Throughout this blog, you’ll have opportunity to meet some of the incredible people that have been and still are part of the AustraNesia family – wherever they might be living now.
We are from all walks and talks of life; seasoned and emerging artists – all involved in various artforms within the Creative Industries. We’ll highlight what we do outside of AustraNesia to contribute to the musical and cultural landscape of society; aspirations, achievements, people and artists who have influenced our lives.
Speaking of influence, we’ll also highlight some of our Elders, those who’ve helped shape us – those who have passed on traditional knowledge, skills, songs that have impacted and influenced us, our families and communities.
Our people are doing great work out there in community. One of AustraNesia’s objectives is preserving language through song which is often accompanied by dance. We look forward to highlighting some of those projects, works and artists who are doing their part for cultural maintenance through the Arts.
Rubina Kimiia was born and raised in New Zealand, with Polynesian heritage from Samoa and the Cook Islands. She is an educator, songwriter and arranger, director, studio vocalist, musician and producer. Specialising in song-writing, vocal arranging and producing shows, her skills are sought after for many diverse projects for a wide range of media and genres of music. A dedicated music educator both in and out of the classroom, she strives to use music as a tool to better humanity.
Rubina Kimiia
A music educator of Polynesian heritage, Rubina’s father hails from Mangaia, Cook Islands and mother from Savaii, Samoa. She specialises in songwriting and arranging, producing and directing music shows and productions, where her skills are sought after for many diverse projects for a wide range of media. She has travelled throughout the Pacific, being educated and employed in diverse musical roles. A multi-instrumentalist, she is versed with classical notation and contemporary charts, enabling her to cater to a broad spectrum of musical needs.
Sought after as a session vocalist and arranger, Rubina has added to many albums of varying genres from a range of artists including Aria Award Winners, Finalists from X-Factor and Australia’s Got Talent. She has also been involved in many indigenous song projects, developed a conscientiousness of working with the people and their languages as she notates and arranges their music as well as the music of others.
Rubina was editor of the Sounds of AustraNesia and Women of AustraNesia songbooks, educational and musical tools that highlighted each artist, included song notation with translation and a profile on the community and language.
To add to the diverse opportunities and collaborations, Rubina has also orchestrated for a 60 piece Queensland Symphony Orchestra through to string quintet. She has also conceived, helped to develop and was musical director for two (2) musical theatre products: Beginnings – A Musical Story of Cairns, commissioned by the Cairns Regional Council for the Commonwealth Games and also was producer of Woven – the Musical, an AustraNesia product. There are more musicals in motion.
A dedicated music educator both in and out of the classroom, Rubina taught on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait for six (6) years and was the recipient of three (3) Australia Day Awards for musical service to that community. In 2002, she was awarded the Queensland Recording Association Sunnie Award for Song of the Year.
Rubina continues to make valued musical contributions and desires to use her music abilities and experience, combined with people, organisational and management skills, towards the production of excellent and uplifting music to educate and elevate the soul, contributing to the building and bettering of humanity and society.
Will Kepa
Will Kepa is a Torres Strait Islander multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer and producer from Cairns, Far North Queensland, now based in Canberra, ACT. He has been an active member of the Cairns music scene for the past 18 years, after graduating from TAFE with a Diploma in Music.
In the early days of his music career, he was a resident bass player with Johno’s Blues Band at Johno’s Blues Bar, Cairns. Apart from years of weekly gigs, Will has performed with many bands and artists such as Aria award winning – Seaman Dan, Kamerunga who were twice nominated for Aria awards, and has performed with Papua New Guinea artist George Telek, alongside his producer David Bridie, and artists Ben Hakalitz (Yothu Yindi) and Aireleke Ingrem (Drum Drum).
Will has played at major festivals around the country, performed along-side Los Angeles–based, Grammy Award winning artist Daniel Ho, toured abroad with Cairns band Kamerunga to the ‘Rainforest World Music Festival’ in Malaysia, was part of the Australian delegation for the Festival of Pacific Arts in American Samoa, travelled with cultural group Ariw Poenipan to perform at East-West Centre at the University of Hawaii and toured with New Caledonian artist ‘Edou’, throughout Germany and France, and he has showcased the Badu Island ‘Aibai’ Dancers and the ‘Kulkal Baba’ Saibai Island Dancers at the Australasian World Music Expo (AWME) in Melbourne.
Will is also an audio engineer, both live on stage and in the recording studio, he is a session musician, music director, producer and a film music composer, recently completing music scores for new films – Blue Water Empire, Dinghy Girls, Elements: Wind and Water.
Will is currently studying a Bachelor of Music (Composition for Film and Video Games) at the Australian National University and he is also an AV Technician at Elite Event Technology who service the AV requirements throughout venues such as Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial. With such a demanding schedule, Will is stepping back to focus on his studies for a short season.
