Big Backyard

Stints in jail, living on the streets, fighting alcohol problems and recently denied entry to the US (because of his criminal record, albeit for minor offences); Frank Yamma has a backstory that would make most rock'n'rollers blush, though this doesn't define him. In fact it's simply a fraction of what is a fascinating and inspiring life story from the man Rhythms Magazine called an “Aboriginal Tom Waits”.

A member of the Pitjantjatjara people of the Central Desert, west of Uluru, music – just like the land and his family – has played a central role in Yamma's life. Son of a country musician, he started writing at an early age, jamming in rock bands with his brothers and cousins and passing around cassettes in his community. Beginning on drums, before moving to rhythm guitar, it wasn't long before Yamma found his voice and was comfortable as a singer/songwriter, penning one of his most popular songs, Make More Spear, at just 16.

With song titles such as Never Quit, Black Man's Crying and Reality, Yamma is happy to acknowledge himself as an indigenous role model. He believes his music is for everybody, the truthfulness of his lyricism relative to people everywhere. “It's not about indigenous, it's across cultures. It's for everybody.“ The isolation of Central Australia is paralleled in his music, though still capable of transcending geographical borders. It fuses western instrumentation with indigenous Australian influences and has seen Yamma traverse the globe. World music in the truest sense of the phrase, he has taken his art throughout Europe and the UK, listing last year's performance at the Colours Of Ostrava festival in Prague as his favourite.

Speaking five different languages and singing in his native tongue, Yamma takes comfort in the uniqueness and diversity his music offers. “I'm really comfortable and make myself at home, like when I'm practising by myself or playing in my backyard,” he says of performing on stage. “But when I open my eyes it's a big audience in a different part of the world.”

Just like the athletes at the London Olympics in July, Yamma too will be representing Australia. Booked for the preceding official festivities at the River Thames, Yamma is looking forward to returning to the UK. “I'm very excited to do a gig in London again, there will be lots of other bands and sports people there.” Soon after the Olympics he will play his own shows and appear at the Womad Festival in Bristol.

Together with performing his music, Yamma sees a sense of spirituality in the process of music making. As a teenager, Make More Spear was written ad hoc in charcoaled firewood on the back of a cardboard box. She Cry came as an epiphany, waking up after a five-day coma in a jail cell. “Music always flows in the head, so you just grab it and make a song from it. Some of the songs are real life stories; it's really personal stuff. With She Cry, when I woke up from a coma the music was there waiting for me, so I grabbed it and the sound and made a song out of it.”

Over the years Yamma has developed close relationships through his music, none greater than his creative friendship with former Not Drowning, Waving songwriter David Bridie. More recently Yamma has developed a relationship with Papua New Guinean musician George Telek. This weekend the Australasian cultural icons will team up for their Desert Meets The Sea tour; a rehearsal of sorts before they head to London, to represent their art, their music and above all their people.