Inka Bolivia dance group

Inka Bolivia Dance Group came to the Queen Victoria market to promote thier participation in the Hispanic festival held in Melbourne annually.
The group has been only been together for just over a year, and would like to hear from anyone interestd in perfroming traditional Bolivian Folk dances. Just write to the blog page. Performing some Sayas to the strains of Inka Marka playing in the background, the dancers were well received, with some music fans joining in with them to dance.

Wangarratta Music in the park

A short three our drive up the Hume highway to friendy Wangarratta for the Music in the Park Summer series performances. This picture we owe to our friend Freddy and his lovely wife Ada, who took to the stage with the group for a guest appearnce with a performance on sampona. Ada is origionally from Peru, and used to perform mwith her sister, husband, and brother in law locally in the area where they live, around Glenrowan in rural Victoria.

Fairfield Ampitheatre Feb 2006

Another busy Sunday for the Inka Marka band. Starting the day off at the Queen Victoria Market, ( where the band can be found performing most weekends) Inka Marka finished the day off at the Fairfield ampitheatre near the Yarra River, and the boathouse in innner city Fairfeild. Following a stellar dispaly of brazillian marshal arts called Capoeira, Inka Marka was next on the bill. Starting the set with a slow sensual number, the group built the tempo up until they had everyone dancing.

Pako & Seddon Music Festivals 2006

Yesterday was the annual Pako festival in Geelong, the biggest Multicultural event in this region. The turn out for the parade was amazing, with representation from many diverse communities across the globe. This was Inka Marka's third appearance in three years and the response from the audience was warm and appreciative. With many people seeing the band for the first time, our manger Linda had lots of questions and enquiries to field from the crowd. The band perfromed throughout the day, but as afternoon approached, the weather decided to take a turn for the worst. With grey clouds strarting to look menacingly like they were about to dump thier load onto the festival, the band decided to pack up their equipment. With not a minute to spare.. as soon as Jose had the last of the euipment in the van, the first huge droips of rain started to fall.
The group were scheduled to perform at the Seddon Music festival back in Melbourne later that day, so with a quick one hours trip down the freeway back to Melbourne, the rain never eased up for a moment. At times we had to slow down to a snails pace so that we could actually see the road, The wind screen wipers had no hope of clearing the rain from the window as it was so heavy. Just as we arrived at the festival site, the rain grew even more heavy, if that was possible. After a brief consultation with the Festival's artistic director, it was decided that this days perfromance was not going to take place. What can I say, another day in Melbourne!

Shaman

Our New CD: SHAMAN: has been our now for almost three months. The name Shaman came to us as the title of this album because of the spiritual strength and healing processes inherent to Andean music.Music enables people to look into themselves for peace and tranquility. we trust our music inspires people to open their minds and hearts to the beauty of their surroundings and do this. Shaman is Inka Marka's seventh album in ten years and best illustrates their style and technique. They have risen from humble beginnings to become one of Australia's most prominent and respected South American groups. From diverse Latin American backgrounds, five musicians have united thorough their love of music to form Inka Marka. Their music is infused with the strength of solidarity as they strive for a common goal. This album is the product of their trust and affection for each other and their art form.

Inka Marka Music of the Andes

Falls Creek Food & Wine Festival

Falls Creek Food & wine festival January 2006

Inka Marka performed in the Australian Alps at the Falls creek food & wine festival central Victoria in mid Janaury. What an adventure that weekend was. Starting with a 4am start from Melbourne, Jose and the equipment van left Melbourne for the 3 and a half hour journey up the highway to Wangaratta, where he met up with the rest 0f the boys around 7:30 am, who had spent the previous night at our Bolivian freind Freddy's farm, , so they could snatch a few extra hours of ZZzzzzz's before the two hour journey into the Alps to Falls Creek. The festival was a great succes, with many tasty morseld offered to sample. After a lunch of Emu burger, and kangaroo fillet, washed down with some choice Milawa wine vintages, the music flowed gently over the mountain tops, with its haunting melodies echoing through the hills. The band were ushered into the quad chair ski lift, up the mountain, and to the peaks, where this photo was taken. After a sunny afternoon with typical Australian summer temperatures, soaring into the high 30 degrees, the guys started their slow trek down the scenic mountain side, slowly negotiating the blind corners, and deep ravines, Jose constantly reminding us that the roads in Bolivia were steeper and in worse condition, and to "seguir adelante", so we could meet our 10pm deadline to arrive in Canberra that night before the hotel we had booked shut their doors tight for the night. I think they were secretly more worried that the night of salsa dancing and rendevouz with freinds that they had previously planned was about to be severley compromised!

Brunei- Empire Hotel & Country Club 2005

This photo shows Andy dancing the lively Bolivian Folk dance called Tinku, from the Tarabuco region of Bolivia, whilst Inka Marka performs this traditional dance tune. With a fantastic set designed especially for this tour by Mike Mina of the Empire Hotel Brunei, the performances were well recieved , with guests joining in and dancing.

