Kinja

When Ron Murray plays his didgeridoo, he wears a wreath of cockatoo feathers in his hair. At his side, Sarah James’ hair flows wild and free as she plays fiddle and sings Celtic and Australian folk songs. Sarah and Ron are from different worlds. She’s a city girl, of Scottish ancestry. He’s a descendent of the Wamba Wamba people, whose traditional area was around Victoria’s Swan Hill. Now married, their haunting partnership of violin and didgeridoo transcends cultural differences.

The Kinja (meaning 'my home') sound is an ethereal blend of Indigenous Australian and Celtic inspired moods. Sarah and Ron feel that Kinja’s music unites their heritage. “People tend to be touched by hearing two musical cultures coming together and it seems to move people on that level … If we do Danny Boy  we often find people feel homesick, and that makes them think more about what it is to be Australian and about belonging in this country.” (Country Style Magazine, October 2006)

Kinja’s debut album My Home was released in 2004 through Black Market Music. Ron and Sarah feel proud that My Home celebrates Ron’s Wamba Wamba heritage, a tribute to the survival of Victorian Aboriginal culture.  Also for Ron and Sarah, the album subtly ponders the question that “if cultures can come together in music, surely we can do it as people?  In some ways it’s our contribution to reconciliation.” (Country Style Magazine, October 2006)