Former Australia Decides competitor, Australia's Got Talent finalist and First Nations artist Mitch Tambo dazzles along side his wife Voice of Lele with a vibrant cover of Christine Anu's iconic 1995 hit My Island Home.
Originally performed country and Aboriginal rock group Warumpi Band in 1987, the song is better known for the iconic cover by Christine Anu which celebrates it's 30 year anniversary this year.
Mitch duets with his wife, Pacifica singer Voice of Lele, on the song and both are also releasing solo versions of My Island Home on February 7.
The single comes off the back of a cracking cover of Tina Turner's The Best and outstanding performance at Carols by Candlelight at the close of 2024.
We caught up with him recently to talk about Eurovision and his inspiration for the single.
It's almost 5-years since you competed with Together at Australia Decides, would you consider campaigning for Eurovision again?
Yeah 100 per cent I’d love to do it again! I really loved the opportunity to represent Australia but to be honest, whilst I had a lot of support, I also I wasn’t ready for the online trolling and bullying that went along with it.
Prior to that I had never experienced any negative comments online and suddenly I had people questioning who I was. I was in my wife Lele’s arms crying because it was so intensely negative. I wasn’t able to perform to my best.
However now years on, I’m not worried about what people say anymore and have a much tougher skin, so I’d love to give it another shot as I have always loved Eurovision.
We've had three editions of Australia Decides - a great display of Aussie talent in a different vein to other televised singing contests. The last competition was in 2022, would you like to see it return?
For sure - I think it’s a great way to bring a spotlight onto it every year.
Do you have any advice to budding Aussie artists that aspire to represent us at Eurovision?
"Be authentic. I feel TikTok ends up creating a whole lot of muffins in a muffin tin. Don’t be another muffin in the tray, be true to who you are."
Have you ever contemplated making a cover of a Eurovision song and taking your own spin on it?
Haha, well who know what the future holds. I’m an ABBA fan so maybe a bit of Waterloo? Although isn’t it about Napoleon? I don’t know anything about that and not sure how it would translate!
Three decades on, what does My Island Home mean to you?
For me the song makes me reflect on how beautiful this place is and how blessed I am to have deep roots here. As a First Nations person, my connection to Australia differs from how Lele, as a refugee from West Papua connects with it, but here we are, lucky to be here raising our four beautiful daughters. It’s who we are and who this nation is - a land with every culture on the planet residing here, calling it home.
My Island Home is available now on all music streaming services with My Island Home by Mitch Tambo, My Island Home (Ailan Ples Bilong Mi) by Voice of Lele, and My Island Home (West Papua Mix) available from 7 February 2025.
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