Music Appreciation

Marlene Cummins is a jazz blues singer, saxophonist, songwriter, artist, Aboriginal Australian activist, broadcaster, dancer, and actor.[1][2][3] Many activists consider her to be Australia's Angela Davis.[4]

Cummins is considered Australia's foremost Indigenous blues performer, and is influenced by Big Mama Thornton, Etta James, and Ray Charles.[5] She honed her skills at the Berklee College of Music.[2] Her band includes Murray Cook and Rex Goh.[6]

She showcases her vast knowledge of blues and roots music on Koori Radio, where she hosts Marloo's Blues, providing music and discussions from an indigenous perspective.[2] This show won her the Broadcaster of the Year award at the 2009 Deadly Awards.

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She was a founding member of the Australian Black Panther Party, which was inspired by the American Black Panther Party.[1] She campaigned for medical, educational, and legal services, land rights and monitored police conduct on the "pig patrol".[1][17] She was arrested for using obscene language to an abusive police officer, and absconded bail and fled to New Zealand.[4] In 2012 she attended an international gathering of Black Panthers in New York hosted by Kathleen Neal Cleaver.[18]

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