Chooka Parker
Ethan “Chooka” James Parker is a contestant on the 2011 season of Australia's Got Talent who has earned instant fame from his audition where he showcased his unique freestyle piano playing talent. The 17-year-old self-taught musician from Red Lion, near Maryborough,Victoria (Australia), is the youngest son of Alan and Kerry Parker, who have an older son Adam.
Ethan received the nick-name "Chooka" at age 11 because he had expressed a desire to become a chicken farmer when he reached adulthood.
Early life
Chooka grew up in a farming family without a television, internet or CD player.[1] Chooka's father taught Chooka to play the drums on an empty can, drumming with his hands.
Chooka was gifted a Mozart CD after helping clear out a house. However, it was over two years before Chooka's family purchased a CD player and Chooka was able to listen to the music. Chooka and his brother Adam saved their money and bought a Casio keyboard. Not having a television or the internet to distract his, Chooka spent many evenings teaching himself to play the keyboard, extending to teaching himself to read music despite only ever playing original scores.
Talent Contest
Chooka entered the Australia's Got Talent television contest whilst still 16 years old after a friend at school, having heard Chooka demonstrate his skill on the Casio keyboard, encouraged Chooka to enter. His audition in front of a large audience and television cameras was Chooka's first time playing the keyboard on stage. Chooka played a unique composition that he composed as he played. The audience reaction was extremely positive, with most people giving Chooka a standing ovation at the end of the performance. The three television show judges also gave very strong praise to Chooka, describing him as a "prodigy" and "in the nicest way possible...a freak". Each of the three judges passed Chooka on to the next round of competition. Later the judges proclaimed that Chooka to be "one of the best talents to ever come out of Australia. The television clip of Chooka's performance has received over 850,000 page views.