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Marlene Cummins

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Marlene Cummins
BornCunnamulla
GenresBlues
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
Instrument(s)vocals, saxophone
Websitewww.marlenecummins.com

Marlene Cummins is a jazz blues singer, saxophonist, songwriter, artist, Aboriginal Australian activist, broadcaster, dancer, and actor.[1][2][3] Many activists consider her to be Australia's Angela Davis.[4]

Music

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Cummins is considered Australia's foremost Indigenous blues performer, and is influenced by Big Mama Thornton, Etta James, and Ray Charles.[5] She honed her skills at the Berklee College of Music.[2] Her band includes Murray Cook and Rex Goh.[6]

She showcases her vast knowledge of blues and roots music on Koori Radio, where she hosts Marloo's Blues, providing music and discussions from an indigenous perspective.[2] This show won her the Broadcaster of the Year award at the 2009 Deadly Awards.

Marlene co-wrote her first release "Whichway Up" with writer & performer Isaiah B Brunt, the EP was recorded and produced by Tony Buchen and released in 2008. "Whichway Up" made the top 10 Australian Blues Radio Charts and was picked up by Qantas where it aired on high rotation.

Cummins wrote a song about Pemulwuy as a way of giving back to the Redfern community who see him as a hero. After dancing for Prince William, she gave him a copy of the song and explained the significance of the story to him, along with a petition to bring Pemulwuy's head back to his people.[2]

In 2012, Marlene performed three of her original works, including Insufficient Funds, Pension Day Blues, and Pemulwuy. Pemulwuy, she explains, is a spiritual sacred song. She has a sense of black humour and sorrow in her lyrics.[7] The three songs were performed by Marlene at Sydney Conservatorium of Music on 30 June 2012 at "Our Music, Performing Place, Listening to Sydney" playing day with other aboriginal artists.[8] Pemulwuy was an infamous and heroic aboriginal warrior in the first days of the Sydney colony near Parramatta.

She provided music for a Griffin Theatre Company production Shark Island Stories based on the work of Sally Morgan.[9]

Her first full-length album, Koori Woman Blues, is a mixture of original and traditional blues songs and includes guests Gil Askey, Fiona Boyes, Mark Atkins and Shannon Barnett.[10] She is working on a musical stage show using her songs called Boomerang Alley.[11]

In 2022, she was interviewed by Andrew Ford on ABC Radio National's Music Show about her Marloo's Blues band playing in Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival,[12] at which she was the headline act.[13][14]

Activism

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Cummins joined the Aboriginal Tent Embassy at age 16 and was at the centre of the Aboriginal rights movement in the 1970s.[1][15][16]

She was a founding member of the Australian Black Panther Party, which was inspired by the American Black Panther Party.[1] She campaigned for medical, educational, and legal services, land rights and monitored police conduct on the "pig patrol".[1][17] She was arrested for using obscene language to an abusive police officer, and absconded bail and fled to New Zealand.[4] In 2012 she attended an international gathering of Black Panthers in New York hosted by Kathleen Neal Cleaver.[18]

In 2014 she spoke out against black-on-black violence and sexual assault.[1]

Painting

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Cummins is also an accomplished painter and was shortlisted for the New South Wales Parliament Art Prize.[5] She has recently been working on portraits and her saxophone in Rabbitohs colours.[6]

Acting

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Cummins has appeared in the TV series Redfern Now and Supernova, the feature film The Matrix Reloaded, and the short film Hush (2007),[19] with Lisa Flanagan and Auriel Andrew.[20][21]

Personal life

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Marlene Cummins was born in Cunnamulla, grew up in outback Queensland and Acacia Ridge, and has lived in Redfern for decades.[17][22][23][4] However her country is Kuku Yalanji in the Cape York Peninsula.[22]

Her mother was a Woppaburra woman from Great Keppel Island.[22] Her father, Darcy Cummins, was a Guguyelandji musician. He travelled internationally and established links with Native Americans.[22][15]

As a teenager she was in a relationship with the Australian Black Panther Party leader Denis Walker.[1]

Cummins performed a traditional Murri dance at Thomas Hickey's memorial service.[24]

She is the focus of Rachel Perkins' documentary, Black Panther Woman, which premiered at the 2014 Sydney Film Festival.[1][17][25][26]

Discography

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  • Whichway Up (2008)
  • Koori Woman Blues (2015)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Robinson, Natasha (7 June 2014). "Blues panther's fight to stem the violence". The Australian. p. 5.
  2. ^ a b c d "Local Heroes: Marlene Cummins". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  3. ^ Lehmann, Megan (7 June 2014). "The soft power of Rachel Perkins, bringing Aboriginal stories into the mainstream". The Australian. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  4. ^ a b c McNally, Ward (1974). The Angry Australians. Victoria: Scope Publishing. pp. 29–33. ISBN 0869320033.
  5. ^ a b "Marlene Cummins". 28 January 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  6. ^ a b "MarleneCummins". facebook. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  7. ^ Torpey, Julia. "[Insufficient Funds, Pension Day Blues, ]Pemulwuy". Deepening Histories: Our Music, Performing Place, Listening to Sydney. Sydney Conservatorium of Music: ANU. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  8. ^ Torpey, Julia (30 June 2012). "Deepening Histories: Our Music, Performing Place, Listening to Sydney". Deepening Histories. Sydney Conservatorium of Music: ANU. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  9. ^ Syron, Liza-Mare. "An Actor Prepares: what Brian told me" (PDF). australianplays.org. Australian Script Centre. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  10. ^ "Koori Woman Blues Album". Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Boomerang Alley". Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival". sima.org.au/siwjf/. SIMA. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  13. ^ Ford, Andrew (8 October 2022). "Desert rock from Tamikrest and the deep blues of Marlene Cummins". ABC Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  14. ^ Webb, Stephen (4 October 2022). "Local blues legend headlines Sydney jazz festival". The South Sydney Herald. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Marlene Cummins". Deadly Vibe. Vibe Australia. 29 November 2007. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  16. ^ Watego, Leesa (27 July 2021). "27 July 2021 // Marlene Cummins". Australia's Blak History Month July 1-31 2022//Great Moments in Blakistory. #ABHM - THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  17. ^ a b c Thomas, Sarah (7 June 2014). "Black Panther woman Marlene Cummins breaks silence on fight for freedom". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  18. ^ Dutto, Matteo (13 August 2014). "A blues song to break the silence: Black Panther Woman at MIFF". The Conversation. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  19. ^ "Marlene Cummins (I)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  20. ^ "The Screen Guide". Screen Australia. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  21. ^ Hush at IMDb
  22. ^ a b c d Cummins, Marlene (2000). "Stories for Sharing". Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal. 24 (5): 15–18.
  23. ^ Blake, Thom (2001). A dumping ground : the history of Cherbourg settlement. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press. p. 212. ISBN 9780702232220.
  24. ^ "Memorial service held for Aboriginal teenager whose death sparked riot in Australia". Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  25. ^ Stokes, Grace (9 March 2023). "Marlene Cummins is a national treasure". Scenestr. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  26. ^ Tan, Monica (29 October 2015). "Australian Black Panther Marlene Cummins: 'I'm over women who speak on behalf of us'". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
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