By Olivia Condous
In the multicultural communities that make up much of Melbourne’s western suburbs, music and the arts are important parts of life that bring people together, as Olivia Condous discovers.
Aspiring artists and residents of Melton are being invited to celebrate multiculturalism and music through a new and exciting event and workshop series, with local producers leading the way.
Melton will have its own music and dance mini-festival called WESTSIDE on May 29, celebrating artists of colour and connecting the whole community through music.
The festival is part of an events program called NEWPRINT, created by Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV), a not-for-profit organisation that champions culturally diverse artists and communities.
The program is designed to support young artists of colour in outer-metropolitan and regional areas by engaging artists from different communities to throw events showcasing diverse talent.
MAV music projects officer Oscar Jimenez said the NEWPRINT program gave local producers the tools to build networks within their own localities.
“The idea was to support some of the young artists and producers living in regional areas that might need a little bit of support developing a local music scene,” Mr Jimenez said.
“Our work is about shining the light on artists from culturally diverse communities, who have even less opportunities than other artists and producers from other communities.”
Aćol Agaar Apollo, also known as Pookie, and Deng Tèbir are the two artists curating the program in Melton and both have a strong connection to the local community.
Tèbir grew up in western suburbs of Melbourne after moving from Yemen with his family, and has lived in Melton for the past five years, producing work as a singer, songwriter and dancer.
“I love it out here, love it out here,” Tèbir said of the Melton community.
Pookie is a South Sudanese performer who spent four years living in Melton, and now works as a rap recording artist, songwriter, composer and producer.
The pair cite their major artist influences as hip-hop giants like Missy Elliot and T-Pain, but family was where both of their musical journeys began.
“My brother’s the one who really introduced me to music, with East African music, dance hall and hip hop,” Pookie said.
Her musical stylings were originally influenced by the drum beats of the traditional ‘loor’ gatherings of the local Sudanese community, filled with music and dance, while she was growing up in Australia.
Tèbir was originally introduced to the world of performing arts through street-style dance, busking around Melbourne as a teenager, before moving into creating his own music.
“I grew up in a household full of musicians, my mum’s a singer and my dad was a singer … it was always there for me growing up,” he said.
Both are rising artists in the Melbourne music scene, with Tèbir releasing a music video for his latest single ‘Better Man’ earlier this month and Pookie releasing her first full-length album ‘FLick’ last year.
Pookie and Tèbir agreed their main goal for the WESTSIDE event was to bring the whole Melton community together through the common connection of music.
“Integration is really important, having lived in Melton, it is a very diverse community but I think there’s still separation in terms of like the wider community,
“So I think it’d be really nice to bring everybody together and music is a really good way to do that,” Pookie said.
“Music is a universal language,” Tèbir added.
The festival event will feature a jam-packed lineup of artists from across the country, including JAG, Soli, NOMAD, Dyspora, Rara Zulu, Lay, Malesh + Flexx, Achai, DJ Sovblkpssy plus local SC (Staughton College) dance crew.
Headlining performer JAG is a rock n’ soul, blues and funk artist of Sudanese heritage, whose music is inspired by the likes of Tina Turner and Jimi Hendrix.
Pookie said she was excited for the festival event as it provided Melton locals with the chance to experience diverse artists from all over the world performing a range of styles.
“For me, my experience of [the music scene in Melton] hasn’t been very diverse,
“We just want to make sure everybody feels safe and comfortable … and important,” she said.
Pookie and Tèbir will also run a three-part mentoring workshop series, sharing industry skills and knowledge with local young talent, culminating in a showcase concert event on June 18.
Tèbir said he’d witnessed the talent of Melton youth first-hand as a staff member at a local secondary school.
“It’d be really awesome just to have a lot more life happening down here, just bring a bit more live music to the scene and hopefully encourage some of the younger people to step into it a lot more, because there is so much talent out here.”
“We have good knowledge on how to release music and how to approach the music scene in Australia… for us to pass that experience on to some of the younger kids will be really cool,” Tèbir said.
MAV creative producer James Mckinnon said the NEWPRINT program was designed to empower the artists, audiences and local producers alike.
“It’s really giving the power to all the people involved to create an event that is for community by community,
“It’s really exciting and that’s what MAV is trying to do, is empower and allow for the self determination of those artists and audiences,” he said.
Mr Jimenez said the organisation felt there were systemic barriers that hindered young artists who wanted to put on local events and hoped that the council would assist with easing these difficulties.
“There’s so many permits and processes that you have to go through to get a live event happening,
“We hope that the council gets more involved in the future, even with sponsoring these events,” Mr Jimenez.
Pookie said she hoped the events and workshops in Melton would help local artists to connect with each other and build their own local networks.
“It’ll be really great to do this event because … opening spaces like that up, also gives other people the opportunity to meet like-minded people,
“The possibilities are endless when it comes to music,” Pookie said.
Tèbir said he hoped to provide role models for young aspiring artists through the NEWPRINT program.
“When I was younger, I looked up to a lot of local musicians… and they inspired me, because I was like, ‘If they can do it, then I can definitely do it,’,
“It’s giving these kids that image as well, so we can show them that, ‘you could do this as well and be really awesome.’”
WESTSIDE festival will be held at Melton Community Hall on Sunday, May 29 from 1pm.
Details: mav.org.au/events/newprint-westside.
