‘Music is not what I do, it is who I am. My songs may be contemporary but they are over 40,000 years old. They come through me from my ancestors and my people and they tell the stories of what happens in a country where the first peoples are subject to invasion, genocide, segregation, assimilation and their children are stolen. My music continues the tracks of my Mutti Mutti Songline.’ -Kutcha Edwards
Kutcha Edwards, Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, Nari Nari Songman has been prolifically combining songwriting and activism since he began making music in the 90s. As one of Australia’s most respected Indigenous singer/songwriters, Kutcha’s music and community work has earned him iconic status amongst both Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians. What Kutcha shares through his songs and stories and with the people he encounters is an often unheard truth, a heartfelt connection and a sense of belonging.
It is his experiences as a survivor of the Stolen Generations – the forced removal from Family, Culture and Country as an 18 month old baby followed by 11 years of institutionalisation in a children’s home - that has shaped Kutcha’s knowledge and diverse creative output. Kutcha’s remarkable journey of reconnection and reawakening of his proud Mutti Mutti heritage and language has bought a belonging and wisdom beyond the trauma of the stolen years.
Today, Kutcha performs and works within multiple genres through his music. Apart from creating five outstanding solo albums, Kutcha has also written and toured several ground breaking theatre shows sharing family and community songs and stories of truth and resilience. He has also produced two seasons of television with his show 'Kutcha’s Koorioke' – the iconic format of conversational car rides, passenger sing-a-longs, personal reflections and often hilarious story telling. Kutcha hosts Aboriginal legends and emerging artists cruising the streets of inner naarm (Melbourne): “To me it’s talking about our spirit, our Songline, our connection - to not only our places of birth but our places of belonging. It’s a yarn, talking about family and about how our songs are created. That’s the true essence. It’s not all about me, it’s about us.”
Kutcha says music chose him and the same can be said for his work in radio and prisons. He has co-produced the annual Beyond the Bars Live Prison Radio broadcasts with 3CR community radio in Fitzroy for over 20 years. The broadcast received a Human Rights Award for the work of ‘sharing the mic and giving voice to the voiceless. When you have spent 11 years institutionalised as a child, there is a knowing, a connection and empathy to mob on the inside’. Another manifestation resulting from this work was Kutcha creating the ‘Inside Outside Prison’ show. He toured urban and regional Victorian prisons and the towns they are built in, aiming to create a two-way bridge between those incarcerated and the communities living around them.
While performing and touring in groups such as Blackfire and The Black Arm Band Kutcha developed his music and songwriting prowess. Ultimately he has forged a very successful solo career combining his ‘Bidgee’ blues with traditional songs of people and country. Kutcha’s most recent release is his extraordinary album Circling Time. This album is profound and it is a timely reminder of the incredible depth and talent of one of the most inspiring voices within the country. Kutcha’s songs and stories on Circling Time are reflections on some of the highs, lows and formative chapters of this iconic singer songwriter’s life journey. It is insightful, reflective and deeply moving. It features the culturally poignant and celebratory song ‘Singing Up Country’, a heart rending tribute to his mother in ‘Mrs Edwards’ and the anthemic ‘We Sing’ featuring a chorus of universally well known & emerging vocalists from across the globe.
Kutcha uses music to create connections across cultures, generations, and spaces. With an innate ability to communicate, he uses his unique, diverse talents to generously nurture understanding and self-knowledge amongst all those with whom he has contact. Kutcha is a Songman, not simply a songwriter. He draws on a profound sense of all those who have gone before him along with his own life experiences, to help his audiences understand themselves, reconnect with culture and promote cultural understanding. Kutcha’s music generates physical and spiritual rhythms that transcend and connects all of us to the universal themes of Love, Family, Justice and Country.
