Sammy Butcher is an

Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...

– Warlpiri musician who formed the

Warumpi Band Warumpi Band () were an Australian country and Aboriginal rock group which formed in the outback settlement of Papunya, Northern Territory, in 1980. The original line-up was George Burarrwanga on vocals and didgeridoo, Gordon Butcher Tjapanang ...

Biography

Butcher was born at

Papunya, Northern Territory Papunya (Pintupi-Luritja: ''Warumpi'') is a small Indigenous Australian community roughly northwest of Alice Springs (Mparntwe) in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is known as an important centre for Contemporary Indigenous Australian art, ...

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and i ...

. His mother's side is from the south, the

tribe and his father's side from the Walpiri from

Pikilyi Mount Doreen Station is a pastoral lease operating as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is situated about north east of Papunya and approximately north west of Alice Springs just off the Tanami Track in the cent ...

, near Yinjirrimardi area. He formed the

with

George Burarrwanga George Rrurrambu Burarrwanga (1957 – 10 June 2007), known in life as George Rrurrambu and George Djilangya, was known as the frontman of Warumpi Band, an Aboriginal rock band. Burarrwanga was a Yolngu man, born in the remote homeland of Ma ...

, Neil Murray and Gordon Butcher in the late 1970s. Butcher released a solo album ''Desert Surf Guitar'' on

CAAMA The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) is an organisation founded in 1980 to expose Aboriginal music and culture to the rest of Australia. It started with 8KIN-FM, the first Aboriginal radio station in the country. Based in A ...

music. The album's name was inspired by the sand hills surrounding Papunya, "you can imagine them as being huge red waves on the ocean" He was the subject of the documentary ''Sammy Butcher, Out of the Shadows'', part of the ''Nganampa Anwernekenhe'' series. The documentary looks at his life after the Warumpi Band.australianscreen
Sammy Butcher, Out of the Shadows He is renowned as one of the best

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

players to come out of Central Australia. He now lives in

Papunya Papunya (Pintupi-Luritja: ''Warumpi'') is a small Indigenous Australian community roughly northwest of Alice Springs (Mparntwe) in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is known as an important centre for Contemporary Indigenous Australian art, ...

, west of

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

References

Indigenous Australian musicians Musicians from the Northern Territory Australian guitarists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{australia-guitarist-stub