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OUS PLACE OUR MUSIC
ABORIGINAL STUDIES PRESS Canberra 1989
EDITED BY MARCUS BREEN
OUR PLACE OUR ABORIGINAL MUSIC: AUSTRALIAN POPULAR MUSIC IN PERSPECTIVE VOLUMES
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1989 BY
Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies GPO Box 553, Canberra, ACT 2601
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies 62 1989 Marcus Breen, Chester Schultz, D Leila Kankine, Marylouise Brunton, Doug Petherick, Rosie Ryan and G u y Tunstill Copyright of all song lyrics is held by the authors of the songs Permission to reproduce all song lyrics was sought and obtained, where possible Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA: Our place, our music: Aboriginal music: Australian popular music i n perspective
Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 85575 197 5
111. Aborigines, Australian - Music. 2 Popular music - Australia I Breen, Marcus. 11 Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. 781 7'29915
Editorial assistance for this book was received from the Victorian Ministry for the Arts PART PROCEEDS OF THE SALE OF THIS BOOK WILL SUPPORT THE WORK OF THE
CENTRE FOR ABORIGINAL STUDIES IN MUSIC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
DESIGNED BY Em Squared TYPESET IN Compugraphic Century Schoolbook at Aboriginal Studies Press PRINTED IN AUSTRALIA BY Australian Print Group
FRONT COVER: Major spitit figure from Ingaladdi Site 2, located o n Willeroo Station, Northern Territory. This figure travelled the land, 'singing the country' Tracks o f song which tell of the creation of the land and the deeds of the Ancestors crisscross Australia Photograph by Bob Edwards, courtesy of AIAS BACK COVER:
1 Blowing a conch shell, Saibai Island, Torres Strait Photograph by Emmanuel Angelicas.
2 Elaine Chookie and Charity Mango playing the piano accordian, Mantaka village, Kuranda, Queensland They are singing 'Beautiful Beautiful Queensland' Photograph by Maureen MacKenzie.
3 The Mills Sisters in Torres Strait Photograph by Emmanuel A n g e l i c a
4 Alvin and Ashky, members of the Mantaka band, playing in Kuranda amphitheatre, Queensland Photograph by Maureen MacKenzie. 5 Cherbourg State Primary School childrens band, Queensland Photograph by Robert McFarlane. 6 The Cathedral College Band, at rehearsals, lbrres Strait Photograph by
Emmanuel Angelicas. All photographs courtesy of the Bicentennial Photographic Archive, AIAS.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations Contributors Preface Acknowledgements
PART 1
0UR PLACE, OUR MUSIC Introduction Traditions of the Australians The destruction of Aboriginal culture Naturalising the traditions of the immigrants Missionaries 15, Formal music training 20, Bush ballads 20, Touring company performance 22 Music in a separated community A n old mission Point McLeay 31, A fringe camp Wilcannia 37
PART 2
REGIONAL MUSIC TODAY Aboriginal music around Australia Cape York and the Top End 49, The northwest 54, The western and central desert regions 58, Southwest Western Australia 63, Northern South Australia 65, The Adelaide region 67, The Riverland 73, The eastern outback 74, Queensland 75, New England 78, Sydney 79, Melbourne 82, Western Victoria 88, Tasmania 89 Some distinctive features of Aboriginal music
PART 3
BREAKING DOWN THE WALL? Recent political developments Exile, embassy and home fire Exile 107, Embassy 109, Home fire 111 New style musicians Some general remarks Looking in from outside: images in mainstream culture Looking to the future: black and white keys Bibliography Dis~0graphj7 Index
viii ix xi xiii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
viii
Torres Strait Island skin drum Ernabella Girls Choir The Warlpiri Easter Purlapa Mrs Nora Whitehead with performers in the Adelaide Aboriginal orchestra Gumleaf players at Lake Tyers, Victoria Ballad writer Bob Randall Songwriter/vocalist Jim Chi Pitjantjatjara songwriter Isaac Yama Poetlmusician Leila Rankine and her daughter, singer/ flautistlpianist Veronica Rankine Pianist Dora Hunter Cabaret singer Val Power Mantaka band performing in Kuranda amphitheatre, North Queensland Members of the Country Outcasts Melbourne band Hard Times Gayle Rankine teaches at a music workshop in Redfern, Sydney CASM singing group at the fourth National Aboriginal Country Music Festival at Taperoo, Adelaide in 1979 School children sing inma with Pitjantjatjara elder Minyungu Baker and CASM administrator Ben Yengi Members of the Melbourne band Hard Times and Broome band Kuckles at CASM in 1981 Tenor Harold Blair teaching at Melba Conservatorium, about 1957 The band No Fixed Address in 1983 Rock band Us Mob in 1980 Allan Moarywaalla Barker, singerlsongwriter of Port Hedland, in 1987 The band No Fixed Address in 1988 A public performance of the tribal component of Urban Corroboree
MARCUS BREEN
Editor of Missing in Action Australian Popular Music in Perspective, Volume 1, he is an executive committee member of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, and works as a freelance journalist and documentary film maker in Melbourne MARYLOUISE BRUNTON
A postgraduate student of Aboriginal music living in Adelaide, she has been a field worker of Aboriginal music in the southeast of Australia, together with her husband Ken DOUG PETHERICK
As well as making frequent guest appearances on the children's television program 'Here's Humphrey', he is a professional bassist/guitarist, a teacher at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music since 1980 and was for several years an announcer and producer at Radio 5UV, Adelaide D LEILA RANKINE
A Ngarrindjeri from Point McLeay on Lake Alexandrina, SA, a poet, public speaker, singer and former trombone player, she was chairperson of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music from 1976 to 1986 She has been a member of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council and currently is involved in Aboriginal education in Adelaide ROSIE RYAN
She is an announcer at public radio station 5MMM-FM in Adelaide CHESTER SCEULTZ
A contemporary music composer, pianist and conductor, who learned Pitjantjatjara music at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) a t the University of Adelaide. He is a graduate of the history department of that university and also of its music department, having specialised in composition and ethnomusicology, and has taught at CASM GUY TUNSTILL
Coordinator of tribal singing studies at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music, he is an ethnomusicologist who currently teaches in the music department at the University of Adelaide, specialising in Pitjantjatjara music
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
IN A COMMUNAL EFFORT LIKE this one my debt to others is immense My wife Elizabeth gave me the emotional and financial support without which this work could not have been completed She also did some of the typing Vast amounts of typing and retyping were done freely by Wendy Shepherd and Heather Pound. The Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) provided its telephone for many interstate calls. Many thanks to the army of people who gave me information and other help: Wayne Bynder, Jim Everett, Ian Johnson, Henry Thorpe, Andrew Donnelly, Sonja Arnolds, Dr Jeremy Beckett, Rev Jack Goodluck, Rev Bill Edwards, Howard Groome, Ted Egan, Philip Battye, Rod Gooch, Bill Davis, Grace Koch of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS); Jan Gaynor, Brigitte "fang and the late Candy Williams of the Aboriginal Artists Agency (AAA); and a large number of CASM students of 1983-84, who are acknowledged in the text Thanks also to Dr Graham Jenkin, Slim Dusty, Frank Djirrimbilbilwuy, Bob Randall, Cherie Watkins, Peter Butler, Gayle Rankine, Lise Jones, Mike Fisher; Chris Brooks, Jane Branford and the Aboriginal and Islander Media Service; and the Australian Music Centre, the 'fasmanian Aboriginal Centre in Hobart, Marion Granich of Abmusic in Perth, Stephen Watkins and Ron Nicholls Thanks to all the song writers who gave permission to quote their work, thereby enlivening the book Thanks also to Mrs P Stanner and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for permission to quote her late husband, and to Dr Jeremy Beckett, Jack Davis, Mrs Dorothy Blair, Mushroom Music and Quadrant for permission to quote Thanks also to the people who made helpful comments on the first draft, many of which have been incorporated: Vi Chitty, Sonny Flynn, Grace Koch and the editor Marcus Breen (may his patience be rewarded) Finally my warm gratitude to Leila, Guy, Mary, Doug and Rosie for their time and effort in writing, rewriting, being interviewed, reading, rereading and lending interminably And to Cath and Max Ellis for the groundwork on which we at CASM are all building.
