Stewart Gaykamangu, featured on CAAMA Music’s compilation Snapshot II, is a finalist for the NT Song of the Year Awards organised by MusicNT. A singer-songwriter originally from Arnhem Land , he now lives in Central Australia with his wife and kids.

Stewart comes from a musical family including most of the Gulf Country legends.  His father played the keyboard for legendary Top End band, Soft Sand, and his cousin is the now world-famous Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.

He has performed at Garma, The Dreaming, Woodford, Adelaide Fringe, Spirit Festival, Tandanya, Desert Fringe, National Indigenous Music awards among many more. Having played with every Indigenous musician of note in the Northern Territory, including Gurrumul, Iwantja, Redsand, and Saltwater Band, this year Stewart has been developing a solo career, recording a debut  album with CAAMA Music that will be released early 2014.

His song “Lorrpu” (meaning White Cockatoo) has reached the final rounds of the NT Song of the Year Awards and is also up for nomination for the People’s Choice Award. It’s based on an Aboriginal legend of his homeland, and is sung exclusively in the language of Gupapuyngu.

The People’s Choice Award will be announced at a special event in Alice Springs as part of ‘intune Alice Springs’ from 26 – 28 July. Voting closes Tuesday 16 July at 5pm.

Please VOTE NOW for Stewart’s song ‘Lorrpu’!

Read the three-page feature about CAAMA in the ‘InVibe’ insert inside Deadly Vibe magazine:

“Making music: CAAMA builds music partnership with remote communities” -  Deadly Vibe, April 2013

Tonight there will be a second concert held in the community, as practice for the ‘Music Industry Rangers’ who are being trained in the art of music production, recording and running gigs. This long-running program will see sixteen ‘Music Industry Rangers’ from Central Australia trained as sound engineers over the next three years.

Click on the following link to listen to Miko’s interview with Breakfast Presenter GMan, on CAAMA RADIO.

Miko and Gman BREKKY part 1

A different group of Music Industry Rangers will be trained over the next two weeks in Hermannsburg, with another concert being staged on Wednesday 1 May for the community.

Click here to see more photos from the event.

LISTEN HERE (from 26min into the show)

Mark McCormack leading the RMDP training in Hermannsburg

Here’s the script we gave him, and we think he pulled it off most excellently.

“Hey, this is Tharron from CAAMA Music, letting all you mob know that if you love our music – like: Tjupi Band, Sunshine Reggae, Warren H Williams, Coloured Stone, BlekBala Mujik – 

you can buy tracks and download them directly from our new website: www.caamamusic.com. CAAMA  Music: Get into it!”

You can check it out for yourself if you like: LISTEN HERE

Tune into CAAMA RADIO 100.5 FM over the next few weeks and you’re bound to catch one of these adverts on-air.

Big thanks to Tharron, and our friends over the hall in the CAAMA RADIO offices!

 CAAMA MUSIC Launches Training of Indigenous ‘Music Industry Rangers’

Alice Springs-based indigenous record label, CAAMA MUSIC, has launched a long-running Regional Music Development Program (RMDP) to train sixteen specially selected ‘Music Industry Rangers’ (MIRs) from Central Australia over the next three years. The aim is to foster the recording and preservation of indigenous languages through song, as well as to develop real pathways to employment into the music industry for the Music Industry Rangers.

Russell O’Keefe from Tennant Creek

CAAMA MUSIC’s Regional Music Development Program launches this week in Hermannsburg/Ntaria, Central Australia, and brings together many different stakeholders – including FaHCSIA, FRRR, MacDonnell Shire and Charles Darwin University – into a strong and focused team with the shared goal of providing accredited music training and non-accredited industry training for selected indigenous arts workers living in remote communities. The length and depth of this program means that at the end of the training these Music Industry Rangers will be experienced sound engineers and mentors, able to train others in their own communities in the art of music recording, production and running gigs, or able to find work as experienced sound technicians.

CAAMA is Australia’s leading Aboriginal owned and controlled media organisation, and takes its duty to help preserve and maintain indigenous culture very seriously, through radio broadcasting, film production and music recording. “Now we want to take the next step and train up these rangers so that they’ll be able to continue this cultural work directly within their own communities,” says CAAMA MUSIC Manager, Micheal “Miko” Smith.

“In remote communities there is a history of musical equipment breaking from overuse, and currently no one has the skills to repair and maintain this equipment. Often it is easily repairable, so we want to provide those necessary hands-on skills to the Music Industry Rangers.

“The length of this unique program and the depth of the training means that these Music Industry Rangers will leave the training with excellent skills to pass on to their communities in their own language, as well as very real job prospects”, according to Miko Smith.

Hermannsburg, 131km south-west of Alice Springs, is the site of the first month of training for the Music Industry Rangers and is running from 8 April – 3 May, with training being led by qualified sound producer Mark McCormack, who was hired by CAAMA MUSIC specifically to lead this three-year music program.

In conjunction with CAAMA’s training of the Music Industry Rangers this month in Hermannsburg, Charles Darwin University is offering a free Cert II music course to the wider community. Places are still available – for bookings or enquiries contact the Ntaria council office on (08) 8956 7838.

