The Byron Bay BluesFest doesn’t finish until tomorrow, but it hasn’t stopped organisers from already announcing their next business venture: an Indigenous music festival.
According to the BluesFest website, the inaugural Boomerang Festival will be held at Bluesfest’s home, the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm in Byron Bay, from the 4th-6th October.
The event is an initiative of Bluesfest director Peter Noble and Boomerang’s Festival Director Rhoda Roberts, a Bundjalung woman. It is being billed as “an experience of living cultures through traditional and contemporary music, featuring some of the world’s oldest instruments, dance and rituals along with traditional arts practices and workshops that focus on mother tongues and first instruments.”
Christine Anu, Troy Cassar-Daley and Casey Donovan are already confirmed to appear at the festival.
Mr Noble told ABC the event has a budget of $1.2 million and is hoping for extra support from government and arts bodies.
“Whether that happens or not, we’re doing it,” he said.
“What I want to see is Byron be known for what it is…this is who we are, this is an arts region.
“It’s going to be amazing…as a white Australian I’m proud to say I’m going to be able to go to one of the world’s best events here in Byron Bay.”
More information on Boomerang Festival can be found at the event’s official website.
