Blind pop star Gordon Koang was a household name in South Sudan. Fleeing civil war with his cousin and bandmate, he found his voice again among Melbourne’s hipsters
In South Sudan, blind pop star Gordon Koang is a household name. He has released 10 albums and has
YouTube video views in the hundreds of thousands. Before fleeing that country’s civil war to seek asylum in Australia with his bandmate and cousin Paul Biel, the pair toured the world and played to thousands.
But at a showcase in March for Koang’s new label Music in Exile (MiE) – a not-for-profit offshoot of seminal
Australian indie-punk label Bedroom Suck Records (Boomgates, Totally Mild, Blank Realm) – he played to a motley group of punks, poets and even a cobbler in a small community band room in Melbourne’s north. Not everything went to plan. A replacement bridge on Koang’s thom – his wooden, banjo-like, signature instrument – was too shallow and caused strings to break. In Australia even the bridges are different but, given the alternative, it’s a small price to pay.