October 22, 2024 • 25 mins
In this weeks deadly episode, I sit down with proud Yuin, Thunghutti man and acclaimed artist Nooky for what was an amazing conversation, held on the iHeart Podcast stage at SXSW Sydney.
We yarn about his journey, from growing up in Nowra to making waves in the Australian music scene. Nooky shares personal stories of struggle, resilience, and triumph, discussing his upbringing, the influence of family and community, and how music became his path to empowerment.
Together, we explore the connection between music and storytelling in creating hope and unity for a more inclusive Australia. Nooky reflects on his work with We Are Warriors, his music collaborations with artists like Jessica Mauboy and the Presets, and his groundbreaking achievements in the industry, including four ARIA nominations!!
This episode is a celebration of strength, perseverance, and the enduring power of culture, showcasing Nooky’s inspiring journey and his mission to uplift the next generation. One of my favourite yarns so far! Do not miss this one! Part 2 drops next week.
Links & Resources:
- We are Warriors - https://www.wearewarriors.com.au/
- 3% - https://amnplify.com.au/first-nations-collective-3-nooky-dallas-woods-angus-field-share-new-single-video-wont-stop-feat-jessica-mauboy-ahead-of-debut-album-kill-the-dead/
- Blakout with Nooky - https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/blak-out
Website: www.blackmagicwoman.com.au
Follow us on Instagram - @blackmagicwomanpodcast
The Black Magic Woman Podcast is hosted by Mundanara Bayles and is an uplifting conversational style program featuring mainly Aboriginal guests and explores issues of importance to Aboriginal people and communities. Mundanara is guided by Aboriginal Terms of Reference and focusses more on who people are rather than on what they do.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Black cast, Unite our voices.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Black Magic Women Podcast acknowledges the traditional owners of the
land we have recorded this episode on. We also acknowledge
traditional owners of the land where you, the listener or viewer,
are tuning in from. We would like to pay our
respects to our elders past and present and acknowledged that
this always was Aboriginal land and always will be Aboriginal land.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
You know, sometimes when you make these songs, it's like
the old follows are telling you, yeah, that's the one.
You said what we wanted you to say. They heard
the song and the presets and they love what we
did with it, and they let us do it because
it is the first time they've let anyone sample this stuff.
It was a pretty big deal in the industry and
that's have made it be the noise.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Welcome to the Black Magic Woman Podcast with Mandanara Bail.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
All right, eh, welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Thank you for taking time out of this amazing conference
to join myself and my guest, who you meet in
just a moment for a live broadcast of a podcast
that was a side hustle and is now the only
I think it's still the only indigenous podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Sign to the iHeart Network, so.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
That's one of my biggest raps is, Like you can
hear us on Virgin as well, So if you're flying Virgin,
make sure you listen to the Black Magic Woman. But
I'm here joining you from my mother's country, my mother's
mother and her mother and her mother, and at least
nine generations of my family have been in Redfern, on
(01:45):
Gadigle Country or the Block. So if you're from Sydney
and you've been here for a couple of generations, especially
if you are Corey or mob, the Block is a
place that.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I don't even need to tell you where it is.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I live in Queensland, I live on Kubbycabby Country, the
Sunshine Coast, anyone being Noosa, Richard or Melulaba, all of
those beautiful places, and it has never felt like home.
And for an Aboriginal woman from Redfern, I would say
that there's no place like Redfern. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I think the closest place now.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Michael Jackson said this, believe it or not, will be
Goldberg said this, and so did mc hammer. They said
that Redfern reminded them of where they grew up. So
I feel really privileged to say that, born and raised
on the block, this is my hometown and I literally
feel this sense of peace.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
We even settled.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Even after one year after the found referendum. So here
I am on beautiful Gadiger country and the language that
was once spoken here and still spoken by a few people,
the Darug language, we say Worra me so worra me
wan Gaddi nayo bimbibila, Mandanara naya Gadigo nuda. So what
(03:08):
I'm saying is I'm here on Gadigl country and my
name is Mandanara, and I've been trying to learn the
language that my ancestors once spoke. I have a few
kind of questions that I want to jump straight into,
but in Aboriginal culture, who you are is much more
important than what you do, so human relationships come.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
First and that's kind of the format it.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
My culture has inspired me to do podcasting storytelling, but
it's inspired me to try and showcase as best as
I can to mainstream Australia.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Because this was in Lockdown that we launched this podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I wanted to showcase black excellence and my brother perfect
guest for this episode because in everything that you do
and the music that you write and with we are warriors.
What I kept picking up when I was doing my
research was black excellence. This podcast was born out of
(04:10):
a global pandemic where people felt more isolated than ever before,
and for black fellows to be isolated, it's an interesting feeling.
I've never ever felt that I was alone in my
own country, so spiritually, I've always felt that someone was
with me. So we have to remember that every day
(04:33):
we're walking in the footsteps of our ancestors. So I'm
going to kind of draw on my old people, because
this is my country, my birthplace to get us through
this Yarn, and I'm going to try and keep it lighthearted,
even though we're going to talk about some themes that
may be.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
A little bit triggering.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
U sort to put it out there for people here
in the room and for people.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That are listening as well.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
We've got a national hotline one three Yarn, twenty four hours,
seven days a week for mob to be able to
talk to someone hearing our experiences, our lived experiences as
black fellows. I talk about my life and who we
are and what we do every day, and I do
it with a smile on my face. I don't do
it for people's sympathy. So I'm a proud black woman
(05:18):
born and raised in Red Fern and everything that I
do it's kind of strength based and centering Black excellence.
