Creativity, culture and belonging: Lontano’s award winning story
When Roz and Anthony of “alt-country storyteller” band Lontano were named as finalists for a Queensland Music Award, they said they were “caught a bit off guard”.
So, to win the 'Blues and Roots' category for their song Way Too Long, came as an even bigger, albeit very deserving surprise.
“It’s a lovely acknowledgment from our Queensland colleagues,” says Roz.
But it didn’t come out of the blue. They’ve been collectively making music in various iterations for almost 60 years and have been the duo behind Lontano for around five.
A nod to Italian heritage
The name Lontano is Italian for “distance”, “far away” or “depart”. And as well as being a nod to their Italian heritage, it captures the nature of their songwriting.
Roz is based in Tamworth (though she’s adamant she’s still a Queenslander at heart), where she’s involved in the production of the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and Anthony’s in Brisbane.
Anthony says that although they have a very close relationship, they’re also quite different as people, and they bring those different perspectives to their process.
“Roz and I are in communication with each other every day and we kind of know what’s going on in each other’s lives,” says Anthony.
“We basically just send each other fragments of songs that we record, then we’ll send them back to each other and then the other works on it.
“So, there’s a lot of trust there around each other’s stories and I think that gets woven into songs.”
A tale of two histories
Their personal histories are interwoven, too.
Roz’s heritage is Sicilian, Anthony’s Sardinian, and they have family ties to the farming regions of North Queensland.
“My dad’s side of the family landed in Sydney and quickly moved to Far North Queensland to work on cane farms in the Ingham–Innisfail area, which is where I spent my childhood and youth,” says Roz.
“My father’s parents came over on a boat as well,” says Anthony.
“My dad was actually born in Mossman hospital, so they were up North Queensland farming as well.”
While they don’t consciously write music from an Italian perspective, they both say it’s part of the fabric of who they are and it can’t really be separated from their art.
“Those sort of things influence everything about you as a human and influence whatever you say and your storytelling,” says Roz.
“It just comes through I think because that’s who we are. I think Roz and I have that pretty strong connection from that shared background,” says Anthony.
Like many artists, they struggle to define themselves with a genre.
They’re definitely carrying on the storytelling tradition of folk. And their bio describes them as “spacious, earthy, alt-country storytelling”.
“But we won the 'Blues and Roots' [category] at QMA so, I guess we’re sort of roots?” says Anthony.
“But the storytelling bit I think is the key for Roz and my songwriting. That’s what it’s all about.”
The Italian stats and more
According to the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are 13,217 people who were born in Italy. And if you include residents with Italian ancestry the number jumps to over 150,000 people—the 8th most common ancestry in Queensland.
Indeed, with more than 1 in 5 Queenslanders born overseas, there is enormous cultural social and economic value generated from having a diverse society.
The Department of Women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and Multiculturalism has several online resources providing a snapshot into multicultural Queensland.
Visit Queensland multicultural data and resources to learn more about who we are as Queenslanders.
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