Motown Magic

It sounds like the plot to a feel-good movie - three women convinced to sing together at a film premiere. They bring the house down with an electric performance and discover a shared passion for the music of Motown: The Merindas are born.

For Candice, Angela and Lilly, as for the central characters of The Sapphires, it's not fiction but a beautiful true story. Candice Lorrae, singing teacher and professional musician tells how it happened. “Nyoongar radio called us and said 'We think you girls would be great to form a group, put a Motown set together and open for the premiere of The Sapphires.' So that's what we did! There were about 500 people there and we had a massive standing ovation at the end.”

Singer Lilly Gogos, formerly of Yabu Band, explains that from the first successful performance, the women were encouraged to pursue the opportunities that followed. “From when we got asked to do The Sapphires opening, people just started ringing in and saying 'Can you come and do this, can you come and do that?' Then Candice was like 'We need a name you girls!', because we didn't have a name. It was just Angela, Lily and Candice. So we came up with a name and yeah, it just snowballed.”

Lorrae, Rule and Gogos all came to Motown music separately, but reply in unison that “It was The Sapphires!” that provided the final spark. “My step-dad's from the Bronx in New York,” says Lorrae. “He always had this massive Motown collection at home. But when the movie came out I think that there was a really big shift in the Australian music scene, and with indigenous artists.” Gogos agrees.

As Motown's magic worked to bring white and black people together in America in the 60s, The Merindas have felt the reconciling force of the music during their own performances.

“A lot of the time when you do local gigs it's really underground, the Aboriginal music scene, and it's the same audience” Gogos says. “This in a way breaks those boundaries.” “We never dived into doing Motown for that reason but we notice that happen automatically,” Lorrae adds. “I've never done so many gigs where we've had so many new faces in the room, with Aboriginal people that we know mixed in with non-indigenous people, all up having fun and dancing.”

So far the Motown experience has taken the women to gigs around the state, several appearances on local television and growing demand for their take on the classics as indigenous women artists. But a tribute night they are hosting themselves at The Astor Theatre is the boldest venture for the group so far.

Lorrae explains how a trip to the Ukraine as a contestant in a global music competition inspired the show. “It was broadcast all over Europe to around 40 million people, so that was a huge experience for me. From that experience with costuming and production I had so many ideas and wanted to do something big like that here in Perth.” Local indigenous artists and singer 'Ms Paula' from The Voice will join The Merindas to perform Motown classics, with choreographed dancers, special costuming and a full theatrical experience. “It'll be good to see because we've all got our own individual styles, so the way we sing and perform the songs is really different as well. It's gonna be exciting.” Rule beams. And if The Merinda's path continues as it's begun, that's a sure thing.

The Merindas will be playing the following dates: