Rhyan Clapham, aka DOBBY, will take to the Opera House’s Joan Sutherland stage to perform live to audiences streaming from home this Friday. The proud Filipino and Aboriginal rapper and drummer released his debut EP in 2018 and has been making big waves ever since.
His music is an empowering call for a better Australia. Sadly the latter is as relevant as ever as we see Black Lives Matter protests take place around Australia.
An inspirational speaker as well as a band member of Sydney group Jackie Brown Jr and co-host of a hip hop show on FBi Radio, DOBBY combines his musical strength with the lived experience of his cultural stories. If you can't tune in on Friday, the set will be available to stream any time after the live performance, as part of the Opera House’s From Our House to Yours digital platform.
A skilled composer, DOBBY was the 2017 recipient for the bi-annual Peter Sculthorpe Fellowship. He has performed at BIGSOUND, the Plot Festival, Yabun Festival, for Koori Radio and at NAIDOC celebrations across Australia.
We’re hanging for some Friday night beats with one of Sydney’s best rap talents. In the meantime, you can listen to a plylist of some of his favourtie singers demonstratng "abundant Blak excellence" here too.
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas