Terrasphere

In 1982, Shane Howard's massive anthem "Solid Rock" from the album "Spirit of Place", (recorded with his legendary band "Goanna"), reverberated across the airwaves and still does today. It was one of the first songs of its idiom to broach the subject of Aboriginal rights in Australia and impacted powerfully on a whole new generation of writers and musicians that followed.

In 1993, Shane made his first tour of Ireland and Irish star Mary Black's recording of Shane's song "Flesh & Blood" was a Top 5 hit there. Mary Black recently released her latest (sixth) recording of a Shane Howard song, 'Don't Say OK', produced by Donal Lunny. His songs have also been recorded by Australia's John Farnham and Denmark's Lene Siel, among many others.

He has spent many years working, writing, performing, touring with and producing Aboriginal musicians throughout Australia, as well as journeying frequently to his own ancestral homelands in Ireland. He has helped strengthen Irish-Australian connections, through his musical friendships with Mary Black, Liam O'Maonlai and Stephen Cooney amongst others.

He has been outspoken on environmental issues since the song 'Let The Franklin Flow', written in 1983, protesting the building of a dam on the Franklin River in Tasmania's wild south-west. The dam was never built.

Through 1998 Shane renewed Goanna for a new album and a series of concerts as part of the Melbourne Festival of the Arts. These events were a showcase of the songlines that Shane and friends have travelled over the past decade and a half.

In addition, he has been producing a wave of award-winning material: The Pigram Brothers' "Saltwater Country" and Jimmy Chi's "Corrugation Road" from Broome; Andy Alberts' "Gunditjmara Land" and the "Dreamtime Wisdom Moderntime Vision" album with the Wirrinyga Band from North East Arnhem Land as well as Goanna's outstanding 1998 release, "Spirit Returns" with Kerryn Tolhurst, (The Dingoes, Country Radio). In 2000, he produced albums for the Celtic folk rock Ploughboys, songstress Oriel Glennon, and emerging songwriter Tonchi, from Bourke.

Shane Howard paid a heavy price since the initial successful releases with his band Goanna. The songs tell the story. But he continues to champion the cause of the underdog and has never forgotten his humble beginnings, turning his back on the commercial success of his earlier years to pursue his independent vision.

This inspired Australian songwriter and performer captures something essential of the spirit of Australia in words and music. He has lived and worked in Australia's cities and remote communities and felt the pulse of the country from within the landscape. A treasured Australian songwriter speaking with first hand knowledge of his subject matter.

In 2000 he was awarded a Fellowship by the Music Fund of the Australia Council in acknowledgement of his contribution to Australian musical life. The main purpose of the Fellowship was to assist in the creation of a musical play centred on the events of the Eureka Stockade.

A quiet but passionate rebel, he continues to provide a local, national and international view of Australia and Australians through his songs and stories. His deep love of his homeland manifests in his vast body of work.

He was an Australian representative at this year's North American Folk Alliance convention in Vancouver.

He was a founding member and is the current Chairman of the Tarerer Gunditj Project Association in South West Victoria, a position he has held for three years. Formed in 1995, the Tarerer Gunditj Project Association comprises both Aboriginal and other Australian volunteers who are committed to cultural and environmental restoration of the local area.

Shane continues to pay homage to the culture of his ancestors and the culture of the people whose land he now walks on. He combines a deep understanding of the poetic and musical folk traditions, fusing in his songs a strong sense of the contemporary with cultural traditions.