Tunji Beier is a percussionist who has played with some of the finest musicians in the world. He grew up in New Guinea and Nigeria where he studied African Yoruba drumming. At 16 he went to Bangalore to study South Indian percussion, receiving the highest mark in the state exam for percussion. Tunji also lived in Germany where as an adult he was artistic director of the Bayreuth music festival. Tunji now lives in Mapleton with his wife, Rebecca Frith.
Why did you come here?
There are always chain reactions that lead to something happening. The link here was Linsey Pollak (See P 18). I was living in Germany and I invited Linsey to a festival there. He in turn invited me to the Woodford Folk Festival in 1996. And then I started playing with Linsey and we formed a duo in early 2000. On one visit here I was performing in Doonan on a project called Alchemy and that’s where I met Rebecca and … we fell in love … and I moved over here to Mapleton where she was living. That was a bit of a culture shock because I moved from Berlin to Mapleton, and I had enjoyed coming to Australia in the summer and getting away from the greyness of Berlin.
What is it that you’ve changed in coming here?
One of the biggest things is just slowing down a bit. That comes with getting older I guess. I’ve basically gone from being a full time musician to doing music as much as I can but it’s not my main income any more. At the moment I am working for Youth Justice as a convenor organising conferences with victims and offenders. One of the criteria for the job was having cultural awareness… having experience with different cultures and dealing with people of different backgrounds.
Living in the country I have noticed you have more time for things generally. The food is fresher of course. Everything tastes more nutritious and I think people are generally a lot healthier and less hectic. And that creates a better environment for everyone.
What will keep you here?
I can’t imagine moving away is I guess the answer to that question. I notice that when I do travel to Europe or around Australia to play, what keeps me here is the shock of observing what cities have become. Now they are all a lot harsher and a lot faster. People have a lot less time for each other. It’s nice to know your community as well. You don’t get that in the city. Some neighbourhoods have it of course, but it is limited I think. And it’s just seeing how stressed out people are in the city.
I find it more creative to be in this kind of environment. I had a lot of inspiration from other musicians, living in Europe and going to so many festivals over there. I spent most of my twenties just doing that, so I don’t feel that I need that input any more. I think this is a time when I am looking at processing and consolidating the stuff that I have experienced and making it my own.
Leave a Reply