Frank Yamma, the 'Voice of Australia's Central Desert', Tours Canada in August

Frank Yamma, the voice of Australia's Central Desert, comes all the way from Ayers Rock to perform his fourth run of shows in Canada. 

Frank Yamma is one of Australia's most significant Indigenous songwriters.

With an ability to cross cultural and musical boundaries, when he sings, you listen and travel with him. An initiated Pitjantjatjara man, Frank sings in his Indigenous language, as well as in English, and his spirit belongs to the heart of Australia - Uluru. Docker River. Ernabella. Central Australia. As Frank says, "Wherever the Pitjantjatjara mob come from."

Over the past five years, the world has been discovering Frank and has seen him perform across Europe and the UK with shows in Latvia, Lithuania, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, and Switzerland. Frank has undertaken extensive live touring with highlights including the 2012 Cultural Olympiad (UK), Womad (UK), The New Hebridean Festival (Scotland), Festival Bled (Slovenia), Colours of Ostravia (Czech Republic), and most recently setting hearts on fire in Canada at Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg folk festivals. In Canada, he shared the stage with Buffy Saint Marie and The Mekons, as well as performing a coveted spot opening for Joan Baez. In 2014 Frank Yamma represented Australia at WOMEX '14.

Closer to home, Frank also performed at this year's TEDx Sydney in May and won an NIMA award for his latest album Uncle, which features songs of country, protection, heartache, and travel. And songs of love. Not of love lost, but of pure, present-day raw emotion. Uncle shows the continuity of a musician that is hitting his peak with grace and conviction.

Indigenous soulster Frank Yamma will bring his beautiful storytelling back to Canada to play the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival on August 5-7, Manitoba Aboriginal Music Week on August 10, Robson Valley Music Festival August 12-14, and he is performing a special, intimate show at Vancouver's Wise Hall on August 11 with Melbourne songstress (and recent Canadian immigrant) Larissa Tandy making a guest appearance.

Frank Yamma - 2016 Canadian Tour Dates:

• 5-7 August - Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival – Lunenberg, NS
• 10 August - Manitoba Aboriginal Music Week - Winnipeg, MB
• 11 August - The Wise Hall - Vancouver, BC
• 12-14 August - Robson Valley Music Festival - Dunster, BC

Keep up with Frank Yamma at frankyamma.com and facebook.com/frankyamma

City Natives Form Like Voltron, Listen to Their Rugged New Single, "Ruler"

Stream "Ruler", the lead single from City Natives' new album, Voltron.

Voltron is not just the title of City Natives' latest album, it's also an apt metaphor for the crew's collective power.

Energized by Indigenous camaraderie and lyrical skill, the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia-based quartet of MCs and producers—Beaatz, IllFundz, Gearl, and BnE—has consistently delivered some of the dopest hip-hop coming out of Indian Country.

Last year's Red City was one of 2014's finest releases, and this year the group returns with their latest effort, Voltron, the crew's third LP. Continuing to build on the strength of their established sonic palette—rugged rhymes paired with head-knocking production—the crew's consistency trumps all else; and they're becoming increasingly adept at interweaving the dextrous flows and intricate wordplay between each MC. Every track on Voltron bumps like a long lost classic posse cut unearthed from the dusty crates of hip-hop's bedrock foundations.

On "Ruler", the crew declares their supremacy as "natural born lyricists" committed to maintaining hip-hop's ethos of self-determination and self-made success. There's no denying their claim to a rightful place in hip-hop's pantheon of greatness—but as an Indigenous crew, they're harnessing a uniquely native set of superpowers that makes their collective form all the more compelling and dynamic in what it represents for the people.

And, not that we can take the credit, but all the way back in 2013, we hailed their imminent ascendance as "a young Native rap Voltron" poised for break out success. Looks like it's taken City Natives a couple years to grow into the title. But they've earned it.

Tour dates and album purchase info below.

STREAM: City Natives - "Ruler"

CITY NATIVES - TOUR DATES :: SUMMER 2015

June 24th - Kingsclear, NB @ Jedi June 26th - Halifax, NS @ Multicultural Festival June 30th - Elsipogtog, NB @ CC's Bar July 3rd - Eskasoni, NS @ Pow Wow July 12th - Antigonish, NS @ Evolve Festival July 19th - Fredericton, NB @ The Capital Complex July 31st - Fredericton, NB @ The Capital Complex August 1st - Listuguj, QC - @ Real Bar August 8th - Toronto, ON @ Planet Indigenous August 19th - Millbrook, NS @ Summer Games August 30th - Charlottetown, PEI @ Babas Lounge

City Natives' Voltron is available now on iTunes. Stream the full album on Spotify below: