THE WORLD'S BEST NEW MUSIC
ALBUM OF THE DAY
4 MARCH 2026
Warta-kiki Come Together
KUTCHA EDWARDS, MELBOURNE YOUTH ORCHESTRA, BRETT KELLY
Released 15 February 2026
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
****-
The iconic Australian First Nations song-man's poignant, mesmeric music has always contained heartfelt storytelling, anthemic lyricism and positive ambition. Now, the grandeur within his songs is fully revealed, as they are illuminated from within by new orchestral arrangements
A landmark collaboration between legendary Australian songman Kutcha Edwards and the Melbourne Youth Orchestra, Warta-Kiki brings together First Nations songlines and symphonic music, performed by MYO’s young musicians under the direction of Music Director Brett Kelly, with new orchestrations by leading Australian composers.
For Kutcha Edwards, the collaboration marked an unexpected and deeply resonant turning point. ‘In my sixty cycles around the sun, I had never attended an orchestral concert, let alone contemplated recording an album with an orchestra – until now,’ Edwards says. ‘This album, Warta-Kiki (a Mutti Mutti word for ‘Come together’), is proof that perceptions can change.’
The seeds of the collaboration were planted in 2022, following a performance by Edwards at Monash University, where he met MYO CEO Dorian Jones and conductor Brett Kelly. In early 2023, more than eighty young orchestral musicians came together with Edwards to create the nine songs that form Warta-Kiki. ‘This was an opportunity for me to share with them the depth of the Songline within each song,’ he said. ‘It’s the passing of knowledge that is important to me – the dropping of the pebble in the imaginary pond where the young ones determine the outcome of the ripple.
The premiere performance later that year was met with an emotional response from audience and performers alike, and in 2025, the artists reunited at ABC Studios in Southbank, Melbourne, to record the work for release.
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