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Music

Watch Bourke’s B-Town Warriors Rep Their Hometown in ‘People of the Red Sunset’

Students of Bourke High School present a celebration of culture, survival, and hometown pride.

​"If you know Bourke, you know Australia", so wrote Australian poet, and all round white dude, Henry Lawson in 1882. Speak to the B-Town Warriors, a group of young indigenous kids living in the remote far western New South Wales community, today and you will get to know another Bourke, one that is different to how the town is often portrayed by media.

Made up of students from Bourke High School, the Warriors speak about the truths of life in their hometown in 2016. Led by the powerful vocal chorus of Shavinah Mann, their new track "People of the Red Sunset", is a celebration of culture, survival, and hometown pride.

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Shot at locations around Bourke including the Darling River and Mount Oxley, the video is a community project supported by Outback Division of General Practice, Bourke High School and Desert Pea Media​.

The video features the musical direction and production of songwriter Carlo Santone (Skin, Blue King Brown, Nattali Rize) and session Yidaki from Indigenous musician Fred Leone.  as well as some mad moves from the River Boys dance group.

Watch the video below and read more from some of the B-Town Warriors.

Noisey: Congrats on a great song and video. What was the best thing about making it? 
Shakayla Dennis: Getting to know the boys who helped make the video. Going out to the different places and shooing the scenes. 
Lorraine Dutton: Doing it with my friends and other students and telling what it is like in Bourke and showing what it's like in Bourke.
Shavinah Mann: The finish when it came out and we saw it. 
Sari Wills:  The whole journey of making the video was great.

"People of the Red Sunset" is a great song name. Where is the best place in Bourke to watch the sunset? 
Lorraine: Up at Mount Oxley or just kicking back at the back of the house and watching it go down.
Sari: Mount Oxley where we filmed the video.

What is the best thing about living in Bourke? 
Shakayla: You got heaps of family you got lots of people to talk to. It's a good town to hang with and hardly any bad stuff goes on. 
Shavinah: You know everyone. It's not too small and it's not too big. Sari: Knowing everyone. I like knowing everyone. You go to big cities and you don't know everyone.

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Who is your favourite hip hop performer and why do you like them? 
Shakayla: I like Ice Cube because I like all his rap songs. 
Kayle McKellar: I like Tiga and Chris Brown. They can rap and sing and dance. 
Lorraine: Chris Brown because he's a mad singer, mad dancer, mad rapper.
Shavinah: I like Beyonce because she's so cool.
Shari: I like Rihanna and Nici Minaj because they have amazing voices. Nick Minaj is amazing.

What is the main message in the song? 
Lorraine: People of the Red Sunset. It gives us something to be proud of. It's about the identity of the town and the people. 
Shavinah: We can make a change. Burke is not that bad either. People put a bad name to it but it's actually pretty good. 
Shari: It's about Bourke and how it's supposed to be I guess and how it was, how it is, and how we want it to be.

What do you think your friends and family will think of the video? 
Shavinah: They will be very proud for what we've done for the town and showed what we can do.
Kayle: I reckon they will think it's amazing. I was shocked when I saw it. It was extraordinary.
Lorraine: I think they will think we've done a great job and they will be proud.
Shari: They are going to love it. I can't wait to show it to them.