Kutcha Edwards has been prolifically combining songwriting and activism since 1991, when he joined Koori group Watbalimba and began the remarkable journey that has taken him from the tiny Riverina town of Balranald to tours of Australia and the world. It is his experiences as a survivor of the Stolen Generations and his proud Mutti Mutti heritage that has shaped his diverse creative output in groups like Blackfire and The Black Arm Band. At the same time he's also been able to forge a successful solo career combining his ‘Bidgee’ blues with traditional songs of people and country.
Beginning in 2002 with his friends Paul Kelly and Paul Hester (Crowded House) he created his first solo album, Cooinda. In 2007, he released his second solo CD titled Hope, co-produced with Richard Pleasance. Inspired by the Songlines told on the albums, Kutcha wrote, produced and performed his first theatre-based and VIPA award winning show, Songlines of a Mutti Mutti Man, to full houses at the Arts Centre Melbourne’s George Fairfax Studio. Kutcha created a one man version of his story called yuyukatha and toured it throughout Victoria. He has since produced two further solo albums blak n blu and Beneath the Surface.
Kutcha says music chose him and the same can be said for his work in radio and prisons. He has produced Beyond the Bars Live Prison Radio broadcasts with 3CR in Fitzroy for the last 20 years. The broadcast received a Human Rights award for the work of giving voice to the voiceless.
More recently, Kutcha created and premiered a successful Screen Australia web series Kutcha’s Carpool Koorioke at Yirramboi Arts Festival 2019, with more episodes planned. Joining Kutcha in the car in Series 1 are artists Archie Roach, Dan Sultan, Alice Skye, Bart Willoughby, Bunna Lawrie, Emily Wurramara plus Elaine Crombie and local legend and regular passenger Uncle Jack Charles.
Kutcha is now completing his new album, Circling Time, featuring a recently released single We Sing. The song's chorus is a choir of near 100 voices that include Archie Roach, Paul Kelly, Judith Durham, Joe Geia, Emily Wurramara, Emma Donovan, Rebecca Barnard and many, many more. We Sing is a moving anthem that sings for Love, Justice, Freedom and Peace. Produced by Andy Stewart this incredible song can be seen and heard on https://youtu.be/zxVF7zUD9S0
Kutcha uses music to create connections across cultures, generations, and spaces. With an innate ability to communicate, he uses his unique, diverse talents to 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 on this land, along with his own life experiences, to help his audiences understand themselves, reconnect with their culture and promote cultural understanding. His music touches the soul and through his humour and insights we realise that with recognition of the true Aboriginal history, there can be hope of reconciliation.
ORIGINAL RECORDINGS
2020 CIRCLING TIME - Produced by Andy Stewart
2020 WE SING – Single produced by Andy Stewart
2016 BENEATH THE SURFACE - Produced by Brendan Gallagher
2012 BLAK & BLU - Produced by Craig Pilkington
2010 yuyukatha - Produced by Kutcha Edwards
2007 HOPE - Produced by Richard Pleasance
2002 COOINDA - Produced by Paul Hester, Paul Kelly, David Bridie
SOLO PERFORMANCES – Some Selections
2020 Yirramboi Arts Festival
2020 Cygnet Folk Festival - Tasmania
2020 Share the Spirit Festival - Melbourne
2020 Two Worlds Festival - Melbourne
2019 - Yirramboi Festival
2019 Connecting Places Tour of Victoria & Tasmania
2019 Bruthen Blues Festival
2019 Ventana Festival - Frankston Arts Centre
