By Mikayla van Loon
One of Australia’s most well known and loved pop rock bands, as well as an artist on the verge of celebrity, is getting ready to perform in the Yarra Ranges.
Killing Heidi will be heading to the outer eastern suburbs for the performance on 22 October as part of a mentorship program, seeing Victorian musician Yara Alkurd, 26, take to the York on Lilydale stage alongside the brother and sister duo.
As part of the Wild Turkey Music 101 sessions, Yara was selected to be mentored by Jesse and Ella Hooper, something she said she “feels really lucky” to be able to experience.
“Mentorship in the music industry is so important and I’ve never had a mentor. [Ella and Jesse] are so experienced in this industry, which I’m still trying to learn about,” she said.
“It’ll be really good to learn from them, especially navigating the music industry as a female as well. Ella is such a boss and I think it will be so cool to chat to her about staying passionate and strong.”
For Ella, being able to perform outside of the major city venues has always taken her back to her roots of growing up in a country town in Victoria.
“I grew up regional and still spend a lot of time in the regions and I always make sure I tour not just in the cities but in some pretty far flung places and the outer suburban and the regional because there are people out there,” she said.
“I was always wanting someone to stop and play a show and I was a bit starved of live music growing up in northeast Victoria in Violet Town and occasionally someone would stop and play and I would be so grateful and so excited and that inspired me so much.”
Yara’s love affair with music stems from her childhood growing up in Palestine, where her mother opened a performing arts school with fellow female performers, dancers, singers, pianists and violinists.
It was a way of creating an escape from what was happening in Gaza and has continued to carry her through tough times.
“Music has been such a thing to get me out of terrible situations and times where I’m not doing so well mentally or in tough situations in life,” Yara said.
“So it’s been an inspiration and a medium for me to connect to people and grow. It’s such a great artistic way for catharsis and self expression and growth.”
While Yara said her music never speaks about her Palestinian heritage or the politics of what is happening in Gaza, she said “simply existing and expressing and living freely as a Palestinian person, that is inspiring enough for people to keep going and be proud of who they are and exist as what they are.”
Despite having different music styles, Yara said because her songs talk about universal topics of love, human connection, heartbreak and joy, she hopes to learn from the Killing Heidi duo about songwriting, staying passionate and perseverance.
Ella said for herself and Jesse, mentoring has become such an important part of what they now do in the music industry and said it’s “a crucial phase of anyone’s career”.
“The more education you can have at that phase and the more inspiration and support the better,” Ella said.
“I know Jesse and I will never forget the people who helped us out and gave us a leg up or even just gave us some pearls of wisdom early in our career.”
Because of the individualistic nature of music, Ella said it can be confusing for young artists to navigate, so having someone to bounce ideas off can make a huge difference in the trajectory of a career.
Having also started in the industry quite young, Ella said two things she falls back on are “courage in my convictions” and work ethic because talent does “not equate to a successful career in music”.
“Something I found when I was beginning and in the first 10 years of my career was I wasn’t always sure about the choices I was making, about all the things I wanted to do.
“Having a sounding board to test out some of those ideas before doing them or get advice on whether this one versus that one would be the right way to go would have been fantastic.”
Excited by Yara’s “R&B, modern soul, pop” vibe, Ella said it’s also evident that she has “bucket load of natural talent but she clearly has work ethic” because of everything she has achieved on her own.
“This is an exciting time but a really important time because pretty soon I think Yara is going to be much, much more well known and mainstream.
“So if Jesse and I can get in there at this moment and be a support for her and provide a little bit more of that sounding board and that networking, it’s a crucial time and she’s seriously talented.”
