from and where we’re going. Of course we craft and prepare a show, but the beauty is that a live performance is full of unimaginable moments; we just set a space for that to happen and let it reveal itself in the moment.
Everyone in the area from crowd to crew to band is a part of it.
We’re now bringing years of global experiences with us; it’s ever evolving!
Sharing our music is a gift and a joy and so we look forward to amplifying some energy with the Bluesfest crowd, who are always ready for it, and to reconnect with our Byron Shire community, where so much of our musical foundations were built. Look forward to seeing you soon!
For ticket and programming information go to Bluesfest.com.au.