2019 City of Monash - Winter Concert Series
2008/2014/2019 Yabun, Sydney Survival Day
2018 Brunswick Music Festival – Sydney Road Street Party
2018 Songs for Reconciliation Concert – Federation Square, Melb
2018 This Place Project – City of Darebin
2017 Wominjeka Festival
2017 Red Dusty Road Concert with Coloured Stone
2017 Newstead Live Festival
2017 Return to Country Concert – Mungo Man
2017 Melbourne Music Week Launch
2009/2015/2017 National Folk Festival, Canberra
2004/2009/2017 Port Fairy Folk Festival
2016 Blue Mountains, Illawarra
2016 Mordialloc Blues Music Festivals
2015 Alice Desert Festival
2013/2015 Darwin Festival, NIMA Awards
2014 Garma Festival
2008/2014 WOMADelaide, Adelaide Botanical Gardens
2006/2014 Dreamtime at the G, MCG, Melbourne
2005/2014 Black Harmony Day, Melbourne
2013 Canberra Centenary
2008/2012 Australasian World Music Expo
2010 The Dreaming Festival
2010 Brunswick Music Festival
2010 Building Bridges Concert - Corowa
2009 Sydney Peace Prize, Sydney Opera House
2009 Rockwiz Salutes to Bowl, at Myer Music Bowl
2009 Shinju Matsuri Festival, Broome
2007/2009 Castlemaine State Festival
2006 Lake Mungo Festival, Lake Mungo NSW
2006 Commonwealth Games, Melbourne
2003 Yirpirinya Festival, Alice Springs
2002 Music Festivals: Apollo Bay, Tararer
MUSICAL THEATRE
2014/2015 Blak Cabaret
2014/2015 Inside Outside' - Tour of Regional Victorian Towns & Prisons
2014 KAGE Team of Life
2010 ‘yuyukatha’ - Regional Victoria Tour
2010 ‘yuyukatha’ - The Dreaming Festival
2010 ‘yuyukatha’ - Spiegletent, Melbourne
2008 ‘Songlines of a Mutti Mutti Man’, North Melbourne Town Hall
2007 ‘Songlines of a Mutti Mutti Man’, George Fairfax Theatre
CONCERTS/TOURS/COLLABORATIONS
2020 We Sing' - Collaboration with approx 100 Voices Online Choir
2019 Kutcha's Carpool Koorioke
2019 An Evening with Uncle Jack Charles
2019 Phillip Island Literary Festival
2018 Maroondah Project – Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place - Song Writing & Singing Workshops with Elder's Choir, Hip Hop Group & Secondary School Students
2017 Ulumburra – Wontok Music for Castlemaine State Festival
2016 Gather Together – Produced by David Bridie at Ulumburra Theatre
2016 Wheeler Centre for Blak & Brite - the Melbourne Indigenous
2016 Writer’s Festival – Stories Behind the Songs
2009-2016 Beyond Empathy – Song writing tutorials for disengaged remote/regional youth
2015 Victorian Arts Centre Trust, Dig Deep
2012,14 &15 Australasian World Music Festival (AWME)
2013-2015 KAGE – Team of Life – Local, Regional and Interstate
2013-2015 Blak Cabaret – Local, Regional and Interstate Touring
2002-2015 Victorian College of the Arts, Master Classes
2011/2012 Victorian Arts Centre Trust - Big Notes Concerts
2011 Nukkan Ya Ruby - Sydney Festival & Melbourne MOOMBA
2009 Dirtsong - Black Arm Band
2008 Hidden Republic - Black Arm Band
2008 Many Roads, One Voice Project, Alice Desert Festival
2007 Murundak - Black Arm Band
1998 Blackfire Culture Tour of China, Mexico and Japan
HONOURS & AWARDS
2016 Melbourne Prize for Music
2016 Distinguished Musician Fellowship – Victorian College of the Arts & Melbourne Conservatorim
2016 Induction in to the NIMA Hall of Fame
2015 Induction on to the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll
2007 VIPA Award - Songlines of a Mutti Mutti Man (Victorian Indigenous Performing Arts Award)
2001 National Indigenous Person Award
2001 Deadly Award - Best Male Artist
TELEVISION
ABC ICAM - ABC TV Feature story
SBS - Rockwiz
NITV - Songlines in the City
RADIO
2001- Current - 3CR Beyond the Bars Live to air PRISON broadcasts
3KnD - Drive Time
