I was privileged to attend the ET20 celebrations in Melbourne last week and I am amazed at how the Elefants family can just keep raising the bar on their performances and the inspiration they give me. Whilst there were five gigs in Melbourne we could have attended we only attended three, Horrorshow, The Elefant in the Room and the ET 20 Party . Unfortunately I was unable to attend Hermitude and Urthboy but I am sure they would have been great.

The celebration commenced with Horrorshow performing with the Metropolitan Orchestra at the Melbourne Recital Theatre on Tuesday 6th November. Horrorshow have provided me with many great memories of their gigs and this one will be remembered as one of the best.  Horrorshow are always willing to change it up, I’ve enjoyed their sit down hip hop acoustic gigs, their traditional hip hop gigs and now performing with an orchestra which was a mixture of both, commencing with a sit down show but the last few songs were enjoyed on our feet as we danced to their tunes.

The celebrations continued at the Thornbury Theatre on Wednesday 7th November for the ‘Elefant in the Room’ talking show. This was a first for the ET fam and we were blessed to be able to hear from Urthboy, Solo, Dale Harrison, Okenyo, Jane Tyrrell, Kenny Sabir, Joyride and L-Fresh the Lion as they each provided an insight into their respective journey with Elefant Traks.

As a fan of these heroes of mine, it was just great to learn more about the personalities of these amazing artists and get an insight into the personal and unique side of these people that I look up to and admire. The event was emotional, funny, uplifting, positive and filled with both amusing and thought provoking anecdotes and story’s.  Jane’s was the most heart felt presentation and Joyrides was the funniest.  All in all this was one of the greatest events that the ET fam have put on, that I have attended anyway, and I am so happy I was able to attend and just wish I could go to the shows coming up in Brisbane and Sydney.

I was really interested to hear from Kenny Sabir who talked about the about the founding of Elefant Traks. The label wouldn’t have come into existence if it wasn’t for the hard work and passion of the likes of Kenny as well as the opportunity that technology created by enabling kids to make music in their bedrooms. This technology was the catalyst for the success of the Aussie Hip Hop scene as essentially all the artists started by making music in their bedrooms.

I think the core principles that was behind the formation of Elefant Traks ; which were being passionate about making good music, ensuring the integrity of the music and ensuring the music is accessible still hold true today through the tradition that is Elefant Traks. Tradition was a common theme through some of the talks. All this was underpinned by the love for each other, and their friendships and this love was evident on the night as each person shared their respective stories.

Another common theme on the night was that of being ‘an outsider’, this is a feeling I can relate to as I’ve felt like a square peg in a round hole for most of my life. Be that as it may, what I learnt from the ET family is this collective of outsiders have found themselves a positive and supportive community within which they can thrive as artists. Community is such an important part of life and we all need to feel a part of something and feel that we belong in something, be it a group, a team or an organisation.

Dale Harrison took us on a journey through his experience with spirituality. I related to his comments regarding the indigenous spiritual link to the land and was quite amazed when he highlighted that both Parramatta Road and City Road are located on trails created by the local indigenous people that they would have used for millennia. These facts just blow me away. Dale’s talk had me reflecting on Bruce Liptons book, ‘Spontaneous Evolution’, in particular when he highlighted that Aboriginal people and those who live close to the land survive by maintaining harmony with the cycles of nature. Living in balance provides for survival but does not encourage, or for that matter, require technological progress. However western civilisation has been preoccupied with the arrow of progress. Unfortunately the glamour of technology has eclipsed humanity’s connection with nature, and the pursuit of technological advancement has contributed to disharmony, imbalance and global crises. Anyway, I digress, but the talk reinforced my believe that the more we learn from the traditional peoples and cultures of this great land the better.

To me Elefant Traks is the epitome of what we should be, loving people working collectively and supporting each other to fulfil our passions. As a society, if we all were able to have such an opportunity we were be in a much better place. Of course, the backbone to this collective of amazing people, is their work ethic and integrity, working hard at their art and revelling in each others successes. What an inspiration for us all.

After the introspection and personal insights of the Elefant in the Room event we were ready to Party at the ET Party held at the Corner Hotel on Friday 9th November. I love the Corner Hotel, especially when the ET fam are playing.

We arrived early to listen to DJ DGGZ (aka Dale Harrison)  spin some tracks, grabbed a meal before settling in for a night of Elefant goodness.  It was an amazing night filled with some of my favourite bands and artists, Astronomy Class, Okenyo, B Wise, L-Fresh the Lion (and Mirrah), Horrorshow and of course my all time favourite, The Herd. A highlight was seeing Homeward Bound’s first ever gig, Homeward Bound is Jimblah and Georgia B, and they were awesome.

This gig just topped off  what was a great week in Melbourne and I cant wait to see The Herd again at the Queenscliff Music Festival in a week. I can’t believe I will get to see The Herd perform three times this year, the first time was when they performed with the Yothu Yindi & the Treaty Project at the Enmore Theatre in January.

Big thanks to all at the Elefant Traks family who put on an amazing week of performances to celebrate their 20th birthday and I look forward to seeing where they head over the coming 20 years.