Tjupurru is a proud descendant of the Djabera Djabera tribe of the West Australian Kimberleys. Born in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea and settling in Cairns, Tjupurru began playing Didjeridu through a vacuum cleaner pipe in boarding school.

Tjupurru plays a unique slide Didjeridu invented by Charlie McMahon, named "The Didjeribone" because it can slide through different notes and tones - a cross between a didj and a trombone. He picks up his sound through a device called the "Face Bass", a seismic sensor implanted inside his mouth. With the addition of sampling and electronic effects, Tjupurru has enabled himself to perform as a one man band creating live samples and looping them to create songs and soundscapes that criss-cross musical genres.

His live show is a must hear. This is an artist bringing something unique to the current music scene. Tjupurru is mixing cultures, technologies and sounds with aural traditions that are thousands of years old. The result he describes as 21st century Didjetronica the rest of us call it amazing, stunning, revelatory, provoking . . .

In 2007 Tjupurru received an invitation from Airto Moreira (the man who brought Latin music to the world via Miles Davis, John Coltrane etc) to collaborate live onstage at the Jazz in the Domain for The Sydney Festival in front of 120,000 people. 2008 saw Tjupurru and son Tjakamarra open the Rhythm Festival at Woodford Folk Festival alongside Babylon Circus, Shooglenifty and Circle of Rhythm.

He has toured with or supported amazing international artists such as Kaki King (USA), Leo (France), That One Guy (USA), Pitch Black (NZ), Bela Flek and the Flecktones (USA), and performed with Marissa Monte (Brazil) over two nights in the Concert Hall at The Sydney Opera House. Tjupurru has been invited to perform at festivals across the country, including Woodford Folk Festival, The Dreaming, Bellingen Global Carnival, Wollumbin, Festival of the Sun, Earthdance and more. Tjupurru has gone global with performances at Femmes Funk in New Caledonia, Japan, New Zealand and the USA...all of this with MySpace as his main promotional tool!

Tjupurru's debut EP, Stompin' Ground, was released in September 2007. Featuring 5 great tracks, the EP comes complete with bonus mini documentary proving that new levels of ingenuity and innovation are being delivered from the creative Indigenous element of Australia. Tjupurru has reached the Top 10 World Charts on groundbreaking American radio station KCRW. At home he is often out and about visiting schools across Queensland and NSW, presenting his "Didjeribone Show" to students. He has also played again at Woodford 08/09, Rocksong 09 at The Rocks in Sydney, Darling Harbour 21st Birthday in Sydney, the Ideas Festival in Brisbane, the Dreaming Festival 09. In August 09, in what is billed as the planet's largest contemporary Indigenous arts festival - PLANET INDIGENUS, he wowed his audiences at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto!

Tjupurru is in Hamilton for one day only, on his way to play at the Cultural Olympiad, part of the Olympic Games celebrations in Vancouver.

ABORIGINAL OWNED