Shannon Gallagher, lead singer of Desert Mulga, has composed a song for the Mitsubishi song writing competition Accelerate in which he could win $10,000 and have his song picked to be the promotional music behind their new advertising campaign.
Shannon’s song ‘Motika’ (Aboriginal slang for motor car) evokes the long car journeys made in the red deserts of Central Australia, where there are many miles to cover before making it ‘home to my family in Nyirripi’.
The road conditions can be rough and many cars don’t make it, which is why each journey is a shared adventure between the driver and their trusty vehicle.
‘Motika, just you and me, take me through the desert, take care of me’.
Now living in Alice Springs with his wife and young daughter, Shannon is the main song writer for the band Desert Mulga, and supplies the melodies that lend this desert reggae band their signature style.
CAAMA Music’s trainee sound engineer, Rohan Carmody, did the sound engineering and mixing for the song.
If Shannon’s entry was to win the prize, his song would be re-recorded with the accompaniment of the entire Desert Mulga 9-piece band, adding drums, bass and guitars and keyboards to create the classic desert reggae rhythm.
Please vote here before 12 October!
CAAMA Music, Australia’s first Aboriginal record label, has been supporting Australian indigenous musicians for over thirty years. Read more here.
