The House of Blackstar is back again this Mardi Gras with their dance party event Fierce Ball, a spectacular night of indigenous celebration. This year they’re bringing RuPaul-esque diva Peppermint over from New York again, who recently appeared on ‘Ugly Betty’ and ‘America’s Next Top Model’. The line up also includes New York DJ Corey Craig, and some great local talent like DJ Gemma and Candy Bowers of Sista She fame.

Another name on the roll call is Constantina Bush, the brain child of Melbourne based visual artist Kamahi.

“I wouldn’t call myself a drag queen, I’m very careful about that,” says Kamahi. “Drag queens don’t like me using that term, they don’t think I am one and I don’t feel like I am either.” He prefers to sum up Constantina as quite simply, ‘a girl from the bush’.

“She’s from a cattle station. She’s got dreams and aspirations of becoming a showgirl in the big city. In the show, she runs away to Melbourne, and she meets these two girls who are sisters who work in the moonlight district. Together they become Constantina Bush and the Bushettes.”

In Melbourne Kamahi is part of an indigenous GLBT support group called Outblack. “We put on shows every now again. They asked me to do drag for them once, and apparently it was awful. I just didn’t have the craft down.” But he didn’t let that stop him. When he got another chance to perform he jumped at it, but this time he decided to sing live, and in his words ‘she just went off’.

The character’s name was born out of an embarrassing moment in 2006, when Condoleeza Rice was in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games. “We went to a luncheon to meet her and I actually called her Constantina Bush, because I didn’t know any better!” laughs Kamahi. “I didn’t know who she was! It was quite embarrassing really. She didn’t like it at all. She didn’t correct me either!”

Constantina’s show takes old songs from divas like Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone, and changing the words so they’re sung in pigeon English, or creole, which is how Aboriginal people speak in the north. She’s quite naïve, her make up is messy, there are holes in her stockings. It’s also a show with a message.

“My shows aren’t political, but I do mention things like the intervention in them. But I also use comedy, so it’s a way of delivering those messages without people going ‘oh here we go, the guilt trip’.”

Kamahi believes that events like Fierce Ball are important because indigenous Australians are a minority group in their own country.

“You know that phrase ‘a triple threat’, for someone who’s an actor, singer and dancer? Well, what do you call someone who’s black, indigenous on top of that, gay on top of that, or transsexual or transgender? This is our way of educating the masses and saying, ‘hey, we’re proud of what we are. Come and join us and enjoy yourself.’ It’s our way of conveying messages through entertainment instead of preaching.”

According to Shaun Edwards, one of the powerhouses behind House Of Blackstar, Fierce Ball is about so much more than just another dance party.

“Our community as you are aware suffer continuing discrimination based on sexuality and race within our own indigenous groups, the broader society, and also in the gay and lesbian community. This neglect and indifference contributes to significant drug and alcohol related problems, and a growing number of suicides amongst young Aboriginals. Quite simply, these issues devastate our community. Last year we had 8 unnecessary deaths.”

Edwards said that House of Blackstar was set up because the GLBT indigenous community in Sydney not only needed a voice, but they needed a space where they were represented.

“We’re providing a disenfranchised group with pathways that will lead the community from a position of perpetual disadvantage and invisibility, to a place of empowerment, self-acceptance, self-respect and belonging.”

DJ Gemma is one of the DJs playing at the event. She’s an Arab artist, well known about town, with a very significant connection to Arabic music. It’s the first time she’s been invited to play for an indigenous gay event, and she’s says she feels very honoured.

When asked about the set she’ll be playing on the night, she says, “if it makes me feel good, I’ll play it. If it has a message, I want to play it. It has to come from an emotional place. I steer away from playing formulas that are guaranteed to cater for the mainstream. Whatever I am going to play at Fierce Ball it will come from the heart!”

Fierce Ball is on at The Loft Bar UTS, 15 Broadway, Ultimo at 8pm, Saturday February 27. Tickets $40 tickets@houseofblackstar.com

Photos 1 and 2: Constantina Bush, Photo 3: DJ Gemma.