They stole the show and the audience's hearts at Saltwater Freshwater Festival in January.
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Now Made Deadly is back for 2019, promising to discover and showcase more gifted Aboriginal musicians, stellar performances and inspiration from around the region than ever.
The 'Triple J Unearthed'-style project supports Aboriginal musical talent on the Mid North Coast and is a joint collaboration between Saltwater Freshwater Arts Alliance (SWFW) and music development organisation Grow the Music (GTM).
Made Deadly 2019 will offer open-mic sessions to Aboriginal musicians, singers and performers in seven Mid North Coast locations with dates to be released soon.
From these live sessions a total of eight performers will be selected to perform at SWFW Festival on Australia Day 2020.
These musicians will also receive studio time to professionally record one of their tracks as well as mentoring and rehearsal time with a high-profile Aboriginal music mentor and the GTM team.
The 2019 Made Deadly open-mic sessions will be held at:
- . Coffs Harbour (covering Bellingen to Woolgoolga)
- . Bowraville (also covering Macksville)
- . Kempsey
- . Port Macquarie (also covering Wauchope)
- . Taree
- . Forster
- . Karuah
The Made Deadly performers were the highlight of SWFW Festival 2019 and included folk, soul, hip hop and instrumentalists.
That first opportunity to perform in front of a large audience was transformational for many of their performing careers.
Hip-hop artist and Dunghutti youth Nigel Kennedy (aka MC Manchild) was one of those who benefited.
"I started music because I'd been going through a depression stage. I started writing my own lyrics. I found that putting it all down on pen and paper, lets everything out. I'm telling the story of my life in these raps," Nigel said.
"I connect to the land through music. I connect with my people, and not only my people - other people. Words can't explain the feeling of having thousands of people being moved by my own songs - that's crazy."
Saltwater Freshwater's Jane Taverener said the surface of Aboriginal musical talent had barely been scratched in this region and invited everyone to get involved and share their musical gifts.
Made Deadly is made possible thanks to the support of Create NSW and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council.