So don't see us as First Nations peoples as victims.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
We're not victims. We're owners and runners of country.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So we have to remind ourselves as Australians that it
wasn't that long ago that we were running an entire country.
So on that note, what a good way to introduce you,
my brother. I'm going to end over to my guests
on the show, and if you've been listening to Black
Magic Women.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
You would know that I don't introduce.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
My guests, and I think it's probably best that people
can kind of talk about who they are, where they
come from, in their own words and also on their
own terms. So brother, Nookie, the microphone is all yours solid.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
Well, yeah, my name is Nookie.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I'm a ewn and Dunguttie breed, born and raised down
in Narra for my South coast family there, I belong
to the jeering Enge and the wild Bunga mob on
the youw In side. And yeah, my great grandmother's from
a little little place just outside Kempsy called Bellbrook Mission. Yeah,
Bellbrook Mission, Yeah, Yeah, that's where my great grandmother's from.
(06:31):
Say yeah, half my family from up there too, But yeah,
born and raised down down now and then you know, hearing.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
You talk about the block, it's yeah, there's a lot of.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Similarities, you know, that sense of community and family and
stuff like. And that's one thing I took from you
from down there. It was like when we grow up
in a place, like you know, you're always right.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Everyone else might have this view on the area and
what it's like, but when you're born there.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
You grow up there like you're right. So yeah, a
lot a lot of similarities between now and Red Fern's.
Actually when I got.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Kicked out of school, so the first place I went to,
So yeah, seventeen years old, got kicked out of school
and had an auntie who lived on Little Evely Street
just up next to the station there.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
So yeah, spent a lot of time there when well
I left home.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, brother, this is one thing that we do as blackfellows, right,
Like this fella says, I'm from Nawah. My dad and
my grandmother were in radio and so radio Redfern in
Cope Street was founded by my late grandmother, Maureen Watson,
and she'll be on a Google dude or next month.
I can't anymos I signed an NDA with Google, but
(07:39):
she literally yeah. In the nineteen seventies started a radio
station and then my dad went into media as well.
And one of my dad's best friends that he called
his brother was the late Uncle Bobby McLeod. So when
I was fourteen, this is a true story, we got
our first birth certificates. There are two hundred thousand Aboraginal
(08:01):
Australians today that do not have a birth certificate, that
can't open a bank account, that can't get a settling
payment because they don't have one hundred points ID, will
never be able to travel the world because they can't
get a passport, something that a lot of Australians take
for granted. Anyhow, my mum registered my birth in nineteen
(08:21):
ninety six as a fourteen year old and we're going
over to ta Aka, New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
With Uncle Bobby McLeod.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
So Uncle Bobby and his whole dance troupe, the Dunwich Dancers,
invited my sisters and I, as I used to be
in an all female traditional Abitshal dance group, and we
used to dance the dancers of the Gumich people from Anahland.
If you heard of the late Mundaway or Gallery Nipingu,
these are their dances when we talk about the Gumich dancers.
(08:54):
So Uncle Bobby invited us to tour Oloa with the
Dunach dancers for six weeks. We got to actually Bobby McLeod, Young,
Bobby Lowry, Cecil Andrew, all the boys. And it's interesting
being I grew up in a family with all girls,
eight sisters, no brothers, and then we're on tour with
(09:15):
all men. So that was my introduction into hearing about
now right.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
And then when I was reading you by, I'm like
you fellows, he's related, Yeah, yeah, same mob.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, say so uncle Bobby there, I think his mom
and my great grandfather's first cousins. But yeah, well yeah,
grew up with all the boys, Uncle Andrew, Uncle Larry
and them like the older followers, you know, looked after us.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Taught us all out of dance.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So Uncle Cecil in particular, like when I was in school,
it was hard for me, you know, So I used
to get in trouble a lot and me.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Mum.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
She kind of recognized that it wasn't working for me.
It wasn't the sort of environment that I thrived in.
So she went down to school one day and said, hey,
you know he's struggling a little bit. You know, things
ain't working out. Can his uncles come in and be
like his teacher's support people? And yeah, So I had
two uncles come in there with me, and it was
Uncle Richard Moore and Uncle Cecil And whenever I'd be
(10:11):
feeling angry or was mucking up or whatever, they'd take
me out of class and take me down at Oval
and teach me song and dance. And yeah, that that
was mad. That's kind of what got me through school,
really really helped. So it informed the bass that i'd
carry now for for music. It all started with them too, Yeah,
take me down and show me that, and then started
(10:34):
off with just me, and then all the other cousin
I was there, they've seen it, and then they all
started coming and you know, it was kind of like
the next generation of Dulage coming up from that.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, I was gonna say, because Uncle Bobby McLoud, if
you don't know, I've never heard of him. He was
an amazing musician, amazing musician, and listening to talk about
rap about not just our struggles, but even those messages,
I can I can hear it. I was listening to
(11:03):
I hardly listen to music on planes. I work on
every plane, and this trip I decided just to listen,
and I was like, you know, when you're present and
you can actually really hear what kind of messages have
been related or spoken to you?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I felt like you were speaking to me.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Oh, and I just want to say that you know,
the music that you've been creating and the hope to
younger generations, but the hope for blackfellows today in.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Twenty twenty four, I think we need.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
To hear more kind of musicians and just people in
general spreading words or messages that give people hope in
a world where it feels like there's it feels like
there's no kind of light at the end of the tunnel.
