Tiddas (band)

Australian folk band

Tiddas were an all female folk trio from Victoria, Australia.

Originally the three women, Amy Saunders (a Gunditjmara woman from Portland), Lou Bennett (a Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung woman from Echuca) and Sally Dastey (from West Heidelberg) combined their vocal talents as backing singers for Aboriginal band Djaambi, led by Saunders' brother Richard Frankland in 1990. The group were invited to perform at a musical celebration for women's artistic achievement, 'Hot Jam Cooking', in Richmond, Victoria. Their performance was well received and inspired Ruby Hunter to dub the trio Tiddas, which is Koori for the "sisters". After performing together for over a year the band came to the attention of Paul Petran, host of ABC National Radio show 'Music Deli', who assisted Tiddas to record their debut EP, Inside My Kitchen in 1991. and received two nominations, for 'Best New Talent' and 'Best Indigenous Release', at the ARIA Music Awards of 1993.

Tiddas quickly became live favourites, touring with Sweet Honey in the Rock and Midnight Oil, achieved gold record sales in Australia (35,000 copies sold), National and international tours followed, including several WOMAD concerts. Sing About Life was released in the United States in September 1995, spurring tours of North America and Europe.

In 2018, the trio announced they were reuniting for a one off national tour to celebrate the release of Archie Roach's “lost” album, Dancing with My Spirit, which was recorded in the 1990s and released in April 2018. In August 2019, Tiddas were inducted into the National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame.