Massive Tunes

Combining her love of hip hop with a university diploma in community development, Mary Quinsacara's mission is simple: to collaborate with communities to create high quality, authentic artistic outcomes that speak to broad audiences. Born in Chile and raised on the Mornington Peninsula, as the artistic director of hip hop collective MASSIVE, she is doing just that.

An ensemble of 14 young people from culturally diverse Islander backgrounds and based in Melbourne's West, the group, all under 25, are paving their own unique path in the music industry. “They are young people and they are young artists who, at the very heart, have a lot to say and are very community minded,” she begins. “Being advocates, these guys do a lot of community workshops across a lot of different contexts and settings, through justice, women's prisons, youth detention centres, as well as schools and festivals. These guys have a very strong connection to their community and I think that comes across in the music.” Having collaborated with Deaf Arts Network, Anti Racism Action Band and Blue King Brown, in November the group will push their boundaries even further, teaming up with The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to perform an adaption of Romeo & Juliet at Hamer Hall.

Formed little more than two years ago, as the interest in the group grew, so did the members' passion to take it further. “When we first started we were just calling out to the community to see who wanted to be a part of Australia's first hip hop choir, but as the interest from the wider community grew, so did a passion to develop this style of hip hop.”

Produced by Barkly Arts Centre, a division of Western Region Health, Quinsacara believes the benefits of the partnership are mutual to both performer and audience. “Their positivity really resonates,” she gleams down the phone line. “It makes people feel good. It makes them want to dance and think about their own identities and how they connect with people. It's a mutual exchange.”

Drawing on the strength of their diversity, MASSIVE'S sound combines old school hip hop, gospel, traditional cultural tunes and protest music. Lina Lonia, a Polynesian vocalist inspired by her upbringing in the Cook Islands and Niue says each member of the group brings their own culture and identity to songwriting. “As Islanders we've all grown up with strong cultural traditions. Singing in church and dancing is a big part of our culture and we've all brought that to MASSIVE. The singing, the chanting, the body percussion, just the beat is something that's been with us since we were young and we apply that to the music that we write.”

Though the idea of using music for change, particularly in hip hop, isn't new, using a choir to do so is. Providing an interface between choral singing and urban music, MASSIVE is the first of its kind in Australia and perhaps even the world. “I've done quiet a bit of online research and it's very, very minimal,” says Quinsacara of similar projects. “There's some hip hop choir-flavoured community groups, but certainly not youth-centred and doing it in this fashion.

“This particular way of working together is really unique, because they're always working as a collective. People have their solo parts and what not, but certainly the spirit of collaboration in the group is necessary. People might think they can come in and go, 'I'd love a choir to back me up,' but it doesn't work like that,” she jokes.

The group will launch their debut album, Neology, at The Evelyn later in the month, with what promises to be one big celebratory party. “These guys are really coming out to the world on their own and it's going to be a massive celebration,” she says, no pun intended.

Massive Hip Hop Choir will be playing the following shows:

Friday 21 September - Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy VIC