Melbourne Ska Orchestra

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Melbourne Ska Orchestra
Melbourne Ska Orchestra.JPG
Melbourne Ska Orchestra performing at Northern Lights Festival Boréal in 2014
Background information
Origin Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
GenresSka, big band, reggae
Years active2003-present
Labels FOUR FOUR
MembersNicky Bomba
Barry Deenick
Rodrigo Pino
Dorian West
Antonio Milillo
Michael Caruana
Michael Havir
Stephen Phillips
George Servanis
Dave Joseph
Elvis Aljus
Lennox Jordan
Steven Montgomery
Pat Powell
Paul Coyle
Patrick Cronin
David Henry
Sarah Heffernan
Theodore Kazan
Dean Hilson
Justin Forster
Robert Calvert
Peter Mitchell
Laurance Bongailas
Anthony Hicks
Sally Ford
Peter Slipper
Kynan Robinson
Wally Maloney
Michael Boase
Jake Savona
Cam Hassard
Piers Gooding
Russell Roberts
Stuart Ferguson
Ed Farrar
Dan Kerr
Jessica Jacobs
Anna Gordon
Past membersMohair Slim
Website melbourneskaorchestra.com

Melbourne Ska Orchestra are an ARIA Award-winning Australian ska band formed in 2003 in Melbourne. The group has up to 34 members, and is led by bandleader Nicky Bomba, formerly of the John Butler Trio. The band are signed to FOUR FOUR, an imprint of ABC Music. [1]

Contents

Background

The Melbourne Ska Orchestra was created by musician Nicky Bomba and radio presenter Mohair Slim. The band's inaugural performance was on 31 May 2003 to a sold out crowd at The Esplanade Hotel's Gershwin Room (St Kilda).

Drawing inspiration from the vast musical legends that have shaped the Ska genre, from the Jamaican movement through to UK Two Tone and the present day Latino Ska, Melbourne Ska Orchestra demonstrate a unique Australian vision with the exuberance and freewheeling colour of contemporary Ska. The outfit have crafted their sound with unexpected arrangements and seductive harmonies, powerful horns and foot-stomping drums.

The eponymous Melbourne Ska Orchestra album was released to rave reviews in 2013 and picked up 2 ARIA nominations that year. [2]

The band have toured consistently for over a decade, including festival appearances at Bluesfest, Golden Plains, Vivid, Caloundra, Queenscliff and AWME. In addition to their highly visible presence on the Australian touring circuit, the band have built an impressive, ever-growing and dedicated overseas fan base. [3] The band sold out their debut London show, appeared on the bill for the iconic Glastonbury Festival and played a headline set to a crowd 50,000 at the Montreal Jazz Festival during their 2014 tour. [4] The band has performed in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Turkey as well as appearing in television commercials in Australia and Japan.

The band released their second album Sierra Kilo Alpha in April 2016, embarking on a national tour to support it. [5]

Sierra Kilo Alpha won the 2016 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album. [6]

The band released a follow-up to their acclaimed 2016 release called Saturn Return in late 2016. Saturn Return comprises a selection of songs from the same recording session as Sierra Kilo Alpha and was released on a rocket-shaped USB drive.

In 2018, the band announced that they would release one song every week (each Friday, hence "52 Fridays") for an entire year. At the end of 2019, the entire 52-week series of single releases was successfully concluded with the song "Magnolia Springtime". The resulting collection, One Year of Ska , won the ARIA Award for Best World Music Album in 2019.

Discography

Studio albums

TitleDetails
Melbourne Ska Orchestra
  • Released: 2013
  • Label: Four Four (3729304)
  • Format: CD, 2xLP, digital download
Sierra Kilo Alpha
  • Released: April 2016
  • Label: Four Four (4736063)
  • Format: CD, LP, digital download
Saturn Return
  • Released: 2016
  • Label: Melbourne Ska Orchestra
  • Format: USB digital download
  • Unreleased recordings from the Sierra Kilo Alpha sessions
Ska Classics
  • Released: May 2018
  • Label: ABC Music
  • Format: digital download
TV & Movie Themes
  • Released: July 2018
  • Label: ABC Music
  • Format: digital download
Read All About It!
  • Released: October 2018
  • Label: ABC Music
  • Format: digital download
Transmission Friday's
  • Released: March 2019
  • Label: ABC Music
  • Format: digital download

Live albums

TitleDetails
Live at The Triffid
  • Released: May 2020
  • Label: Melbourne Ska Orchestra, ABC Music
  • Format: digital download

Compilation albums

TitleDetails
One Year of Ska
  • Released: 2019
  • Label: Four Four Music (7762177)
  • Format: 4xCD, digital download
20 Years Young
  • Released: 10 March 2023
  • Label: Four Four Music (FOUR0005)
  • Format: CD, digital download

Awards and nominations

ARIA Awards

Melbourne Ska Orchestra has been nominated for five Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Awards, winning Best World Music Album in 2016 and 2019. [7] [8]

YearNominee / workAwardResult
2013 Nicky Bomba and Robin Mai - Melbourne Ska OrchestraEngineer of the YearNominated
2013 Melbourne Ska OrchestraBest Blues & Roots AlbumNominated
2014 The Diplomat TourBest Australian Live ActNominated
2016 Sierra Kilo AlphaBest World Music AlbumWon
2017 Saturn ReturnBest World Music AlbumNominated
2018 Ska ClassicsBest World Music AlbumNominated
2019 One Year of SkaBest World Music AlbumWon
2020 Live at the TriffidBest World Music AlbumNominated

Music Victoria Awards

The Music Victoria Awards are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. They commenced in 2006. [9]

YearNominee / workAwardResultRef.
2013 Melbourne Ska OrchestraBest Global or Reggae ActWon [10] [11]
2016 Melbourne Ska OrchestraBest Global or Reggae ActWon
2018 Melbourne Ska OrchestraBest Global or Reggae ActNominated
2023 Melbourne Ska OrchestraBest Reggae and Dancehall WorkNominated [12]

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References

  1. "Melbourne Ska Orchestra sign to FOUR|FOUR record label - single released! - Melbourne Ska Orchestra". Melbourne Ska Orchestra. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  2. "Two ARIA Nominations for MSO!! - Melbourne Ska Orchestra". Melbourne Ska Orchestra. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  3. "Melbourne Ska Orchestra " Vivid LIVE 2015". vividlive.sydneyoperahouse.com. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  4. DTan@sydneyoperahouse.com. "MELBOURNE SKA ORCHESTRA WITH MOJO JUJU @ SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE". Vivid 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  5. "Sierra-Kilo-Alpha Australian Tour! - Melbourne Ska Orchestra". Melbourne Ska Orchestra. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  6. The Music. "The Music - news website". The Music. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  7. "Two ARIA Nominations for MSO!! - Melbourne Ska Orchestra". Melbourne Ska Orchestra. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  8. "And the 2020 ARIA Awards Go To…". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  9. "Music Victoria | 2016 Genre Awards". www.musicvictoria.com.au. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  10. "Previous Nominess". Music Victoria. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  11. "Previous Winners". Music Victoria. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  12. "Nominees, Hall of Fame Inductees Announced for 2023 Music Victoria Awards". Music Feeds . 14 September 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2023.