Chester Schultz
Exeter,South Australia July 1988
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PART ONE
OUR PLACE, OUR MUSIC
OUR PLACE, OUR MUSIC
I live in Australia, I would hate to live anywhere else but our place. I would miss the sounds the beautiful mingling musical sounds of m y people's voices. At our place. (Jack Davis, Western Australian Aboriginal poet, actor, dramatist, author)'
INTRODUCTION CHESTER: We hear a lot about the search for an Australian identity in music and in other fields To many outsiders, though not to many Australians, it seems strange that until very recently this search ignored the music of the original Australians Section 127 of the Federal Constitution of 1901 laid down the principle with disarming simplicity: ' Aboriginal natives shall not be counted' This referred literally to the Census and symbolically to every area of social policy and practice of the white invaders Even the collective label of 'Aborigines' along with 'Indians' was applied to the indigenous peoples of all British colonies and so it denies them their rightful name, 'the Australians' If ignorance was one cause of this, ignorance has also resulted from it The 227,645 Aboriginal people, who make up 143 per cent of the population, are a minority in their own land and are alternately ignored or have whites endlessly passing judgements on them, while never meeting them 3 The material gathered here makes an effort to correct this situation as it applies to music The days have now come when we can hear Aboriginal voices that have been suppressed and ignored for too long LEILA: It's very important that we include background information about the social history of the people because so much of our music relates to it You can't just pick up a tape, play it and think that you know everything there is to be known about it; especially with tribal music, but also with non-tribal music When I was growing up, one didn't speak about things that went wrong politically or socially because we didn't have the voices or the contacts to make it possible My Dad often said to us kids: 'If something is done wrong, you can't raise your voice and speak out If you do, you'll be pressured with a second
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punishment .' We had the law of the land (the police law) over us and then the law laid down by the Aborigines Protection Board-a double-barrelled system! In my generation we found it much easier to sing about a problem because we were less likely t o get punished, whereas if you stood up on a soapbox and said your piece, then bang! You had government departments or whoever knocking at your door. It's only in recent years that things are being spoken about because the political scene is different; young Aborigines are being educated to a different level and t h e composers and writers feel they must tell about the kind of situations we grew up in CHESTER: To understand Aboriginal society and music it is necessary to know what they are changing from We know this in t h e case of our European culture but not in the case of most things Aboriginal We also want to dispel the myth that Aborigines are a uniform mass, all the same, as their given name suggests They are not, nor is their music Australia is a big place and we can distinguish many quite different Aboriginal social groups There are the tribal people, still living on their traditional land in basically traditional ways; cattle station communities, living alternately or simultaneously in a tribal and a pastoral economy; t h e settlement people on government or church missions, containing a mixture of clans, so that tribal culture can no longer operate and is replaced by white institutionalisation; the fringe dwellers in slums ostracised from small country towns; and city people, a fairly self-contained subculture in suburban houses and institutions, or sometimes in fringe camps Each category is likely to be significantly different in the north and the south of the continent We avoid the distinction between 'authentic' and 'inauthentic' Aboriginal cultural elements We also avoid the distinction between 'full bloods' and 'half castes' These categories are too often used by whites to deny recognition to some group who are supposedly not 'real*Aborigines Such preconceived notions, which amount to prejudices, imply that the only Aborigine worth counting is some romanticised tribal person, who is at best caged within the currently approved definitions of the anthropologists and at worst is imaginary; while the majority of actual Aborigines are not 'traditional' and not worth counting Aboriginal people must and will judge their own authenticity, without much white help We colonists, living on the cultural offcuts of Europe and America, have our own identity problems too It is a huge task to outline the history and current state of Aboriginal music over a continent far bigger than Europe, where eighty per cent of whites live in the few big cities and eighty per cent of Aborigines don't, where the population centres are separated by huge distances and where different Aboriginal regions still have little contact with each other. We must emphasise that this book
OUR PLACE OUR MUSIC
5
