From the heart: Kobi’s tune still has beds burning

Koortal is the creative alias for Kobi Morrison, a young musician making waves for translating Midnight Oil’s famous song Beds are Burning into Nyoongar language.

The song was recognised this week at the Reconciliation WA Breakfast when it was performed by Kobi with a choir in front of WA Premier Roger Cook and dozens of assembled guests.

If you haven’t heard it, it’s available online on several channels with the melody we all know remarkably very similar to Peter Garrett’s anthem from 39 years ago.

Its lyrics still resonate today and Kobi said it was one of the honours of his life thus far to perform it in such special company, live-streamed by NITV.

Kobi is celebrating one of his cultural backgrounds through music, his culture Nyoongar, located in the southwest of Western Australia.

Mum Della Rae Morrison (Della Mob) is a well-known Indigenous musician and Kobi’s dad is of Norwegian descent – but both have strong musical backgrounds.

“I was once asked when did start getting involved in music and I reckon it was when I was in mum’s womb,” Kobi told First Nations News.

“But probably from about three years of age. We are a very musical family.”

The guitar though wasn’t Kobi’s first encounter with a musical instrument. He gained a scholarship for playing the piano first, and had to learn the guitar, as he puts it, “in secret”.

In his teen years a band evolved, Endeavorous, and he started writing his own songs.

Then came the desire to explore his Indigenous heritage and learn Nyoongar.

“It was not easy,” he admitted. “But it was something I really wanted to do. I’n now learning Norwegian from my dad’s side.”

Now a linguist teacher at Moorditj Community School in the eastern Perth suburb of Midland, Kobi hopes to give 120 kids the chance to learn languages and use them in life.

“The various languages of Australia were not touched by other cultures around the world for centuries so they are very different to English, or Norwegian, which is more in common with germanic tongues,” Kobi said.

And that song? Now the Reconciliation WA Song of the year.

“It’s inspiring to be able to use the words of that song, the narrative, which is still true today, in a native language like Nyoongar,” Kobi added.

And does Peter Garrett know he has translated it? “I don’t know, but I would like to think he would like it.”

But Kobi’s talents are far more than just one song – even though it has become such an anthem.

Other so-called protest songs he has tackled include Solid Rock, Xavier Rudd’s Follow the Sun, Tracey Chapman’s Talking about a Revolution and of course, Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind.

“They fit melodically,” Kobi said. “Some do, and some don’t. For example there is no word in Nyoongar for ‘treaty’, so a Yothu Yindi song for example, might be a bit difficult.”

Many of his songs have been played on Triple J and other streaming platforms as his talent becomes more known.

And where next? “I’d like to write a play in Nyoongar. I’m working with a theatre group in Perth to see if that can happen.

“But ideally, I would like to carve out a career in the arts.”

‘Koortal’ means ‘with heart’ and has been chosen as the alias in order to express a healthy spirit.

Kobi Morrison certainly has plenty of that.