‘It’s a living memory’: Bringing Warumpi Band’s family story back to the stage
The daughter of Warumpi Band co-founder Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher brings her father’s memories to the Adelaide Festival stage with the musical Big Name, No Blankets.
Anyupa Butcher can still remember the moment she first saw Warumpi Band play live. She was eight or nine years old, and although music had always been an important part of her family’s life, she didn’t know just how far their sound had carried.
“I think it was one of their final gigs in the year 2000, in Alice Springs, and there were thousand and thousands in the crowd,” she tells InReview. “That’s when I kind of realised, hold on, this is really special.
“I just remember being in the moshpit with my family and seeing my father, it was this pivotal moment in my life where I had this realisation: ‘Wow, what a blessing it is to belong to such a beautiful family, who I’ve seen since my childhood work so hard to advocate for First Nations people through music’.”
Growing up as a young Warlpiri, Pitjantjatjara and Luritja woman, Butcher had been surrounded by the sound of her fathers, the Butcher brothers — in her family, the siblings of Anyupa’s biological father are all regarded as parental figures — and the music they played.
“I didn’t really know Warumpi Band was famous,” she says. “I have really beautiful memories of my childhood with my brothers and sisters. Music was just such a normalized thing within our household, sitting around the table listening to my father’s play on the guitar and write songs.”
Anyupa Butcher. Photo: Supplied
Years later, Anyupa was working at Ilbijerri Theatre Company as an associate producer when the opportunity to tell the Warumpi Band story came knocking in September 2019. Working with co-director Dr Rachael Maza AM and playwright Andrea James — who tackled tennis star Yyvonne Goolagong Cawley’s life in Sunshine Super Girl — she began a long journey to bring her father Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher’s story to the stage.
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Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher and his late brother co-founded Warumpi Band in 1980 with Neil Murray, a budding guitarist and songwriter who had headed north to work as a teacher and labourer. Cutting their teeth on classic rock n roll covers, the band soon recruited the Butchers’ brother-in-law on Yidaki and vocals. Together, the band released three albums with hits including the ever-rousing Blackfella / Whitefella, and the enduring classic My Island Home.
“It’s my father’s story, every scene in Big Name, No Blankets is a true story. It’s a living memory that exists, so it’s been beautiful, just as a daughter, listening to his stories and reflections of his life, and working with my brother and sisters as the next generation.
“When we went to Papunya he would take us to the sites that you see as part of the set. He was able to talk in great detail about the significance of these places, and from there we were able to capture these stories and entwine them into the script.”
"It’s my father’s story, every scene in Big Name, No Blankets is a true story."
Drawing its title from the band’s first album, the musical Big Name, No Blankets uses the group’s songbook to tell the Butchers’ story, from the red dirt and living room jam sessions of the band’s early years to their breakout success.
“One thing that I really felt emotional about, was listening to my dad describe when they first toured the big cities, and connected with Aboriginal people from across Australia.
“It was their way of realising the depth of colonisation, the effects of colonisation, and that really influenced their songwriting. A scene that I love is called ‘We Shall Cry’, which speaks to the emotions that Aboriginal people feel regarding colonisation in the 21st century, but also a way of coming together and connecting through music.”
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When the show premiered in Sydney, with Anyupa’s brothers performing onstage in the band just like her fathers once did, the result was “empowering”.
“We flew a lot of the family from Papunya to come and watch the show, which was really important, because theatre is unheard of in remote Aboriginal communities.
“Every show, we get a family member to open up the show and talk a bit about our family and welcome you to our story, because it is the first time, really, we’ve had the Butcher perspective on the Warumpi Band.”
"It is the first time, really, we’ve had the Butcher perspective on the Warumpi Band."
Since then the show has toured to Melbourne, Perth, and even embarked on a prison tour across the Northern Territory.
“Afterwards, the cast and crew would sit down and do big yarning circles with the prisoners, which I think was really beautiful, holding that space to connect to the prisoners and talk about life, and the importance of having courage to tell your story,” she says.
Sammy Butcher with Baykali Ganambarr, who portrays him in Big Name, No Blankets. Photo: Brett Boardman / Supplied
Anyupa hopes to bring the show on the road for a bush tour — and perhaps even to Alice Springs where she first glimpsed the Warumpi Band in full flight all those years ago. But for now, watching her father Sammy see his story onstage has been an unforgettable experience.
“It’s a beautiful way for him to reflect on his life, but also feel his brothers with him as well,” she says. Of the original Warumpi Band lineup, only Sammy and Neil Murray are alive today.
“It was an amazing thing to see him on opening night, and to see him cry and get emotional, reminisce on his life… it’s something that I’ll never forget. Beautiful.”
Big Name, No Blankets opens at Her Majesty’s Theatre from March 14 – 16 as part of the 2025 Adelaide Festival
Read more 2025 Adelaide Festival coverage here on InReview