Australian music heavyweights will join other friends, relatives and fans of Archie Roach on Thursday night to honour the life and work of the Indigenous singer-songwriter at a state memorial service in Melbourne.
Paul Kelly, Kutcha Edwards, Tiddas, Shane Howard, Adam Briggs, Emma Donovan, Deborah Cheetham, David Bridie, Paul Grabowsky, and others are due to perform at the service being held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is due to attend with other state dignitaries. Roach’s family, including his sons Amos and Eban, his longstanding manager and close friend, Jill Shelton, will provide tributes.
Roach, a survivor of the stolen generations, released his debut album Charcoal Lane in 1990, including the song Took The Children Away, which drew on his own experience of being forcibly removed from his Aboriginal parents and siblings by the state and placed into out-of-home care.
Roach won numerous ARIA Awards, from Best New Talent in 1991 and best Indigenous Release for Charcoal Lane, to Best Independent Release this year for his last original release, the single One Song.
In 2015, he was made a Member Of The Order Of Australia (AM). In 2020, he was awarded Victorian Australian Of The Year and inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
The Gunditjmara and Bundjalung elder died in July, aged 66, at the Warrnambool Base Hospital due to a long illness.
A smoking ceremony will be held at the music bowl from 6pm, ahead of the service at 7pm.
More to come
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