After a couple of months jaunt to the Kimberley in the North West of Australia this winter in our veggie-oil powered housetruck, we were pretty excited to team up with our mates, the Family Shoveller Band, who are a multi-generational rock/reggae/roots outfit from the state’s biggest remote Indigenous community of Bidyadanga. Together, we wrote and produced this song, called ‘Wyirrt Wyirrt (Food of The Country)’, which is based on a song that their great-great-great-great grandmother sang as she walked the land from Broome to Bidyadanga gathering food.
Not only is it a banger of a tune, but it earned its stripes at Number 1 on the AMRAP Radio Charts shortly after its release and stayed in the top 10 for five weeks running!
Written in partnership with the 2022 United Nations World Food Forum, the song highlights the importance of Indigenous food systems and the need to preserve the ancient cultures they have sustained for thousands of years as well as the Country to which it is inextricably linked.
While the heart of ‘Wyirrt Wyirrt‘ reaches back through the mists of time to the family’s ancestors, the song is a bangin’ contemporary collaboration, mixed by renowned Melbourne producer, Spoonbill and featuring Formidable Vegetable. The bands toured through the desert together in 2018 and have been friends ever since, collaborating on tunes and sharing stages whenever they get the chance.
This song is a meeting of the worlds, fusing FSB’s knowledge and passion for Aboriginal food and connection to Country with FoVeg’s dedication to regenerative culture and ecological justice.
Wyirrt Wyirrt (Food of the Country) has already been featured on hundreds of radio stations around the country, including Triple J and is the first single from Family Shoveller Band’s forthcoming album due out in the coming months and is out now on all streaming platforms.