Chooka's got talent

Australia's new musical sensation is 17 years old. That's not unusual. His performance this week on Australia's Got Talent was impressive, earning him a standing ovation and bringing judge Danii Minogue to tears. That's not too unusual. What's really different about Ethan "Chooka" Parker, though, is that all this is new to him. The farmhand from Queensland grew up without a television, CD player or the internet.

Music does run in his family, however. Parker's father is a drummer. At one point, Parker and his brother saved their money and bought a Casio keyboard. Without modern distractions, he had lots of time to teach himself how to play.

Parker got his first CD — of Mozart — when he was cleaning out a house for someone and was told he could keep the disc. "I just became fascinated and read the CD cover for two years until we got a CD player," Parker told the Bendigo Advertiser. He now owns 300 CDs. "We have since started listening to modern music, as we call it: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash."

At age 13, Parker began calling himself "Chooka" because he wanted to be a chicken farmer with a million chooks — an Australian word for "chickens". Last year, he finished his homeschooling and went to shearing school. Friends of his there insisted he perform on the television programme.

"It was a fantastic feeling when I first walked on to the stage," he said. "Apart from some busking six or seven times in town, the only time I had performed was every night for my family." Parker performs only compositions that he makes up himself at the moment.