So right now where I am in my life, your
music spoke to me and it just felt like this
(11:55):
was the right time to have someone like you on
the podcast. So can you tell me really quickly in
terms of music, how did you end up We're first
getting signed by Sony O. Yeah, how did you end
up like from Narrah a kid that was in trouble
at school? Yeah, so then coming to Redfern to now
(12:16):
how many arias up for three ari Awards?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Four?
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Four? People tell us like how where?
Speaker 5 (12:33):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yes, it's funny. It's a bit of a long yard
that one. But so how it happened. School was extremely
hard for me and Narah. Like you might have heard
from Uncle Bobby back then, it was.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Like there's a lot of racism. It was. There was
a lot of shit around.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Like the mayor of Nara at one time, Yeah, Nadock
week all weeks. He thought it was a good idea
to get the black Fallow flag and set it on fire.
Uncle Bobby wasn't too happy about that. He made him
apologys always said he was going to burn down the
council house and Uncle Bobby probably.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
Would have done it.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Uncle Bob was pretty staunch.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
So yeah, there was, you know, that old racist attitude.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It kind of you know, I don't know, I don't
know if it's gone yet, you know, definitely bleeding out slowly.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
What was probably parts of it.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You know, I live in Sydney now, so I can't
talk too much on what it's light down there anymore,
but it was. It was really hard for me, and
I struggled a lot at school. And I had a
cousin who lived in Newcastle, right, so he's living in
the city and was exposed to different things, like different
opportunities and that.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
And I'd only see his fill.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
For holidays, and he was like the cool big cousin
I used to try and be like. His name was Selwey,
and so if he was being good, then I'd be good.
If he was being bad, I'd be bad.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
And I heard it about.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Him smashing the window at school dance. So next school
disco I go to, you know, I smashed it.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
And then so he started rapping.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
And listening to him rap and tell his story, it
really opened my eyes to what's possible. And I was
because I didn't know we could do that. And I
remember hearing him rap for the first time. I said, oh,
cause we can do that, and he goes yeah. So
he kind of set me on that journey with music.
And I was that tormenting little cousin. I always just
(14:30):
tormenting the rap. And you convinced him to make me
a little CD with beats on it one time, and
I used to carry this with me everywhere down always
listened to it.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
And I'm going through school.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I would have been the first in my family to
ever finish school, and that was like a big thing
for me.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
I wanted to do that.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I wanted to be the first one to ever finish school.
I get the year twelve.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
And.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Yeah, I was rapping a lot, just hanging out at
the youth center making songs. And I'll get the year
twelve and for me, hc to old project, right, I was.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
I was at the end. I was almost done. I
thought for the.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Me final school project, I'd make a little album and
submit that. So I made a little CD a couple
of songs on it, and there was this song on
there called Subliminal Twist. What I did on this song
was I named all the redneck teachers in the school
without naming them.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Right like, there was a there was a teacher there
named mister Hunt.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's a young black fellow on the Hunt sick of
men called a little black that there was a price.
I said, it's the price of education, heartaches, racism, and discrimination.
So yeah, I ended in this CD and regular day
at now a high school Corey.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
Webster at the principal's office.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yeah, it's Tuesday, let's go down.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Go down. He's just he's read. He's staring at me
and I was like, oh, well what now?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
And I looked down. He's got my CD on the table,
slides it like this, and he goes, we refuse to
mark this. You sign yourself out now, or we're kicking
you out. I said, well, give me the papers, signed
myself out that day, had to go home face mum
and dad. I was a bit scared of that one,
and it all happened so fast. Kicked out that day,
(16:26):
go home. I guess what, Mum kicked out of school.
A couple of weeks after that, I packed my bags
and I left. I left Narra seventeen years old, went
to NASDA for a little bit on the Central coast. There,
I was back and forth between NASA and Redfern. Yeah,
(16:46):
music became my only option like that for me, I
didn't know what else to do.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
You know, it happened to get me kicked out of school.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
But it also led me on this journey that I'm
onto now. So hanging out in Redfern, you know you
said before and see him. I Whoop Be, Michael Jackson,
Snoop Dogg and one used to come there. One day,
I was hanging out at the community center where I'd
go all the time and just make music, and Black
Our Peas rocked up one day for a visit. So
(17:16):
they came in and we ended up having like a
little freestyle session, and at the end of it, the
executive producer comes up to me and said, oh, we
like what you do. How do you like to fly
to l a work on a song with Taboo? And
I was like bullshit, but yeah, sure enough.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
It happened, actually happened on the block.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, so I owe that place a lot. Yeah yeah, yeah,
And then.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I couldn't find that on Google.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
That's on What's what's the old one? The MSN one.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
You've got to go back to those that Yahoo that's him.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
So you went to the States, did you go?
