Will Kepa

R&B/Reggae /Acoustic Solo

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Will Kepa is a Torres Strait Islander multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer and producer based in Cairns, Far North Queensland and has been on the professional music scene for the past decade. After learning to play the guitar in 1998, he enrolled in the Indigenous Music Program at the local TAFE College in 2000. Graduating a few years later with a Diploma in Music, Will has become one of the most sought after musicians in the area, as well as interstate.

Will has performed with the likes of Johnos Blues Band, Phil Emmanuel, One Drop Reggae, the Briscoe Sisters, Wilma Reading, David Hudson, Kamerunga, Tribe Of Jubal, and Seaman Dan on a regular basis. His skills have taken him to many of the major festivals around the country, such as the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, The Dreaming Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, The National Folk Festival, The Fairbridge Festival of World and Folk Music, Bellingen Global Carnival, Womadelaide Sounds of the Planet, on more than one occasion, and also, many smaller festivals such as Mackay Global Groove Carnival, Maldon Folk Festival, Wintermoon Festival and more. Aside from all those performances, he has also had the opportunity to perform at the Cairns Ukulele Festival with Los Angeles based, Grammy Award winning artist Daniel Ho, and YouTube born, ukulele star Jason Arimoto. He is currently touring with Cairns based, folk-twist band Kamerunga and will be performing at the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia, in July 2011. He has also toured internationally with the Torres Strait Dance and Cultural Group Ariw Poenipan in American Samoa for the Festival of Pacific Arts, and also for special shows for the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii (Manoa), and toured with Tribe Of Jubal to Papua New Guinea.

Wills professional career also involves audio engineering and he has worked at the Womadelaide Festival, Festival Melbourne during the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Will also works for a local production company, which has him working as a Sound Engineer at regular festivals throughout the year. These have included the Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival, Wallaby Creek Festival, Yungaburra/Tablelands Folk Festival, Undara Country Rock and Blues, Opera in the Outback, ReggaeTown World Music Festival, Cairns Buskers Festival, and many more events in and around Cairns.

Having the required musical and audio engineering skills and also vital knowledge about the music industry, Will has also been able to assume the role of a dance coordinator. He has been contracted by Arts Queensland for three years for the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) and he has also toured with the Badu Island Aibai Dancers to the Australasian World Music Expo (AWME) in Melbourne. As well he is also the manager of the Kulkal Baba Saibai Island Dancers, presenting their show at CIAF 2009 and AWME 2010.

Will has also provided assistance and consultation to the Reggae Town World Music Festival organizers and directors, and for many other local festivals. But it is his skills in the recording studio that have kept Will very busy over the past few years, as a session musician, music director, audio engineer and producer. Will has played on a countless number of albums, EPs, radio and TV commercials, and film scores and documentaries, as a drummer, percussionist, bassist, guitarist, pianist and backing vocalist, as well as writing and arranging music for a particular brief.

Will has produced and co-produced many albums including: Zennith Boyz, Patrick Levi, Cygnet Repu, Seaman Dan and Arts Queenslands Listen Up emerging artists compilation CD. He has also been involved extensively with an audit of Torres Strait Islander music and dance, a recording and filming project spanning the past 5 years. CDs/DVDs have been produced for 6 communities in the Torres Strait region and 1 for the Northern Peninsula Area. These unique projects have given Will the chance to increase his skills as an audio engineer and producer, by being guided and mentored by ARIA award winning producers and fellow colleagues Dr Karl Neuenfeldt and Nigel Pegrum. A radio documentary about these projects has just been broadcast on 'Into The Music' by ABC Radio National and can be found online by searching for - 'Between Tides' on the ABC Radio National website.

Another story about Will and his upcoming debut album has been aired by ABC Radio FNQ, and can be found online by searching for: 'Side Man Will Kepa takes centre stage with solo disc'. Further more, Will has and continues to collaborate with major organisations such as Arts Queensland, Australia Council for the Arts, National Film and Sound Archive, State Library of Queensland, National Library of Australia, Torres Strait Regional Authority and Central Queensland University on various recording/archival and performing projects.