has hardly begun this task, much less finished it There are large gaps, in both places and people For information we have relied on the Aboriginal and white people connected with the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) in Adelaide, making this very much a view from the south But we have supplemented that with a lot of reading, letters and telephone conversations with Aboriginal organisations and individuals around the country It is especially hard to get information about the older musicians without spending huge amounts of time interviewing them in the places where they live In this respect the material that follows is seriously unbalanced Younger musicians get more publicity and so we tend to hear more about them We know how little we know; but then nobody else knows the whole picture in any detail The sooner we see a deluge of regional accounts to focus and correct this account, the better However, they will need to be historical as well as up to date, for young musicians have not sprung out of a vacuum
TRADITIONS OF THE AUSTRALIANS Before white contact there was a wealth of Aboriginal cultural groups, reflected in a wealth of musical styles; this is still the case today, even if we consider only the living tribal traditions To have Aborigines demonstrate and talk about their music is worth more than any image these pages can evoke This is rarely possible for the average Australian There is a recognisable 'central' or 'desert' style which is nearly always sung by groups in unison, accompanied only by dancing and the beat Short snatches of singing ('verses'), lasting about thirty seconds each, consist of several repeats of a short string of words using the same rhythm at each repeat The melodic outline is rather like the trail of a falling leaf, ever descending though occasionally swept up by a gust of wind as the group takes a new breath, coming to rest on the 'ground' of a repeated 'tonic' note Each verse of a given series has the same tune Desert music is less known to the public than northern music because the people are less prepared to publicise it The tropical northern division covers the Top End (including Arnhem Land), the northwest the Kimberleys and the Pilbara and Cape York Peninsula, and is musically very diverse Melodies may be of large range and descending, or of small range and undulating, and change from verse to verse more commonly than in the desert The words of the verse can form a loop as in the desert style, or present new phrases from beginning to end There are solo songs as well as GUY:
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OUR PLACE OUR MUSIC
PLATE 1
Tbrres Strait Islanders repairing a drum head; the snakeskin head is tuned with knobs of wax Photograph by P McFarlane.
choral; unaccompanied, or accompanied by clapsticks and didjeridu The didjeridu was originally restricted to Arnhem Land but has now spread to the Kimberleys and the Gulf of Carpentaria It is played in various styles; that of northeast Arnhem Land being more rhythmically dense and using the overtone 'hoot'; that of western Anthem Land slower and using hummed notes Yet another distinctive instrument is the rasp used on the northwest coast of Western Australia CHESTER: The music of the Tiwi people on Bathurst and Melville Islands off Darwin is quite different from anything on the mainland It features handclapping, a long falsetto opening trill and fast syllabic singing on one or two high notes The Torres Strait Island musicians off the northern tip of Queensland
OUR PLACE O U R MUSIC
7
are different again Reflecting influences from New Guinea and t h e Pacific, they use skin drums, seed pod rattles and some harmonisation in thirds Cape York Aborigines are the only others to use skin drums For the regional styles which are no longer practised, we can only speculate from a few documentary traces The temperate southeastern crescent of Australia, where settlement has lasted longest and been heaviest, appears to have had a style of its own The folded leaf whistle (possibly the only tribal instrument which continued in use through the process of detribalisation) and a bone and reed pipe, were reported to have come from the Murray River area Melodies seem to have been both descending and undulating, with varying degrees of rhythmic strictness Tasmania may have had yet another separate style Despite these broad divisions and the multitude of substyles, tribal Australian musical traditions are obviously more related to each other than to anything outside the continent However, Australian ethnomusicologists are far behind their linguistic counterparts in characterising the uniqueness of traditional Aboriginal music We can attempt to describe some general attributes Aboriginal tribal music is primarily vocal, though there are a few cases of purely instrumental forms Two examples are didjeridu solos in the north and songless sacred performances in the centre, in which dramatic acts are accorded reverent silence, broken only by the beating together of boomerangs or of a stone shield on the ground 7 Nearly all tribal instruments are percussive and are used for regular beating such as: handclapping, body slapping, paired boomerangs, thumping the ground with a stick, stamping while dancing, and striking together paired song sticks In the centre and the north the bullroarer and a rapid 'roll' of boomerangs are used The vocal melodies typically start high and loud, descending to a reiterated low soft note and are set to an intricate rhythm GUY:
This vocal rhythm is most often syllabic (one note to a syllable) As in much jazz influenced pop music, such as in Cat Stevens's work, or on an even simpler level, The Beatles's 'Eleanor Rigby', the words often produce their own 'additive rhythm' independently, resulting in a polyrhythm when combined with the regular beat Isorhythm is common in the centre: the same recurring rhythm is sung to new pieces of the tune The beat itself is usually nonmetrical: it does not group into threes or fours, but just goes on for the duration of the melody CHESTER:
A musical tradition is defined not just by what it sounds like, but by the way it is used and what its users perceive it to be Right across Australia several features of this kind are typical Firstly, it is orally transmitted-unwritten, committed to memory and taught directly by and in performance Secondly, it GUY:
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OUR PLACE OUR MUSIC
is communal; the concern of every individual in the group More often than not it needs communal effort to produce it, though there is a class of more specialised performers recognised in the north The idea of a nonparticipating audience is as foreign to it as the idea of mechanical recordings At an open song session, everybody is there taking part in some way, young and old, men and women, children and babes-in-arms, and there are always the dogs Thirdly, it pervades economic, social and spiritual life to an extent that is unique among contemporary musics Its casual style of execution combines with intense attitudes and in my experience, expresses something fundamental about the human condition It is a music which comes from the earth and 'talks to the gods' CHESTER: An enormous amount of time was devoted traditionally to ceremonial life and the music bound up with it This is still the case Contrary to popular belief, tribal Aborigines did not live a hand to mouth life at brute level, not even in the deserts They spent fewer hours than average Europeans gathering and preparing food in an ordinary season.8They filled the rest of the time with law, ceremony and elaborate relationships with kin-all expressed through the arts and especially music GUY: The songs are also graded according to sacredness, secrecy and ownership, as determined by their function within the Dreaming At one end of the scale are the communal songs extolling the deeds of one or more totemic ancestors of the Dreaming CHESTER: The Dreaming, o r Dreamtime, is a term almost interchangeable with the Aboriginal expression, 'the Law' It is the old time out of ordinary time, during which the ancestral beings travelled and shaped amorphous materials into the definitive forms of the world-physical, ecological, social and moral Thus it is the absolute norm for life today Its power remains available in the natural features of the earth in which the ancestral beings now live This power can be evoked by the appropriate songs Aboriginal Christians have noted the overlap of this majestic perception with that of the Jewish-Christian creator-God and his Holy Spirit GUY: Performers say that the essence of a particular ancestor, say the Mountain Devil Lizard, is presented in the melody which is common to all verses Through the change of words and rhythm, verses depict the flow of events and places that the ancestral Lizard effects CHESTER: Thus the music is permanently tied to particular local waterholes, rocks, animals, plants and the like Songs are also maps There is a spiritual connection with the land which is not a mere sentimentality It is knowledge acquired by a community which may have lived in a particular region continuously for at least 40,000 years (as prehistorians now suppose), while the
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whole history of the discontinuous literate civilisations has occupied only about 5,000 years GUY: These 'holy' songs are said to be primordial and the authors are totemic ancestors, not human beings They are handed down carefully in a system of age-graded musical education, which at all levels is a medium for religious knowledge and attitude, including history and law In the higher reaches it is revelation, attainable only by first passing the prerequisite lower stages To be able to sing the appropriate parts of the repertoire is essential if any child is to eventually take his or her place in society Some of the repertoire is shared by all, but some is the sternly protected secret of a particular group, defined by sex, clan, or stage of maturity Songs regulate and instruct every stage of a person's life They are used when boys are initiated into manhood and they unite, for example, all men descended from the ancestral Kangaroo and increase the kangaroo population when sung at specific sacred sites Ownership of certain songs proves ownership or custody of certain lands Songs sung by women for love magic or childbirth are kept secret from men All these songs are meticulously preserved by their custodians The Adelaide set of recordings from the Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and Antikirinya, begun in the 1960s by the Ellises, shows great constancy in structure over twenty years and Cath Ellis postulates absolute pitch and absolute tempo in this musical community Thus songs have changed only very slowly and are unlikely to disappear. Even if a clan temporarily ceased to exist corporately, its