Brunei New Years Eve 2005

Brunei New Years Eve 2005

Inka Marka had the pleasure to perform at the Empire Hotel and Country Club in Brunei for the farewell of the old year and the welcoming in of the New. This picture was taken at the sound check on the afternoon of New years eve. What a great trip it was with a week spent at this luxurious resort as guests of the hotel management. The weather was hot and humid, and the people warm and generous. New friends were made and old ones revisited. The band had a great time, and perfromedto a very responsive audience. The fireworks that heralded in the new year were truly amazing and world class.

Thursday 16th February 2006

This blog has been created so we can have an intimate forum to let our our many fans. and friends know what we are up to. As a working band, each new day brings a new expereince. some of them funny, some of them strange, and some of them just downright unbelievable.

Rather than update the website www.inkamarka.com on a weekly basis we thought it more intimate to creat a blog . This way any one of the band members, or our mananger, with a few spare minutes on their hands can jump on the computer and write about their experiences, the intimate workings of the band, and the daily routine of life on the road. We thought it might be nice to start with the story we published on our website last year about our annual East coast of Australia tour.

Inka Marka trip diary :2005
Melbourne to Cairns or Bust
Well to date this is the longest and most arduous tour of our career. When Inka Marka goes on tour its like an adventure. We always leave extremely early in the mornings, the hour that most normal musicians are going to bed. Maybe this is because we perform at a lot of places during the day, more than the traditional evening events, and rather than spend another night in strange hotel bed, we prefer to spend it at home and then just ?Do it?.. It doesn?t always end up the way we plan it though., but then that?s just part of the adventure The tour started as always in Canberra, where Inka Marka has a loyal band of supporters and fans. .This was the first stop from Melbourne and home base with the new cd. We were a little nervous to see how it would be received. There was no need to worry, as usual we were met by warm and generous people who took our music straight to their hearts. The other reason for stopping in Canberra was to pick up Andy, our unofficial 6th band member, CD seller, sound engineer and music critic, not to mention extra driver, and a pleasant smiling face.

Only a quick 4 hour trip to Sydney, home base for two of the band members, and a great reunion with family members and friends. Already calls were coming in to the office about where and how people could find us in Sydney, and see us perform. The pre publicity on the website and mail outs were working. Inka Marka hadn?t forgotten their roots, and performed at the Rocks Tourist Market on the Sunday, The response was great, and a great many CD?s found new homes.

After a week in Sydney, the band was getting a little too comfortable so it was time to move on again. Coffs Harbour was the next destination, and as we headed further northward, the weather defiantly improved. As we sat basking in the sun, doing a sound check, we heard that it was snowing back in Melbourne.

Heading north to Eumundi, we had a date at the famous Eumundi market. Another gloriously sunny day?These early morning starts are a killer.

Brisbane and the Gold coast are defiantly a better place to be than a cold Melbourne winter, trying to perform with fingerless gloves and a super down jacket. The gold Coast seemed to be filled with tourists as one would expect, and many people were surprised to hear our style of music in Australia. In one day we counted people of at least 15 nationalities in the crowd watching us play. I don?t think Cavil mall had ever seen the likes of us before, and probably wont for quite a while. The Gold coast was a nice interlude, and we again met many people who had never heard our style of music. before. Nevertheless they soon got into the groove.

This is the part of the tour that we least enjoyed. the constant driving, packing and unpacking the sound equipment everyday, and sometimes two or three times a day, as we moved from place to place. Our manager certainly had us keeping busy. The next stretch was the longest, Heading northwards to Cairns. Everyday performing in a different town, then packing up the gear, driving to the next place, then falling into bed, only to repeat this the next day, and the next day and the next. Each day is starting to look the same. and we are getting sick of eating take away.. I think we are beginning to dislike Thai food too.
Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Rockhampton and Mackay all flew past us, then finally Townsville, where we had a small respite. We actually stayed somewhere for more than one night. The Townsville Multicultural Festival was in two weeks, and we arranged some pre publicity for the event. What were the organisers thinking of when they had our Press conference in the Bunning?s Warehouse Café! Anyway, ..they made good coffee. and the press people didn?t at all seem perturbed by the location,

Townsville was a nice rest.. ..well a rest from travelling only. We kept busy, performing at the Local University, the various venues around town, and also the famous Cotters Market ?

Off to Cairns and surrounds, where we met by our dear friends Angela and Segundo, who live in Mossman. They had organised 4 concerts around the region, Mossman, Port Douglas, Kuranda and Cairns. All were sell outs, and we had to promise that we would come back again next year before we were allowed to leave. Far north Queensland is a great place to be, the weather is warm the people are friendly and the food is great. .the only thing missing was our families and loved one. Almost two months on the road was starting to take its toll ..especially on those with small children. Only a few more commitments and then we could head home.
Innisfail Multicultural festival, Townsville festival, and then that was it. We were free to head home. From Townsville we headed to the Gold coast, taking two days to complete the non stop leg. A day performing, then hopping down to Coffs Harbour, where again we welcomed by the resident Inka Marka fans .Its nice that the music is appreciated and received so well. .It makes all the hardships along the way seem worth it. From Coffs to Sydney and a few days taking stock, several performances and hugs from family and friends, before dropping Andy off in Canberra and heading home on the final stretch.

Each year we say.. NEVER Again?..but we?ll just wait and see what happens for next year before we say Never again?.