QUICK FACTS

Sixteen Music Industry Rangers (MIRs) have been selected from remote indigenous communities around Central Australia. During this first year of the three year program the MIRs will:

• Spend 4 weeks per year studying towards their Certificate II Music at Charles Darwin University in Alice Springs
  

  Learning to fix an electric guitar

• Spend at least 8 weeks per year in four communities learning sound recording & production
• Record a music album from each community

By the end of the three years each MIR will be an experienced sound engineer and mentor, able to pass on their skills to his or her own community.

The Music Industry Rangers are from:

MacDonnell Shire NT (Santa Teresa, Tjitjikarla, Ammonguna, Areyoga, Haasts Bluff, Kintore, Papunya, Hermannsburg, Alice Springs)

Tennant Creek NT and surrounds

Central Desert Shire NT (Engalawa and Yuendumu)

Western Desert Region of WA (Irrunytju)

INTERVIEWS, PHOTOS AND VIDEO FOOTAGE ARE AVAILABLE

Micheal ‘Miko’ Smith, Mark McCormack and the Music Industry Rangers themselves are available for interview

For interview requests or more information please contact

Nicola Pitt

Marketing and Promotions – CAAMA Music

cmpromotions@caama.com.au / 0434 589 391 / (08) 8951 9708

Join CAAMA Music on Facebook and Twitter

www.caamamusic.com

Micheal ‘Miko’ Smith has worked for three years as the CAAMA Music Label Manager and where he once managed a team of just one, he is now excited to welcome to Alice Springs a team of music industry specialists including a sound engineer, a producer, a promotions specialist, a project coordinator and two trainee sound engineers. Among the team is Tim Cole, who has had a long career as a music producer for indigenous artists such as Archie Roach, Frank Yamma, Iwantja, Warren H. Williams, Shelley Morris and the Song Peoples Sessions.

“It’s a huge coup for CAAMA Music to have within our team a sound engineer who comes with such incredible experience and knowledge of the indigenous music scene. Tim Cole will be working closely with our musicians to record and produce some amazing new releases this year. With this new music team of ours we’ll surely uncover the next Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu” says Micheal Smith.

CAAMA Music will release and promote several new albums over the next 12 months, from established indigenous artists such as BlekBala Mujik and Sunshine Reggae Band, as well as the debut release from Arnhem Land’s Stewart Gaykamangu, previously of the band Iwantja.

As part of CAAMA Music’s expansion, there is now a new website, where fans can listen to music and download directly from as little as $2 per track or $20 for a whole album. Albums available for purchase include classics such as The Best of Coloured Stone, country music star Warren H Williams, and the recent Snapshot compilations including local soul singer Catherine Satour, and hip-hop outfit Catch the Fly. More of CAAMA’s backlist, as well as their new releases, will become available on the website over this coming year.

“Our music has always been available for purchase directly from our offices in Todd Street but now that it’s easily accessible online it opens up our indigenous artists to a whole new market nationally and internationally,” says CAAMA Music Label Manager Micheal Smith.

A key project for CAAMA Music over the next three years will be their Regional Music Development Program (RMDP), a music training program to provide accredited music training and non-accredited “Industry” training, for selected indigenous arts workers living in remote communities. The aim is to develop pathways to employment into the music industry for these ‘Music Industry Rangers’, and to foster the recording and preservation of indigenous languages through song. This program brings together many different stakeholders – including MacDonnell Shire and Charles Darwin University – into a strong and focused team with a shared direction. CAAMA’s first training program for their Music Industry Rangers will be held in Hermannsburg/Ntaria 8 April – 3 May. In conjunction with this Charles Darwin University is offering a free Cert II music course to the wider community. For bookings or enquiries contact the Ntaria council office on (08) 8956 7838.

Nicola Pitt

Marketing and Promotions – CAAMA Music

cmpromotions@caama.com.au / 0434 589 391 / (08) 8951 9708

Join CAAMA Music on Facebook and Twitter

www.caamamusic.com.au

Want to learn how to record and edit music?

Charles Darwin University is running a FREE MUSIC COURSE (Certificate I & II) for anyone interested in music recording and editing. This course will last 4 weeks, from Monday to Friday.

Start is Monday 08 April and the last day will be Friday 03 May.

Book your place now! Phone the Ntaria Youth Team on (08) 8956 7838

CAAMA’s Music Industry Rangers will also be in Ntaria (Hermannsburg) at the same time, working with the community to record local musicians, stage some concerts and produce a CD of Ntaria music.

For more info about CAAMA’s Regional Music Development Program contact Nicola Pitt at CAAMA Music on (08) 8951 9708 or cmpromotions@caama.com.au

CAAMA Music is looking for an intern to help out with promotional and sales tasks within our busy record label. Work would involve using the internet to collate a database of music industry contacts across the spectrum of media – newspapers, magazines, street press, online publications, radio and TV. Another key task would be concerned identifying and contacting prospective retailers across Australia in order to establish new relationships and increase sales of CAAMA Music albums. This unpaid position will provide invaluable experience to any student looking to improve their CV, gain entry into the competitive music biz and work within PR or marketing.

Work would start ASAP and hours involved could be part-time for one month or full-time for one week.

Send CVs to cmpromotions@caama.com.au  before the end of March 2013.