ceremonial 'managers' from neighbouring clans would preserve the songs as unenacted memories, waiting to teach them to new clan members However, Aborigines did not merely perpetuate a fixed musical tradition They could add to it fresh composition, especially in the north, where Arnhem Land has a semiprofessional class of composers Most new songs belong at the open end of the secrecy scale; they are songs used for entertainment, gossip, or personal solace and made by recognised individual composers (the gunborg of western Arnhem Land and the tabi [djabi] of the Kimberleys, for instance) These songs sometimes contain only nonsense syllables They will never become sacred and may be forgotten after a few years' use, or the performing rights sold to another singer Most song creation is by the agency of 'dreaming', where the dreamer finds the new work or is given it by the spirit powers This is why even the non-secret songs are still sacred in most casesJO c~~STER:Aboriginal music in pre-colonial times was already developing in response to new influences For about four centuries, traders and fishermen from Macassar in Indonesia would spend several months each year on Australia's northern coasts and Aboriginal song, dance and artwork came to use foreign
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elements Cape York Peninsula music has clearly responded to influences from New Guinea and the Pacific GUY: The tabi and gossip songs are particularly suitable for incorporating fresh experiences LEILA: The Tiwi and others along the Top End have mimes about the crocodile a n d the brolgas, but also about the bombing of Darwin and Bathurst Island by t h e Japanese and a very comical one about the modern day young man trying his first cigarette GUY: Also at Indulkana, a Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara community, we have seen two new ceremonies One, tyukuta, seems wholly traditional a n d sacred in theme, but has a melody with unusual rising passages and almost the same rhythm in every verse It is recognised as newly and individually 'dreamed' The other is mintipayi (Mintabie) or upula (opal) and appears to take an old melody for new words about fossicking at the nearby Mintabie opal fields CHESTER: New songs are often called 'fun songs' to distinguish them from more sacred forms They may use contact words adapted from the language of the new people and the vocal sound and scale patterns begin to swing towards European styles For example, a fun song was taught at CASM in 1974 by Mona Tur, an Antikirinya (Western Desert) woman who now lives in Adelaide It was in desert style except for a major scale and told of an old woman making a kapati (cuppa) and her husband plumping down tjiangka (in a chair)." The white public perceives tribal arts as 'primitive', 'simple', 'exotic' and so on When there is talk of preserving them, the image seems to be that of specimens pickled in methylated spirits Photographs usually show a supposedly 'typical' artist of a particular language group; a specimen of something anthropologicalperforming an example of something else anthropological His name is not given, though his personal fame may be wide among Aboriginal people A white artist however, is captioned and distinguished as Sutherland, Skyhooks, or Slim Dusty rather than 'a typical Anglo-Australian popular singer' There are no 'primitive' arts, except as a prejudice On one of his teaching visits to Adelaide, Billy Mungie of Indulkana said: 'We will only teach one song because they do not understand They do not pick it up quickly enough' He said this of university music students' efforts to learn a few verses of songs he would teach to tribal eight-year-oldsJ2 mm: It's only very recently, since tribal tours have gone overseas and interest has developed there, that Australians have realised that here is a music that has an important place among other musics. It's complex and not as simple as has been suggested It is very important to us as a people We urban Aboriginal
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people have to allow ourselves to be almost taken over by it, and listen to it with new ears Then it becomes almost a soul music-the sound of the didjeridu, the clapsticks, the boomerang, the thumping of the feet, and the resonant sound of the women pounding their laps It all makes up a very deep sensuous kind of music It becomes a thing of pride and joy You suddenly realise: 'Hey, here's something that's great, something we can be proud of' It's Aboriginal music It shows that we aren't just people sitting in creekbeds or drinking in the city squares It's certainly not a 'dying specimen' It's not something to hang your head in shame about It comes from the earth It's not a dying music, it's rising, rising from the ashes It's a positive contribution to the Australian music scene, one culture of many, but it's ours
