Toni Janke

Toni Janke

Toni is a self-taught musician/singer & songwriter who first began playing guitar at the young age of 8 and wrote her first song at 11 yrs of age. In 1993, she released a 4 track EP titled "Hearts Speak Out" which has been promoted nationally and overseas on CD and CD rom titled "Songlines" and "Mooditj". Toni was awarded a music fellowship from the Australia Council for the Arts in 1994.
Toni coordinated the "Survival" Indigenous music concerts at La Perouse in Sydney in 1995 & 1996 and was the Coordinator of the highly successful Festival of the Dreaming of the Sydney Organising Committee of the Olympic Games in 1997.
She has performed at numerous gigs, community events, festivals, pubs and corporate events throughout Australia including radio and television appearances. These include Sydney Fringe Festival, Tranby College 10th anniversary celebrations, former Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam anniversary dinner, ATSIC and Australia Council for the Arts celebrations during various NAIDOC week celebrations, Nambundah Indigenous festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Sydney Fringe Festival, Reconciliation festival, Brisbane Ethnic & Multicultural Festival's Murri program, Woodford festival, Walk Against Want, Reclaim the Night (Women Against Sexual Abuse), Alice Springs & Darwin Indigenous cultural programs, Sydney Opera House, Deadly Vibe Awards. She has performed and supported artist such as Kev Carmody, Tiddas, Archie Roach and performed alongside Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Christine Anu, the Warumpi Band, Shakaya, Leah Purcell, Marlene Cummins, Tex Perkins, Glen Skuthorpe, to name a few.
Toni has an extensive range of professional skills including song writing, arrangement, artistic production & co-production, project management and coordination. She has excellent communication, written & public-speaking skills as well as business management and arts administration expertise.
Toni has sat on numerous Boards over the past years promoting Indigenous music & arts policy development including the National Indigenous Skills Development Association of Australia (NAISDA), the Big Note Music Advisory Committee of the Australia Council for the Arts. She has acted as Peer Assessor to the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. She has also worked for the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), the National Indigenous Media Association of the Australia (NIMAA) and the National Indigenous Arts Advocacy Association (NIAAA). She has also served as a member of the NSW Ministry for the Arts Music Advisory Committee and now currently resides in QLD. Toni is also a member of APRA (The Australasian Performing Rights Association).
Toni was recently awarded Female Artist of the Year 2002 at the prestigious Deadly Indigenous Music & Sports Awards held at the Sydney Opera House on 10 October 2002, where she also performed live. Toni was nominated in 3 award categories for Most Popular Song of the Year (Brink of Realisation); Album of the Year (The Brink) and Female Artist of the Year. Toni was awarded Female Artist of the Year 2002. She was also was awarded a Certificate of Merit in the Folk/World music category by the judges of the Australian National Songwriting Contest 2001 for her song "Child of the World" which is included on The Brink CD.
Toni has recently completed writing her second and third CD albums, which she hopes to produce and record on the Gold Coast in the next 2-3 years. She has written over 400 original songs and hopes to continue to publish her music in the future and build a successful professional career to encourage other artists, especially Indigenous artists working in the music industry. She has written a children album, a collection of poems and is currently writing her first book, which she also hopes to publish in the near future. It is her ambition to run her own independent production studio on the Gold Coast. Toni has 2 children, Terri and Emily.