Last year, Brisbane band Tjaka took on Taiwan, playing in front of 30,000 punters at PASIWALI Festival. 12 months on, they’re ready to relive that moment – sharing weekly videos of their set on YouTube, one song per week.
Tjaka’s journey to PASIWALI was a somewhat random one. In July 2023, they were approached by Taiwanese music promoters, Taiwan Colors Music, via email, to ask if they’d play the overseas festival. TCM had seen Tjaka’s music video for their Break It Down track, and were instantly hooked. The video, shot on Yuggera and Turrbal land, pays homage to traditional culture – featuring Indigenous dancer, Leelana Fabila-Hicks, and cultural leader and teacher, Derek Sandy, with visuals that juxtapose traditional clothing and instrumentation with contemporary hip-hop and dance.
Though Tjaka were initially skeptical of this spontaneous invite to Taiwan, they ended up on a plane there mere months later, ready to headline one of the largest Indigenous festivals in Asia.
Hopping on stage directly after Accusefive, who supported Coldplay across Taiwan that year, Tjaka had to face 30,000 people – who didn’t speak their language. But that didn’t prove to be an issue for the Aussie band.
“The noise of unwavering support from the beginning to the end was something I’ll never forget,” band member Geoff Fabila said. “Not only was it the most people we have ever played in front of as Tjaka, but the energy they had during our set was next level, after we were unsure how we would be received in a totally different country.”
His brother and fellow bandmate, Felix Fabila, added, “We were kind of treated like celebrities.”
One year on from the experience, Tjaka are now sharing clips of the set on YouTube. Releasing footage of one live song per week, soon Australia-bound fans will be able to get all the PASIWALI vibes from the comfort of their own home.
Tjaka haven’t slowed down since that performance, recently announcing their signing with Joel Siviour at Seismic Talent, hot off the back of a 6-leg national tour. With a performance at SXSW Sydney next week, a new release promised before the end of the year, a bigger piece of work still to come in 2025, and a couple of feature tracks with Taiwanese techno producer, DUNGI SAPOR, due soon, Tjaka don’t seem to be stopping.
