Leah Flanagan
Leah Flanagan is a singer-songwriter from Darwin, Northern Territory, currently based in Sydney. Leah has released two albums and has toured extensively through Australia with her music and as part of festival ensembles. She has also appeared on the Australian TV shows "Spicks & Specks", "Faboriginal" and "RocKwiz". Biography. Flanagan studied classical music at the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide. Flanagan has collaborated with Sinead O'Connor, Meshell Ndegeocello, poet Sam Wagan Watson, The Black Arm Band, Paul Kelly and Ursula Yovich, and recorded a duet with Marlon Williams of Archie Roach’s "I’ve Lied". She has  featured on the ABC's "Spicks and Specks" and SBS's "Rockwiz", as well as the production "1967: Music in the Key of Yes" alongside Dan Sultan, Adalita and Ursula Yovich. Background/history. Flanagan is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Darwin in the far north of Australia. She identifies as biracial due to her Aboriginal (Alyawarre), Italian (Venetian) and Irish heritage. She graduated from the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide with a degree in Classical Music. From 2009 to 2011 Leah performed in the productions "Murundak", "Hidden Republic" and "Dirtsong" with touring company The Black Arm Band at  many major festivals across Australia. Her performances in this period included one at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. In 2010 she appeared at the Melbourne International Arts Festival's production "Seven Songs To Leave Behind" with John Cale, Rickie Lee Jones, Sinead O'Connor, Meshell Ndegeocello and Gurrumul with Black Arm Band members Ursula Yovich, Dan Sultan and Shellie Morris. Leah was invited by Deborah Conway to be part of her Songtrails project for the 2009 and 2011 Queensland Music Festivals, which led to her collaborating with Australian artists Peter Farnan (Boom Crash Opera), Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens) and Rebecca  Barnard (Rebecca's Empire) to deliver a series of workshops and to perform concerts across regional Queensland. Leah composed a show entitled "Midnight Muses", based on the work of award-winning Brisbane poet Sam Wagan-Watson, for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. It premiered in 2011 and later appeared at the 2013 Sydney Festival. She was invited to perform as a featured soloist in the first Australian production of Leonard Bernstein's "MASS" at the 2012 Adelaide Festival. In late 2015 Leah was invited by Archie Roach to record a duet of his song "I've Lied" with Marlon Williams for  the 25th Anniversary release of Charcoal Lane. "Rolling Stone" praised the collaboration and gave the anniversary album 4 1/2 stars. Leah is an ambassador for APRA AMCOS. Television. Leah has appeared on the Australian TV music quiz shows "Spicks and Specks" and "Rockwiz"; on the latter performing Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding" in a duet with multiple ARIA Award winning composer David Bridie. She has also appeared on the light comedy sports programme "Marngrook Footy Show", performing a version of Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life". Awards and nominations. National Indigenous Music Awards. The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA ) recognize excellence, dedication, innovation and outstanding contribution to the Northern Territory music industry. It commenced in 2004. ! !| 2021