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Yeah, went out there, recorded a song done like the
soft launch out there and never officially got east some
music industry as sometimes albums don't come out, so it
was going to be one of the first singles, but
the album it was on didn't end up coming out.
But we launched a song over there hit it, you know,
got spoken about on a few lists and stuff with
(18:18):
Kanye and Lil Wayne. I thought that was sick, but
never never, you know, eventuated, never came out. But yeah,
it done a lot for me. When I came home,
I thought I was going to be famous, so I
thought it'd be.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
The first kidl Roy, but kitd Ler Roy was the
first kill nearly got it from yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
And then yeah, so I just came home, had to
work hard, you know, doing doing shows and building my
reputation and my name up. And then was doing that
for a while, which led to meeting Briggs and signed
the Bad Apples music there first and was knocking around
with Briggsy for a while and yeah, done, done all that.
Then went over to Triple J, started the first Blackfellow
(19:01):
show they got there, and then kicked off three percent
and done all that and then yeah, four ARIA Awards now,
so hopefully get one and a half of them.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well it's actually the most in ARIA history of actually
first Nations nominations this year, big mob like that's.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Going to be a blackout.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
So when you go to an event and there's a
lot of Black Fellows and goes man, this is a blackout. Yeah,
that's your show that you.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Broadcast called Blackout on Sunday nights.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Yeah on Triple Jet.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah it was funny making and what are you going
to call it? I wouldn't call it blackout as waffle
as you know, what's that means? Doesn't mean let's our party?
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Now? Is where all you?
Speaker 3 (19:41):
You know?
Speaker 4 (19:41):
So?
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah, and you play black music.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
The first song that I listened to recently was your
the Indian. Yeah, it was Treaty, And I started to
think about this. Feller plays the same music that I
grew up listening to because my dad was the sea
of an Aberginal radio station that played Aberginal music. But
what's interesting is my in Queensland said, how do we
(20:06):
get into the homes of white fullers? How do we
get our voices, our stories into and messages into mainstream
Australian homes. So what he thought about genius idea is
we'll play country music. We'll play country music and we
will bring a little bit of Aboriginal.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Music but more country.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So copped a bit of slack from the Aboriginal community
because there's a radio station that was an Aboriginal radio
station playing majority country music.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
But it actually worked.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
A lot of people that I've met have said that
their first introduction to abitional culture was through listening to
my dad on radio. So the power of music, you know,
I could see now with your journey of coming from
Naura and then you know, being signed now to Sony,
being able to work with people like not just Jessica Mowboy,
(21:00):
who we all love, but even the precinct. Yeah, my
people can please share. I was is it the first
time that they've allowed someone to touch their song?
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yes, And actually I spoke to him on the phone yesterday.
It was mad, I've got his number, now watchat But yeah,
it was the first time they've ever let anyone touch
touch their music, which was sick to do, but for
me it was It's funny, like I've always been like
a bit of a dreamer.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
So that song come out when I was a kid
in Narra and I was just starting to rap at
this time, and I remember hearing this, and you know,
a big part of rap music is sampling and stuff,
and I'm like, I'm walking around now listening to this song.
I'm like, one day I'm going to touch this song.
And I did attempt it once upon a time, but
it wasn't the right moment. Didn't try to reach out
(21:52):
to nothing happened with the song.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I just mucked around with it.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
And then you know, fast forward years on, I was
doing workshops at a juvie out Western Sydney there and
you know, it's a revolving door of that place, these
young more in and out, and this one day in particular,
it was like a new intake of young colors and
(22:17):
these lads were young young. I'm like eddies that ten
year olds were there, and seeing them come in, I
was like, na, that's not you know, we all know
what happens, but to be there and see it, it's
a different thing. And one little fellow I knew and
I'm like, nah, man, what are you doing in there?
Speaker 5 (22:38):
Yeah? And it was it was. I walked out of
the spot that day feeling feeling a bit heavy.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
And then so I jump in the Carls cruising home
and I'll chuck on the radio and all I hear
is this stuff about Alice Springs.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
It added to the way to the point where it's like,
there's too much with me right now. I can't go
home because I'm gonna take that bat you home. I'll
go to the studio. Rang Angus and Dallas happened to
be in town for something. I was like, Lad's got
to meet me at the studio. I got a you
know something I got to say, and so yeah, I
went to the studio and I had our producer there
(23:17):
who would usually work with and he goes, what are
we doing today? I said, Lad, load up the presets,
so we're going to sample that and turn it into
our thing. You know.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
That locked up with my people part and we made
the song.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
And you know, sometimes when you make these songs, it's
like the old follows are telling you, yeah, that's the one.
You said what we wanted you to say, which is
exactly what happened in that moment. Jumped in the car
said that the boys, I said, this is how we
start this thing, and yeah, I released it. And then
they heard the song in the presets and they loved
what we did with it, and they let us do it.
