Frank was born in the land
that holds the great Uluru (Ayers Rock). A land
that is spiritually and geographically known as
the heart of Australia and is a featured vocalist
on the Held Lampi Project's Digital Dreaming Album.
His music crosses cultural and musical boundaries
and he is widely regarded as one of the most important
artists in contemporary Aboriginal music. He is
a gifted songwriter and guitarist with an extraordinary
voice. Writing and singing in his traditional
language, Pitjantjatjara, and English, the music
of Frank Yamma bears influences from many continents
- South America, Jamaica, Africa. He is one of
the truely great world music performers with a
voice to match.
Until 1997, Frank rarely performed outside of
Central Australia. An invitation to the Australia
Day celebrations in Sydney earlier that year began
a touring schedule that included appearances at
many of Australia's top festivals, such as Livid,
WOMAD, Adelaide, Moomba, Port Fairy, Survival
and Woodforde. This has coincided with extensive
media coverage including live appearances on the
national TV program, Recovery. More recently Frank
appeared at the reconcilliation concert for Corroboree
2000 in Sydney and at the Stompem Ground Festival
in Broome - both of which provoked much interest
in his music after live crosses to national TV.
Frank's solo album, Playing With Fire - Warangku
Inkanyi was released to great critical acclaim
and his songs have appeared on a number of compilation
albums. Recent releases include; In Aboriginal,
released in the USA on Musica Pangaea; Songlines
on ABC Records; Celebration - The Spirit of Port
Fairy Folk Festival on Sandstock Music; Strong
Culture, From The Bush 1 & 2, and Terrasphere
(CAAMA Music) - the self titled album by this
multicultural world music group. Most recently
the official Olympics 2000 Album features a version
of Frank`s song Everybody`s Talking ,which also
features on the soundtrack to Erica Glynn's short
film "My Bed, Your Bed".
Frank appears on Digital Dreaming coutesy of CAAMA,
The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association.
More information about Frank and other CAAMA aboriginal
musicians can be found on their website : www.caama.com.au
|
