Kimberley calls Aussie rock stars
There was no artist more apt to rock out at this year’s Kimberley Moon Experience than Dan Sultan.
While he was born in Victoria, the multi-ARIA award-winning singer-songwriter says the Kimberley holds a “special place in his heart”.
“I am not from here but I feel like I am welcome here,” Sultan toldAAA in Kununurra.
“I have got dear friends and people I consider family from here and I have been welcomed into the Kimberley really quite warmly and it is a special place in my heart and I wanted to write a song about it.”
That song is Kimberley Calling, from his 2014 album Blackbird, which he performed to a rousing reception at the Kimberley Moon Experience on Saturday night on the banks of the Ord River.
Sultan said he was inspired to write it as a love song to the region and his late grandmother, who is buried in a remote indigenous community north of Broome.
“My grandmother is actually buried at One Arm Point, she ended up there in the end, and I went and found her grave,” he explained.
“We asked around and some old fellas and some old ladies they remembered her and showed me her grave, so that was something pretty special.
“That is what that song is about — finding grandma and my connection to the region.”
Sultan was joined by fellow high-profile Australian acts the Living End, the Whitlams and Megan Washington at the annual WA music festival, a highlight of the Ord Valley Muster.
After taking some time out, Washington returned to the spotlight last year with new album There There, and said she was enjoying being back on the road.
“I guess it was four years but that time just goes so fast ... it is really nice to be back,” she said.
But her first experience in Kununurra also saw the singer come face to face with one of her worst fears. “I am really afraid of toads, and there was a big convention on my balcony last night of toads,” she exclaimed.