(23:49):
And it was again because it is the first time
they've let anyone sample this stuff. It was a pretty
big deal in the industry and that so we made
a bit of noise.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Are join us next week? For part two of Mandanara's
Yarn with Nookie. So there was three awards that go out.
There was four or five of us left.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, made it to the final bit by this where
I get dusted. So it was Pharrell and Rihanna. They
tied for the gold one, and then there's me and
Edge here and left and then I ended up getting
the bronze one and then I have a laugh. That
is bronze enough.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
He didn't need.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
If you'd like any more info on today's guest, please
visit our show notes in the episode description. A big
shout out to all you Deadly Mob and allies who
continue to listen, watch, and support our podcast.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Your feedback means the world.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
You can rate and review the podcast on Apple and Spotify,
or even head to our socials and YouTube channel and
drop us a line.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
The Black Magic Woman podcast is produced by Clint Curtis.
Black cast, Unite our voices.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Black Magic Women Podcast acknowledges the traditional owners of the
land we have recorded this episode on. We also acknowledge
traditional owners of the land where you, the listener or viewer,
are tuning in from. We would like to pay our
respects to our elders past and present and acknowledged that
this always was Aboriginal land and always will be Aboriginal land.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
You know, sometimes when you make these songs, it's like
the old follows are telling you, yeah, that's the one.
You said what we wanted you to say. They heard
the song and the presets and they love what we
did with it, and they let us do it because
it is the first time they've let anyone sample this stuff.
It was a pretty big deal in the industry and
that's have made it be the noise.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Welcome to the Black Magic Woman Podcast with Mandanara Bail.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
All right, eh, welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Thank you for taking time out of this amazing conference
to join myself and my guest, who you meet in
just a moment for a live broadcast of a podcast
that was a side hustle and is now the only
I think it's still the only indigenous podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Sign to the iHeart Network, so.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
That's one of my biggest raps is, Like you can
hear us on Virgin as well, So if you're flying Virgin,
make sure you listen to the Black Magic Woman. But
I'm here joining you from my mother's country, my mother's
mother and her mother and her mother, and at least
nine generations of my family have been in Redfern, on
(01:45):
Gadigle Country or the Block. So if you're from Sydney
and you've been here for a couple of generations, especially
if you are Corey or mob, the Block is a
place that.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I don't even need to tell you where it is.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I live in Queensland, I live on Kubbycabby Country, the
Sunshine Coast, anyone being Noosa, Richard or Melulaba, all of
those beautiful places, and it has never felt like home.
And for an Aboriginal woman from Redfern, I would say
that there's no place like Redfern. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I think the closest place now.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Michael Jackson said this, believe it or not, will be
Goldberg said this, and so did mc hammer. They said
that Redfern reminded them of where they grew up. So
I feel really privileged to say that, born and raised
on the block, this is my hometown and I literally
feel this sense of peace.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
We even settled.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Even after one year after the found referendum. So here
I am on beautiful Gadiger country and the language that
was once spoken here and still spoken by a few people,
the Darug language, we say Worra me so worra me
wan Gaddi nayo bimbibila, Mandanara naya Gadigo nuda. So what
(03:08):
I'm saying is I'm here on Gadigl country and my
name is Mandanara, and I've been trying to learn the
language that my ancestors once spoke. I have a few
kind of questions that I want to jump straight into,
but in Aboriginal culture, who you are is much more
important than what you do, so human relationships come.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
First and that's kind of the format it.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
My culture has inspired me to do podcasting storytelling, but
it's inspired me to try and showcase as best as
I can to mainstream Australia.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Because this was in Lockdown that we launched this podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I wanted to showcase black excellence and my brother perfect
guest for this episode because in everything that you do
and the music that you write and with we are warriors.
What I kept picking up when I was doing my
research was black excellence. This podcast was born out of
(04:10):
a global pandemic where people felt more isolated than ever before,
and for black fellows to be isolated, it's an interesting feeling.
I've never ever felt that I was alone in my
own country, so spiritually, I've always felt that someone was
with me. So we have to remember that every day
(04:33):
we're walking in the footsteps of our ancestors. So I'm
going to kind of draw on my old people, because
this is my country, my birthplace to get us through
this Yarn, and I'm going to try and keep it lighthearted,
even though we're going to talk about some themes that
may be.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
A little bit triggering.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
U sort to put it out there for people here
in the room and for people.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That are listening as well.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
We've got a national hotline one three Yarn, twenty four hours,
seven days a week for mob to be able to
talk to someone hearing our experiences, our lived experiences as
black fellows. I talk about my life and who we
are and what we do every day, and I do
it with a smile on my face. I don't do
it for people's sympathy. So I'm a proud black woman
(05:18):
born and raised in Red Fern and everything that I
do it's kind of strength based and centering Black excellence.
So don't see us as First Nations peoples as victims.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
We're not victims. We're owners and runners of country.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So we have to remind ourselves as Australians that it
wasn't that long ago that we were running an entire country.
So on that note, what a good way to introduce you,
my brother. I'm going to end over to my guests
on the show, and if you've been listening to Black
Magic Women.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
You would know that I don't introduce.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
My guests, and I think it's probably best that people
can kind of talk about who they are, where they
come from, in their own words and also on their
own terms. So brother, Nookie, the microphone is all yours solid.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
Well, yeah, my name is Nookie.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I'm a ewn and Dunguttie breed, born and raised down
in Narra for my South coast family there, I belong
to the jeering Enge and the wild Bunga mob on
the youw In side. And yeah, my great grandmother's from
a little little place just outside Kempsy called Bellbrook Mission. Yeah,
Bellbrook Mission, Yeah, Yeah, that's where my great grandmother's from.
(06:31):
Say yeah, half my family from up there too, But yeah,
born and raised down down now and then you know, hearing.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
You talk about the block, it's yeah, there's a lot of.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Similarities, you know, that sense of community and family and
stuff like. And that's one thing I took from you
from down there. It was like when we grow up
in a place, like you know, you're always right.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Everyone else might have this view on the area and
what it's like, but when you're born there.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
You grow up there like you're right. So yeah, a
lot a lot of similarities between now and Red Fern's.
Actually when I got.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Kicked out of school, so the first place I went to,
So yeah, seventeen years old, got kicked out of school
and had an auntie who lived on Little Evely Street
just up next to the station there.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
So yeah, spent a lot of time there when well
I left home.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, brother, this is one thing that we do as blackfellows, right,
Like this fella says, I'm from Nawah. My dad and
my grandmother were in radio and so radio Redfern in
Cope Street was founded by my late grandmother, Maureen Watson,
and she'll be on a Google dude or next month.
I can't anymos I signed an NDA with Google, but
(07:39):
she literally yeah. In the nineteen seventies started a radio
station and then my dad went into media as well.
And one of my dad's best friends that he called
his brother was the late Uncle Bobby McLeod. So when
I was fourteen, this is a true story, we got
our first birth certificates. There are two hundred thousand Aboraginal
(08:01):
Australians today that do not have a birth certificate, that
can't open a bank account, that can't get a settling
payment because they don't have one hundred points ID, will
never be able to travel the world because they can't
get a passport, something that a lot of Australians take
for granted. Anyhow, my mum registered my birth in nineteen
(08:21):
ninety six as a fourteen year old and we're going
over to ta Aka, New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
With Uncle Bobby McLeod.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
So Uncle Bobby and his whole dance troupe, the Dunwich Dancers,
invited my sisters and I, as I used to be
in an all female traditional Abitshal dance group, and we
used to dance the dancers of the Gumich people from Anahland.
If you heard of the late Mundaway or Gallery Nipingu,
these are their dances when we talk about the Gumich dancers.
(08:54):
So Uncle Bobby invited us to tour Oloa with the
Dunach dancers for six weeks. We got to actually Bobby McLeod, Young,
Bobby Lowry, Cecil Andrew, all the boys. And it's interesting
being I grew up in a family with all girls,
eight sisters, no brothers, and then we're on tour with
(09:15):
all men. So that was my introduction into hearing about
now right.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
And then when I was reading you by, I'm like
you fellows, he's related, Yeah, yeah, same mob.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, say so uncle Bobby there, I think his mom
and my great grandfather's first cousins. But yeah, well yeah,
grew up with all the boys, Uncle Andrew, Uncle Larry
and them like the older followers, you know, looked after us.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Taught us all out of dance.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So Uncle Cecil in particular, like when I was in school,
it was hard for me, you know, So I used
to get in trouble a lot and me.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Mum.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
She kind of recognized that it wasn't working for me.
It wasn't the sort of environment that I thrived in.
So she went down to school one day and said, hey,
you know he's struggling a little bit. You know, things
ain't working out. Can his uncles come in and be
like his teacher's support people? And yeah, So I had
two uncles come in there with me, and it was
Uncle Richard Moore and Uncle Cecil And whenever I'd be
(10:11):
feeling angry or was mucking up or whatever, they'd take
me out of class and take me down at Oval
and teach me song and dance. And yeah, that that
was mad. That's kind of what got me through school,
really really helped. So it informed the bass that i'd
carry now for for music. It all started with them too, Yeah,
take me down and show me that, and then started
(10:34):
off with just me, and then all the other cousin
I was there, they've seen it, and then they all
started coming and you know, it was kind of like
the next generation of Dulage coming up from that.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, I was gonna say, because Uncle Bobby McLoud, if
you don't know, I've never heard of him. He was
an amazing musician, amazing musician, and listening to talk about
rap about not just our struggles, but even those messages,
I can I can hear it. I was listening to
(11:03):
I hardly listen to music on planes. I work on
every plane, and this trip I decided just to listen,
and I was like, you know, when you're present and
you can actually really hear what kind of messages have
been related or spoken to you?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I felt like you were speaking to me.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Oh, and I just want to say that you know,
the music that you've been creating and the hope to
younger generations, but the hope for blackfellows today in.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Twenty twenty four, I think we need.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
To hear more kind of musicians and just people in
general spreading words or messages that give people hope in
a world where it feels like there's it feels like
there's no kind of light at the end of the tunnel.
