Birdz And Fred Leone Team Up For New Single, 'Brother'
'Brother' is the first taster of their forthcoming project 'GIRA', and pays homage to Birdz and Fred Leone's traditional language, roots, and identity.
Birdz & Fred Leone (Credit: Supplied)
Four years on from the success of their single Bagi-La-m Bargan, Birdz and Fred Leone have once again joined forces for a new single, Brother.
Released alongside their signing to Hau Latukefu's Forever Ever label (a joint venture in collaboration with Sony Music Entertainment Australia), Brother is a stellar collaboration, pairing Birdz's poetic lyrics fused with Aboriginal Creole, and the soaring vocals of Leone in both Butchull and English.
The track is the first taster of their forthcoming project GIRA (which translates to 'fire' in the Butchulla language), and pays homage to their traditional language, roots, and identity.
“Brother for me is really about Blak control over Blak affairs,” Birdz explains. “There has been a long history of non-Indigenous people in governments always trying to speak for us and thinking they know whats best for us and our communities, but we’ve been shouting it at the top of our lungs since the day we were born and the elders before us have been doing that too.
“They passed the torch to us and I think that’s what Brother is truly about and keeping that legacy alive.”
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“It's all in the hook: ‘Brother lift up your brother, sisters, children and all. If they tell you to sit down, hold your head up and stand tall’,” adds Leone. “In Butchulla lingo what I’m singing is, ‘Brother, walk with your brother. Go walk and walk out on the red dirt. Walk out onto the red dirt under the stars and when you talk, sit down on the red dirt and look up. And when you speak, don’t speak in English, speak in your grandmother’s tongue’.”
“There are too many reasons why this collaboration had to happen,” said Latukefu of the signing. “Not only am I a fan of both Birdz and Fred’s music, but our personal relationships go way back, and these relationships have been built on mutual respect and the love for hip hop and community.
“What these two has created is something special and I’m honoured to be a part of the journey.”
With both artists hailing from the Ngulungbura Clan of the Butchulla nation (and Leone being one of the three Butchulla songmen), their 2020 track Bagi-La-m Bargan was a massive success, not only hitting over 2.7m streams, but reaching #30 in triple j’s Hottest 100, and nabbing a nomination for Song Of The Year at the National Indigenous Music Awards.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
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