Yurlu Lounge, Karijini Experience 2020 - CANCELLED

Post

Subscribe

Some of Australia's most respected musicians will be getting off the beaten track this Easter, heading to the remote Karijini National Park in the Pilbara for a celebration of Aboriginal culture at the annual Yurlu Lounge concert.

Yurlu is the local Banjima language group's word for 'country' or 'earth' and in previous years has attracted performers including Dan Sultan, Archie Roach, Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse.

Headlining the 2020 Yurlu Lounge concert will be the highest ever ranking Indigenous artist in JJJs recently announced Hottest 100, Thelma Plum.



The concert is a relaxed affair, held under the stars on the Karijini National Park's airstrip with visitors encouraged to bring their own chairs for a magical night of culture and music immersed in Country.

Plum will be joined by a prestigious line-up of Australian musicians on the evening including The Mark Atkins Band; the 2019 WAM Awards best Indigenous act, The Struggling Kings;
The Narli Ensemble, and Seth "Squid" Lowe.

The relaxed concert under the stars offers two levels of entry ticket - VIP, which includes catering by roving restaurant Fervor for $130 - and general admission for adults $60 with children under 14 free.

The Yurlu Lounge is part of the wider Karijini Experience which runs from April 14 to 18 with a host of free and ticketed events held in the heart of the remote Pilbara national park.



The April 18 concert will be the final event of the 2020 Karijini Experience.

Plum, whose album Better in Blak was voted in at number nine in the JJJ 2019 Hottest 100 is a Gamilaraay woman who grew up in Brisbane.

Better in Blak is the singer songwriter's debut album and speaks of culture, heritage, love and pain and captures the spirit of what it's like to be a young Aboriginal woman in Australia.

She'll be accompanied on stage by multi-instrumentalist Pete Covington.

Didgeridoo supremo Mark Atkins is no stranger to Karijini and has become a regular.

He returns this year as part of The Mark Atkins Band, joined by guitarists, his nephew Simon Abraham and childhood mate Ross Hunter.



He also features as part of the Narli Ensemble featuring Stephen Pigram on guitar and vocals, Atkins on didgeridoo and vocals, violinist Erkki Veltheim, guitarist Stephen Magnusson, cellist Tresten Parr, percussionist Joe Talia and flautist Tos Mahoney Tura.

The Struggling Kings, a band formed by One Arm Point brothers, Luke and Daniel Riches, took out the 2019 award for WA Music's Best Indigenous Act for 2019, will be bringing their full-bodied summer rock sounds to the Yurlu Lounge.

The band has been heard at festivals around Western Australia including Nannup Music, Fairbridge and SOTA.

The Struggling Kings draws on its Indigenous roots to create new blends of rock, blues and acoustic music.



General admission ticket holders will be able to buy food at the event and VIP ticket holders will be fully catered by Fervor.

BYO alcohol is allowed with patrons over the age of 18 allowed to bring a bottle of wine or eight cans of beer or eight premixed cans or a combination of cans.

There is plenty of parking available at the event, but a return bus service is also available from Tom Price, the Karijini Eco Retreat and Dales Campground at the national park.

Event organiser Sonia Powell from the Nintirri Centre in Tom Price, which operates the Karijini Experience says that while the Yurlu Lounge will in itself be a unique experience it was also an opportunity for people to go out and stay in the national park for a few days to enjoy the stunning gorges and Aboriginal culture.

The five-day Karijini Experience will be held from April 14 to 18 and will feature an eclectic blend of ticketed and free, food, art, music and Aboriginal culture.

Karijini is around 1400km from Perth and 80km north-east of Tom Price, with camping inside the park or glamping at the Karijini Eco Retreat.

More details and tickets are available from www.karijiniexperience.com

#aboriginal
#bands
#cultural_events
#escape_the_city
#music
#national_parks
#western_australia
#april
%wnperth