So right now where I am in my life, your
music spoke to me and it just felt like this
(11:55):
was the right time to have someone like you on
the podcast. So can you tell me really quickly in
terms of music, how did you end up We're first
getting signed by Sony O. Yeah, how did you end
up like from Narrah a kid that was in trouble
at school? Yeah, so then coming to Redfern to now
(12:16):
how many arias up for three ari Awards?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Four?
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Four? People tell us like how where?
Speaker 5 (12:33):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yes, it's funny. It's a bit of a long yard
that one. But so how it happened. School was extremely
hard for me and Narah. Like you might have heard
from Uncle Bobby back then, it was.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Like there's a lot of racism. It was. There was
a lot of shit around.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Like the mayor of Nara at one time, Yeah, Nadock
week all weeks. He thought it was a good idea
to get the black Fallow flag and set it on fire.
Uncle Bobby wasn't too happy about that. He made him
apologys always said he was going to burn down the
council house and Uncle Bobby probably.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
Would have done it.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Uncle Bob was pretty staunch.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
So yeah, there was, you know, that old racist attitude.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It kind of you know, I don't know, I don't
know if it's gone yet, you know, definitely bleeding out slowly.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
What was probably parts of it.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You know, I live in Sydney now, so I can't
talk too much on what it's light down there anymore,
but it was. It was really hard for me, and
I struggled a lot at school. And I had a
cousin who lived in Newcastle, right, so he's living in
the city and was exposed to different things, like different
opportunities and that.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
And I'd only see his fill.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
For holidays, and he was like the cool big cousin
I used to try and be like. His name was Selwey,
and so if he was being good, then I'd be good.
If he was being bad, I'd be bad.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
And I heard it about.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Him smashing the window at school dance. So next school
disco I go to, you know, I smashed it.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
And then so he started rapping.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
And listening to him rap and tell his story, it
really opened my eyes to what's possible. And I was
because I didn't know we could do that. And I
remember hearing him rap for the first time. I said, oh,
cause we can do that, and he goes yeah. So
he kind of set me on that journey with music.
And I was that tormenting little cousin. I always just
(14:30):
tormenting the rap. And you convinced him to make me
a little CD with beats on it one time, and
I used to carry this with me everywhere down always
listened to it.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
And I'm going through school.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I would have been the first in my family to
ever finish school, and that was like a big thing
for me.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
I wanted to do that.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I wanted to be the first one to ever finish school.
I get the year twelve.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
And.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Yeah, I was rapping a lot, just hanging out at
the youth center making songs. And I'll get the year
twelve and for me, hc to old project, right, I was.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
I was at the end. I was almost done. I
thought for the.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Me final school project, I'd make a little album and
submit that. So I made a little CD a couple
of songs on it, and there was this song on
there called Subliminal Twist. What I did on this song
was I named all the redneck teachers in the school
without naming them.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Right like, there was a there was a teacher there
named mister Hunt.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's a young black fellow on the Hunt sick of
men called a little black that there was a price.
I said, it's the price of education, heartaches, racism, and discrimination.
So yeah, I ended in this CD and regular day
at now a high school Corey.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
Webster at the principal's office.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yeah, it's Tuesday, let's go down.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Go down. He's just he's read. He's staring at me
and I was like, oh, well what now?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
And I looked down. He's got my CD on the table,
slides it like this, and he goes, we refuse to
mark this. You sign yourself out now, or we're kicking
you out. I said, well, give me the papers, signed
myself out that day, had to go home face mum
and dad. I was a bit scared of that one,
and it all happened so fast. Kicked out that day,
(16:26):
go home. I guess what, Mum kicked out of school.
A couple of weeks after that, I packed my bags
and I left. I left Narra seventeen years old, went
to NASDA for a little bit on the Central coast. There,
I was back and forth between NASA and Redfern. Yeah,
(16:46):
music became my only option like that for me, I
didn't know what else to do.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
You know, it happened to get me kicked out of school.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
But it also led me on this journey that I'm
onto now. So hanging out in Redfern, you know you
said before and see him. I Whoop Be, Michael Jackson,
Snoop Dogg and one used to come there. One day,
I was hanging out at the community center where I'd
go all the time and just make music, and Black
Our Peas rocked up one day for a visit. So
(17:16):
they came in and we ended up having like a
little freestyle session, and at the end of it, the
executive producer comes up to me and said, oh, we
like what you do. How do you like to fly
to l a work on a song with Taboo? And
I was like bullshit, but yeah, sure enough.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
It happened, actually happened on the block.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, so I owe that place a lot. Yeah yeah, yeah,
And then.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I couldn't find that on Google.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
That's on What's what's the old one? The MSN one.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
You've got to go back to those that Yahoo that's him.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
So you went to the States, did you go?
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Yeah, went out there, recorded a song done like the
soft launch out there and never officially got east some
music industry as sometimes albums don't come out, so it
was going to be one of the first singles, but
the album it was on didn't end up coming out.
But we launched a song over there hit it, you know,
got spoken about on a few lists and stuff with
(18:18):
Kanye and Lil Wayne. I thought that was sick, but
never never, you know, eventuated, never came out. But yeah,
it done a lot for me. When I came home,
I thought I was going to be famous, so I
thought it'd be.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
The first kidl Roy, but kitd Ler Roy was the
first kill nearly got it from yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
And then yeah, so I just came home, had to
work hard, you know, doing doing shows and building my
reputation and my name up. And then was doing that
for a while, which led to meeting Briggs and signed
the Bad Apples music there first and was knocking around
with Briggsy for a while and yeah, done, done all that.
Then went over to Triple J, started the first Blackfellow
(19:01):
show they got there, and then kicked off three percent
and done all that and then yeah, four ARIA Awards now,
so hopefully get one and a half of them.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well it's actually the most in ARIA history of actually
first Nations nominations this year, big mob like that's.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Going to be a blackout.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
So when you go to an event and there's a
lot of Black Fellows and goes man, this is a blackout. Yeah,
that's your show that you.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Broadcast called Blackout on Sunday nights.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Yeah on Triple Jet.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah it was funny making and what are you going
to call it? I wouldn't call it blackout as waffle
as you know, what's that means? Doesn't mean let's our party?
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Now? Is where all you?
Speaker 3 (19:41):
You know?
Speaker 4 (19:41):
So?
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah, and you play black music.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
The first song that I listened to recently was your
the Indian. Yeah, it was Treaty, And I started to
think about this. Feller plays the same music that I
grew up listening to because my dad was the sea
of an Aberginal radio station that played Aberginal music. But
what's interesting is my in Queensland said, how do we
(20:06):
get into the homes of white fullers? How do we
get our voices, our stories into and messages into mainstream
Australian homes. So what he thought about genius idea is
we'll play country music. We'll play country music and we
will bring a little bit of Aboriginal.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Music but more country.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So copped a bit of slack from the Aboriginal community
because there's a radio station that was an Aboriginal radio
station playing majority country music.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
But it actually worked.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
A lot of people that I've met have said that
their first introduction to abitional culture was through listening to
my dad on radio. So the power of music, you know,
I could see now with your journey of coming from
Naura and then you know, being signed now to Sony,
being able to work with people like not just Jessica Mowboy,
(21:00):
who we all love, but even the precinct. Yeah, my
people can please share. I was is it the first
time that they've allowed someone to touch their song?
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yes, And actually I spoke to him on the phone yesterday.
It was mad, I've got his number, now watchat But yeah,
it was the first time they've ever let anyone touch
touch their music, which was sick to do, but for
me it was It's funny, like I've always been like
a bit of a dreamer.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
So that song come out when I was a kid
in Narra and I was just starting to rap at
this time, and I remember hearing this, and you know,
a big part of rap music is sampling and stuff,
and I'm like, I'm walking around now listening to this song.
I'm like, one day I'm going to touch this song.
And I did attempt it once upon a time, but
it wasn't the right moment. Didn't try to reach out
(21:52):
to nothing happened with the song.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I just mucked around with it.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
And then you know, fast forward years on, I was
doing workshops at a juvie out Western Sydney there and
you know, it's a revolving door of that place, these
young more in and out, and this one day in particular,
it was like a new intake of young colors and
(22:17):
these lads were young young. I'm like eddies that ten
year olds were there, and seeing them come in, I
was like, na, that's not you know, we all know
what happens, but to be there and see it, it's
a different thing. And one little fellow I knew and
I'm like, nah, man, what are you doing in there?
Speaker 5 (22:38):
Yeah? And it was it was. I walked out of
the spot that day feeling feeling a bit heavy.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
And then so I jump in the Carls cruising home
and I'll chuck on the radio and all I hear
is this stuff about Alice Springs.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
It added to the way to the point where it's like,
there's too much with me right now. I can't go
home because I'm gonna take that bat you home. I'll
go to the studio. Rang Angus and Dallas happened to
be in town for something. I was like, Lad's got
to meet me at the studio. I got a you
know something I got to say, and so yeah, I
went to the studio and I had our producer there
(23:17):
who would usually work with and he goes, what are
we doing today? I said, Lad, load up the presets,
so we're going to sample that and turn it into
our thing. You know.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
That locked up with my people part and we made
the song.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
And you know, sometimes when you make these songs, it's
like the old follows are telling you, yeah, that's the one.
You said what we wanted you to say, which is
exactly what happened in that moment. Jumped in the car
said that the boys, I said, this is how we
start this thing, and yeah, I released it. And then
they heard the song in the presets and they loved
what we did with it, and they let us do it.
(23:49):
And it was again because it is the first time
they've let anyone sample this stuff. It was a pretty
big deal in the industry and that so we made
a bit of noise.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Are join us next week? For part two of Mandanara's
Yarn with Nookie. So there was three awards that go out.
There was four or five of us left.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, made it to the final bit by this where
I get dusted. So it was Pharrell and Rihanna. They
tied for the gold one, and then there's me and
Edge here and left and then I ended up getting
the bronze one and then I have a laugh. That
is bronze enough.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
He didn't need.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
If you'd like any more info on today's guest, please
visit our show notes in the episode description. A big
shout out to all you Deadly Mob and allies who
continue to listen, watch, and support our podcast.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Your feedback means the world.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
You can rate and review the podcast on Apple and Spotify,
or even head to our socials and YouTube channel and
drop us a line.
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