With a background of two rich and diverse cultures to draw on for inspiration in her music and acting careers this talented young performer clearly has ‘the best of both worlds’
Deadly Vibe: Do you write all of your own music?
Urshula: Yes
Deadly Vibe: So how do you get inspiration for your songs?
Urshula: I think it just basically looking around me and see what is happening and a song will usually just pop up in my head. I have to sit down and write the song before I lose it. That’s basically how I write.
Deadly Vibe: You wrote a really beautiful song about your father called Sarajevo do you want to tell the readers about that one?
Urshula: Well I guess everybody knows about what has happened in Yugoslavia well the former Yugoslavia and my father has got quite a few brothers and cousins over there and I just basically wrote the song about that. I know how he feels about that.
Deadly Vibe: How hard is it for you to combine your Aboriginal heritage with your Yugoslavian heritage when you perform music?
Urshula: I don’t really find it that hard. It is just me I suppose.
Deadly Vibe: You said before that you are planning to do a song in language. Do you want to tell me a little bit about that one?
Urshula: Well I am going to try and do a song in language but what I intend to do is write the song in English because I can’t speak my language very well and I will get one of my cousins to help me translate it and I will see how it goes.
Deadly Vibe: You have also been getting into quite a bit of acting lately you were recently down here in Sydney at the Belviour Street Theatre doing the “Governors Family”. Do you want to tell me a bit about that and how you got involved in acting as well?
Urshula: I guess I was always one of those kids who were running around the house saying – I’m bored, I’m bored. That is the main reason I got into singing. After a while singing got a bit boring for me so I joined this acting group here in Darwin.
How I got into Belvoir Street Theatre was I was studying in Perth for a year with Aboriginal Central Performing Arts and I met Neil over there and probably two weeks later he called and asked if I wanted to be in this play and I said ‘Yeh’.
Deadly Vibe: Which do you find easier, acting or singing?
Urshula: Probably stage fright wise – acting rather than singing I know I can do singing a lot better but I get very very nervous when I get up whereas acting I sometimes don’t even know the audience is there.
Deadly vibe: Now later on this year you will be coming back to Sydney for the Festival of the Dreaming to do a bit of a musical.
Urshula: Yes, Nathanial’s Storm.
Deadly Vibe: Do you want to tell me a little bit about that?
Urshula: It is written by a guy called Anthony Crowley, I guess it is like the first Australian Musical.
Deadly Vibe: This will be the first time you will get to combine your singing and acting talents so are you looking forward to that challenge?
Urshula: Yeah, definitely
Deadly Vibe: When are we going to get a CD out on you. You were recently featutured on Songlines but when are we going to be able to go into a record store and buy the latest Urshula Yovich album?
Urshula: I wish I only knew. I don’t know yet I don’t know myself.
Deadly Vibe: Have you got any plans to get yourself into a studio and get it done?
Urshula: I’m working on a project at the moment but I kind of held that off for a while. I don’t know when we will finish it.
Deadly Vibe: if you could emulate any singer in the world who would it be?
Urshula: Not really anyone.
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