THE DESTRUCTION OF ABORIGINAL CULTURE CHESTER: While Aboriginal societies were coping easily with t h e Macassans and the occasional European voyager, they were already receiving bad press reports which prepared western consciences for the guilt that would follow. 'The inhabitants of this Country are the miserablest People in the World The Hod&& for Wealth are Gentlemen to these They differ but little from Brutes', wrote pirate William Dampier after meeting some Bardi people in 1688.13 The arrival of Empire Man, not to visit, but first to 'take possession' in 1770 and then to take over, was a very new experience The history of Australia from 1788 until now is the history of an invasion on one frontier after another. Empire Man, like Western man generally, had an apparently limitless ability t o absorb others with a three-fold package deal: his high religion of science; his powerful magic of technology, efficiently imposing his will on land and people; and his enticing moral dispensation of economics, offering ease for cash These things, rather than Christianity, have been the overarching features of white Australia and its frontiers The violence of the colonial frontiers has been so thoroughly hushed up or forgotten that many still deny its prevalence despite published evidence. And yet it isn't in the school text books Amnesia is aided by the fact that since all Aborigines had been declared British subjects on British land, there were no official wars or invasions, therefore no treaties or land deals Native resistance to any legally approved expansion was and is legally seen as internal lawlessness, rather than disputes over territorial sovereignty Armed resistance has mostly been misinterpreted as base treachery and animal caprice, or else forgotten Some say
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this was 'all in the past and should be forgotten' But ignorance of our real history will make us more likely t o repeat it: 'Well look at you, man, you look so clean, hut there are bloodstains, I know where you've been' (from 'Survive' by Ronnie Ansell of Us Mob)14
Most of the early frontiers built their futures on the roughest elements of Europeanism: mastery by right of superior weapons, grog, an individualistic greed rarely restrained by social or religious loyalties, and racism Eminent professors confirmed t h a t Aboriginal ritual is 'eminently crude and savage performed by naked howling savages'.15 Evolutionist ideas about survival of the fittest reassured u s that Aborigines were not really human a n d that Europeans had the right t o clear them out of the way like the trees and the blowflies These ideas, and with them the Aboriginal bad press, have survived well: Our pioneers made this country what it is today Apart from a few nasal sounds accompanied by clanging sticks and the puffing and blowing on a didgeridoo and some occasional ochre paintings with a few dreamtime legends tossed in, what have the Aboriginals contributed to Australia?16
Confronted by force, ignorance and arrogant contempt, by t h e sheer weight of white numbers, by new authorities replacing the old, and by the illusory hope of white man's ease, the music and its embodied authority, power and cohesion were wounded, often to death Morale declined, often related to introduced diseases Aboriginal people were dispersed from the places where songs ought to be sung, often by direct prohibition of performances or by the death of too many of the song owners The songs could no longer be passed o n As an initiated Flinder Ranges man said in the 1960s: We see everybody going to the pack boys and even girls-they just do what they like The old people that went through the rules, they know better. White fellas interfered in our rules, stopping us from doing our corroborees No songs-no rules."
Change a tightly integrated society at any point and everything changes As land was taken over for development (by force where necessary), tribes were dispersed from their hunting grounds and initiation sites This is still happening Christian missions often used dormitory sanctions to forbid the local language and ceremonies, although missions were also crucial in enabling many groups to survive physically. School classes, though often requested by communities, still operate in anti-traditional ways with a high value on competition, questioning and non-traditional skills They also help to keep the children away from tribal song events and give time and approval only to Western musicJ8
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Food increase songs may be abandoned because a government store means an assured food supply If a totemic species becomes extinct, as many have because of European activity, then the associated ceremony is abandoned CHESTER: Welfare and political organisations, adopted perforce by traditional groups as protection, also break down traditional social patterns The universal result of frontier conditions has been to change autonomous communities to institutions-managed reserves, government or missionary settlements, or fringe camps and urban ghetto suburbs controlled by officials of the local church, housing and welfare committees Here, identity, leadership and initiative come hard and politics takes the form of 'inmates versus management', with resistance based on a very efficient grapevine, skills of avoidance and kinship support Thus the adaptability of Aboriginal music has been strained immensely In many areas, this has been beyond breaking point The responses have varied In Cape York societies, elders deliberately allow some traditional songs to be rearranged in the island style which is popular among young people, in an effort to keep them interested in the traditions19 GUY: If some new things can be incorporated into existing musical categories, songs can actually help people to cope with drastic