This was published 10 years ago
Brisbane composer Ack Kinmonth writes song for Sesame Street
By Georgina Auton
Sesame Street is a part of almost every Australian's childhood, so when Brisbane composer Ack Kinmonth was asked to write a song for the children's TV show he couldn't refuse.
Mr Kinmonth said he was stunned when he was asked to take part in a project that would see him become the first Australian to ever write a full song for Sesame Street.
Brisbane composer Ack Kinmonth and singer Jessica Mauboy worked on a song aired on Sesame Street.Credit: Dave Wallace
“A friend of mine who works for a company called Carbon Media gave me a yell and sort of said look, 'we've got this project for you,'” he said.
Mr Kinmonth was told the project involved a VIP TV show and a VIP singer, and given Carbon Media's creative concept for the song, 5 Kangaroos .
Intrigued, Mr Kinmonth asked for more information, and was told the song was for Sesame Street and the singer was Australia's very own Jessica Mauboy.
Signing on for the project, Mr Kinmonth wrote music and lyrics to fit with Carbon Media's creative concept for the song and video clip, which featured notable aspects of Australian indigenous culture.
“The song has a very indigenous flavour in the music as well as the images,” Mr Kinmonth said.
Mr Kinmonth said he enjoyed working with Jessica Mauboy, saying “it was a really great opportunity because she's the coolest chick ever”.
“She's just the most humble, relaxed, delightful and enthusiastic person I've ever worked with,” he said.
“She's a fantastic ambassador for indigenous culture, so to go over to America and have that on Sesame Street was such a great thing.”
The episode featuring the joint effort from Carbon Media and Ack premiered in Australia yesterday, and Ack said there had been a positive response.
“This has been one of my dreams since I was a kid, because I watched Sesame Street quite frequently and just seeing one of my songs on TV absolutely blew my mind,” Mr Kinmonth said, explaining he had recently begun working with US composers in the hope of breaking further into the the country's market.
“Normally I work in advertising and film, and I'm just making the transition over to TV,” he said.
However, when asked if he could ever see himself moving to the US, he was quick to make it clear that Australia would always be his home.
“I mean, I did write that song from a share house in Paddington, so it's very Queensland,” he said.
“I've been over there [to the US] for business, and I'll probably head over there for a year or two, but you'll always want to come back because Queensland's a heck of a lot nicer than Los Angeles.”
As for the future, Mr Kinmonth plans to record an album with major artists performing his songs.