For one night only, cultural activist
Gurridyula will join the
BLAKTIVISM line-up in Naarm at Hamer Hall on
Thursday 8 December arriving straight from the lands currently being dug up to make the biggest mine in Australia’s history.
He will join Bart Willoughby, Deline Briscoe, Emma Donovan, Fred Leone, Kee’ahn, Lou Bennett, Sprigga Mek, Sorong Samarai and Tasman Keith on the Hamer Hall stage followed by a huge set from Yothu Yindi whose voices have made powerful anthems across decades. It’s been 447 days, and counting, but Gurridyula (Wedgetail Eagle) is still on the frontline of cultural activism at Waddananggu in ceremony against the world’s second richest man Guatam Adani and his Carmichael coal mine.
Gurridyula comes from a strong line of land rights activists but music has always been his way of spreading the message of inspiration and power to mobs across the continent to stand up and fight back.
“We have reoccupied our homelands on Adani’s fraudulent mining lease across from the pit and have continued a ceremony for over 447 days consecutively. The police have acknowledged our Human Rights and refuse to remove us under section 28 of the QLD Human Rights Act 2019,” said Gurridyula.
Having amassed nearly 30,000 followers on Tik Tok, Gurridyula uses his widely popular platform to educate people about his experiences, culture and his powerful penmanship. His most notable track ‘Onamission’ has already garnered over 1 million views on Facebook for his powerful lyricism and distinctive production beats.
As a cultural Custodian of Wangan and Jagalingou country, Gurridyula grew up for the most part of his life in Brisbane as a part of the Brisbane blacks community finishing high school at Sunnybank State High School.
His music making began when he was nine-years-old busking in Southbank and the Queen Street Mall playing the yidaki.
BLAKTIVISM is a multi-act music and culture event presented by First Nations owned and operated Gaba Musik. It first came to be in 2021 in response to the Black Lives Matter movement which leapt out of the United States in 2020 and proliferated around the globe. Australia was no exception, but our movement has its own unique history and identity. The one-day concert features the truth-telling of Blak Activists in this country in a line-up of living legends and rising voices of First Nations musical activism.
Gaba Musik, ALWAYS LIVE and Arts Centre Melbourne present BLAKTIVISM
Hamer Hall | 7:30pm
For more information visit artscentremelbourne.com.au
Gabi BergmanGabi Bergman (she/her) is a Melbourne-based performer and educator, and the current Deputy Editor-in-Chief of AussieTheatre.com. She holds a double degree in Theatre Studies and Film/Screen Studies, along with a Master of Teaching (Secondary Education). A passionate advocate for inclusion and diversity in the arts, Gabi brings her deep love of storytelling to the stage, the page, and the classroom. A lifelong lover of theatre, she spends more on tickets than she’d like to admit. Her most prized possession is her ever-growing collection of theatre programs.