I have long been a fan of pure natural talent. It does not matter if the talent is music, art, juggling or mathematics. There are savants, but aside from people like the fictional Rain Man, there are people who are simply born with a talent. The character played by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man had Asperger’s syndrome. How about people who can do similar things, but are not socially crippled savants like Rain Man?
While looking through some likely video material, I stumbled across a young man who made an appearance on the talent contest show, Australia’s Got Talent. Being on the opposite side of the globe, those of us in North America are simply not exposed to talent from so far away.
Chooka Parker is a farm lad. He is from a rural area of Australia. At the age of sixteen, he had no television, no cell phone, and no computer. He had never heard of Australia’s Got Talent. His main thing was shearing sheep, and playing his Roland electronic piano. His musical interests began when he got a cheap guitar as a kid. He never had a music lesson or anyone to teach him.
Chooka had never heard of Australia’s Got Talent, but his friends urged him to audition. He did, and this was that first public appearance in 2011, at the age of sixteen. He does not read music, and everything he plays is improvised on the spot.
Chooka did not win the final competition, but his massive talent has resulted in many public appearances, a record contract, and he does have a computer now. And a web page.
He has continued to grow musically. He attended a jazz festival, which had a strong impact on him. This appears to be a simple twelve-bar blues, much less complex than some of his other work.
Music is not his only talent. He also seems to have a gift for poetry. Again, the tune is total improvisation, created in the moment, flowing from his fingers. It is fortunate that his material is recorded, otherwise it would be lost forever.
Come on in. What’s happening in your neck of the woods today?