A Year Like No Other is an SBS News collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney. It features stories written by journalism students.
Tainga started out on a high, scoring a role alongside Ernie Dingo in the 30th-anniversary tour of Australia’s first Indigenous musical, Bran Nue Dae, only to see it cancelled indefinitely due to COVID-19. Tainga charts ancestral links to Erub Island in the Torres Strait through his father, who taught him the traditional language, dance and culture of his people and inspired his love of hip-hop. “I didn’t really decide to be a performer,” he says. “I was already that sort of person growing up.”
Not one to remain idle, Tainga remained busy throughout the initial isolation of COVID-19 this year. While working at Cobar High School in central-western NSW, he says he found fulfilment connecting with the students through dance and music, something that he hopes to continue in the future.
Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)