Aminah Hughes Aminah Hughes is a singer /songwriter, spoken word artist, poet and emerging filmmaker. She has
assumed a reputation as a passive-aggressive folk singer; with lyrics both truthful and daring, her voice has been described as
beautiful and haunting. A passionate storyteller, she believes that songwriters, like other
artists, have an opportunity to say the things that others cannot say – to challenge the boundaries of cultural truth.
Aminah’s passion for creative endeavours stemmed from an early alliance with the arts. Already a flautist and theatrical
actor, she joined Perth’s RTR.FM as a DJ at fifteen, leading to a four-year stint as film reviewer and interviewer for the
station’s Breakfast show. Although her focus is on songwriting, Aminah has had spoken word
pieces published on national compilation albums, one of which was featured on Triple J radio’s Artery programme and has had
airplay on London’s Last FM. As Young-Writer-In-Residence, she conducted workshops on poetic songwriting at the Katharine
Susannah Prichard Writers Centre (she continues to be a member of the Foundation’s Alumni), inspiring songwriting circles and
further workshops in Sydney, Canberra and Perth. Aminah has been an invited reader and performer at several events and venues
around Australia. She toured Western Australia with cross-cultural singing group Yirra Yaakin
Yowerliny, supported Robert James on his solo tour and Canadian outfit, The Wailin' Jennys, has shared the stage with Jimmy
Little, GANGgajang and the Sydney Youth Orchestra and has appeared as an invited performer at the National Folk Festival in
Canberra and Western Australia’s Fairbridge Folk Festival. A finalist in the Lyrics Only section of the 2005 Unisong
International Song Contest, she was awarded 2nd Place in the Social/Political section for her song about the conditions of
women’s prisons in Western Australia and again became a finalist in 2006 with her feisty, political spoken word piece, Out of
Mind. Her song about an Irish convict transported to Australia in 1843 earned her a place as a Top 3 Finalist in the national Rebel
Yelp Songwriters Award in 2008. http://www.myspace.com/aminahhughes | 
