Wild One - Tash Sultana

Tash Sultana is an artist who has always done things their own way. A small guitar given to a three year old child fired a passion for performance and experimentation that has taken Tash from busking in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall to performing at international festivals, theatres and arenas such as Coachella, Lollapalooza and the Brixton Academy.

I feel like I’ve given everyone a concert whether they wanted it or not.

An early love of performing was fostered at home where impromptu concerts were the norm and music instruments were favourite gifts – the history of which is lovingly chronicled in the music video for ‘Cigarettes’.

From home concerts Tash graduated to playing underage gigs at open-mic nights around the city before concentrating on busking in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall after failing to find a job on leaving school.  As a self-taught musician, busking became a way for Tash to audition ideas and to connect with audiences. It also provided an opportunity to earn money, build confidence and play through adversity. Crowds of people would often stop to hear the artist play and although the equipment set-up was displayed for all to see Tash’s unique blend of swirling vocals and looping guitar was a source of fascination for many people.

Tash’s career took a quantum leap forward after a live bedroom recording of the song ‘Jungle’ went became a viral sensation on YouTube (to date the video has been viewed on various online platforms by over 100 million people). This unexpected attention provided a springboard to an undreamt of international career which has seen Tash headlining and breaking attendance records globally across the United States and Europe over the past two years.

A hunger to learn, improve and innovate continues to be a key factor in what distinguishes Tash’s work from that of other artists. This drive to experiment with sound in both live and recording environments has seen Sultana continue to build on an already diverse musical soundscape by mastering as many as 15 different instruments to add to the mix, including bass, trumpet, flute, saxophone and percussion, before returning to the guitar as home base.

Technology has also played an important role in the evolution of the Tash Sultana sound but while much has been made of the loop station at the heart of the artists rig, it is Sultana’s skill as a composer, arranger and musician that has allowed them to push this technology to another level to create the multi-layered, genre-defying sound that has earned a legion of fans both in Australia and overseas.

The results on this intense apprenticeship in music are evident on the much anticipated debut album, Flow State. Written, composed, arranged and produced by Sultana, the album was released on the artists Lonely Lands Records and was awarded Best Blues and Roots Album at the 2018 ARIA Awards.

Tash Sultana Official Website