- Matthew Brady
Matthew Brady comes from one of North Queensland’s most powerful traditional indigenous families. The Brady family is one of the custodians of the song, dances and stories of the powerful Ku Ku Yalangi clan from the Cairns region.
The family have performed the “Yalangi” dances for over thirty years around Australia and the world, in the early seventies the family fought for aboriginal rights and were often arrested for performing corroboree’s in public areas, the height of racism was felt by the Brady’s when their bus was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan, and they received death threats to stop the dancing, but through it all with the aid of their late inspirational father the Reverend Pastor Brady, they continued to perform and teach their traditional dances, putting their lives on the line in the process.
The Brady family was one of the first aboriginal groups and families to ever perform in schools in Australia, not long after, the education system begun to include indigenous culture into their curriculum. Matthew’s, elder brother and lawman Graham, and Sister Sharon formed, “The Imbala Dancers” the Imbala totem is the Butterfly, Matthew begun dancing, at aged four, but today is recognized as one the leading song man for the Ku Ku Yalangi clan.
Matthew Brady’s first contact with Jose Calarco (Descendance) was in 2001 when they worked together in corporate shows in Sydney, this meeting was to take Matthew around the world in one of the biggest indigenous tours ever undertaken, Matthew toured Italy, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and France on the 2002 “Red Centre Dreaming Tour”, on this tour he performed to over 100,000 people in over 300 live appearances, the tour gained coverage in over 15 countries, on Matthews return to Australia in 2002, Jose Calarco slotted him strait into a fulltime role as cultural head and song man at “The Red Centre Resort” in Alice Springs, Matthew returned for a season in Alice Springs in 2008 (The shows are performed with the permission of the local Arente elders).
Matthew has achieved just about everything aboriginal dance can offer, he has taken the songs of the Ku Ku Yalangi and shared them with the world, from the Queens Jubilee Concert in 2002, to the Glastonbury Festival and to the sacred site of Stonehenge.
