Kutcha Edwards – a magic hour

By Margaret Tabor

WELL, IT was for far more than an hour that Aboriginal singer/songwriter Kutcha Edwards enthralled his audience of forty people at Gallery 9 on 19 October.

Prior to his performance, Kutcha was impressed by our beautiful river bank as he joined locals, indigenous and non-indigenous alike, for a ‘welcome to country’ led by Hank Horton, around a fire at the Yarning Circle.

This proud aboriginal man’s pure singing voice, musical performance and magnetic stage personality captivated us all as he related his story of being one of the many of the Stolen Generation.

Regarding himself as a songman, Kutcha took the audience along on a journey as he drew on his profound sense of those who have gone before him on this land.

As a performer, Kutcha believes that he has the responsibility to engage with communities beyond his normal performances. He likes to ‘get to know the mob’ rather than simply perform his shows and apparently, he was very impressed by the quality of the voices that joined him with gusto and also with the dancing which continued afterwards.

Kutcha was supported by two very accomplished musicians and an overhead visual rolling display.

Kutcha’s wife, Fiona, was also a great contributor to the presentation – it was she who looked after the visuals and all the supporting needs of the performance.

Arts Deloraine Committee members all agreed that Kutcha had brought a greater understanding of connection to culture and promotion of cultural understanding and that the ‘hour’ was an important experience for our community.

The Kutcha Edwards Hour was presented by Arts Deloraine.