Wilcannia Mob

A favourite tune of mine from M.I.A's new records "Kala", is Mango Pickle Down River with the Wilcannia Mob.

Wilcannia Mob are an Aussie Aborginal schoolboy group.

This from The Sydney Morning Herald.....

Ok, so we won something, now take us to Maccas
By Debra Jopson
October 14, 2003

Hmm, not a good bridge to jump off . . . Aboriginal schoolboy rap group the Wilcannia Mob arrive in Sydney to collect a Deadly award for their song about riverside life. Photo: Dean Sewell
Colroy Johnson, aged 11, may have been more nervous than most of the stars of stage and sport who flocked to the Sydney Opera House last night.

They were gathering for the Deadlys, the nation's most prestigious Aboriginal awards, but Colroy had other things on his mind.

"It's gonna blow up," he said after spotting the sails. "I don't like going on boats."

Colroy, who had clambered off a bus at 2am yesterday after a 12-hour bus ride from his outback hometown, may have a bit to learn about the harbour.

But he has already taught young hip-hop fans around the nation about riverside life as one of the five Aboriginal schoolboys in the Wilcannia Mob, whose song Down River became a sensation when Triple J began playing it a year ago.

Last night their raw Aussie rap song about swimming, fishing for bream and jumping off the bridge won them a Deadly for best single release of the year.

"If we won something, we won something," said Keith Dutton, 14, with casual aplomb before the announcement.

But Kerry King, mother of Lendal, at 10 the youngest of the five rising stars, said that for Wilcannia (population 750 and falling) a win would mean "another big burst of pride and honour and self-esteem".

"The song gives a positive image back to Wilcannia," Ms King said. "The simple things they sing about indicate our lifestyle; how we can live in a remote area in a harmonistic way.

"There are not a lot of material things out there, but it's about using what's there in the river and being part of our life."

Four of the little blokes in their rappers' caps, who wowed Homebake last December, were in Sydney for only the second time yesterday, arguing over which brand of cars were best, speculating on jumping in the fountain near the Opera House and asking to be taken to McDonald's and Wonderland.

But at SBS Radio, they clammed up for Aboriginal presenter Lola Forrester, except for a few clicks and "brrrrrs" into the mikes.

Buddy Blair, 13, the chatty one, slumped as if asleep, declaring: "I don't want to be a rock star."

But Ms Forrester coaxed their new song out of them.

"Barkandji Boys are back, with another track, still doing backflips and jumping off the bridge. Burandoo is Barkandji for fish," they sang.

To be released later this month on the album All You Mob 2, put together by their mentor, Sydney hip-hop artist Morganics, the proceeds from this song, like their first, will go into a trust fund they can use from age 18.



SORT OF REMIND ME OF A CLASSIC FROM A FEW YEARS AGO