change Ranald Allan tells how in 1978 a songman in northeastern Arnhem Land 'sang for walls, doorways, taps and showers', enshrining elements of the foreign culture in traditional song and so rendering them less disruptive-just as his predecessors did with Macassan culture CHESTER: Sometimes such new songs may preserve some embarrassing pieces of history, like the story about Aboriginal chain gangs rounded up by police and forced to work, sung by Dickie Skinner of Noonkanbah Where there is some balance between white and black populations, Aboriginal people and especially children, are often bi-musical, singing with equal fluency their own tribal songs and popular white songs or hymns in English, learned probably at school A genre of 'contact songs' also develops, possibly of unknown white origin but now sung with a variety of words by Aboriginal people as fun songs or children's play songs Some of these are well known across the Top End and are easily recognisable because they 'sound like a folk song' in the old European sense They have major or pentatonic scale patterns, balanced phrase lengths and undulating tunes with some wide intervals but no complex rhythms There are usually no harmonies or implied harmonies and the songs are accompanied, if at all, only by traditional rhythm instruments Some come from t h e Torres Strait Islands, notably Thba Naba Norem ('Let's Go To the Reef') Contact songs and a few of the fun songs are the only tribal songs which white people will find easy to sing accurately They are bright and attractive and deserve publication in the GUY:
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original languages (with pronunciation guides) plus reasonably accurate and singable English translations 22 GUY: These examples show that given the chance to adjust rather than be bowled over, tribal Aboriginal musicians are capable of moving with the times If they are able to maintain a belief in their society, they will continue to believe in their music CHESTER: Tribal music is flourishing in several regions, adapting and growing, rather than dying However, the wounding continues and the young tend to be lured away by radios and cassette players and soon by satellite television, even in the remotest communities Olive Yunkaporta of Aurukun says: The young have to be prepared to do the hard work needed to learn the ceremony songs and dances But most of them only want to learn the American style country and western music from cassette tapes I won't let them learn our traditional songs that way 23 Beckett's report on Wilcannia in 1958 describes the other side: 'The younger generation don't like to hear these songs They giggle and say it makes them feel "shamed" "We're like white folks now," they say'24The same feeling is applied to older forms of non-tribal songs in English Moreover, staff at CASM have difficulty in getting Aboriginal musicians to maintain or even mention their own regional folksong and ballad repertoire after they move to the city The situation today has been moulded by recent changes in demographics 26 By the early 1930s,the Aboriginal population was down to a little over 70,000 from an estimated 300,000(more recent studies indicate 750,000) in 1788 With an appalling infant mortality rate and disease epidemics in many areas in the 1930s and 1940s, the teachers of old tradition were decimated Many Aboriginal communities were in situations of disaster. Only in the 1950s did the population begin to grow again It is now growing two and a half times as fast as the non-Aboriginal population But in many regions, it has only slender links with many of the traditions and bonds that were strong forty years ago and it has to build on very small foundations, simultaneously fighting the destructive effects of urbanisation Groups are lured away from weakening local communities, separated from their few old people and come into the bright lights where the universal fantasy is to be young, beautiful, rich, independent, modem, white and free Old age, custom, kinship and most kinds of ethic, except that of consumption, are 'giggles' in the city, which tribal people often compare to an ant hill But the queen ant of our symbiotic lives is now a machine which dispassionately eats alive whatever does not serve its blind progress. It remains to be seen whether the catch cry of self-determination will slow down this progress enough to prevent more Dreamtime being replaced by alcohol
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NATURALISING THE TRADITIONS OF THE IMMIGRANTS CHESTER: The music introduced on the nineteenth century frontiers can be classified as Christian mission music, formal music training, bush folk culture and the commercial music of the touring shows We will look at each of these in turn, tracing some of their effects on Aboriginal music making
MISSIONARIES
CHESTER: Some nineteenth century missionaries were strong advocates for Aboriginal rights and probably, as a whole, had a greater respect for Aboriginal people than the average white settler. Nevertheless, they were products of their time, as we are of ours Anthropological jargon had not been invented The distinction between the gospel and the package deal including white language, music and lifestyle, had not been formulated Christian theology had always taught that all cultures are dominated by the world's darkness The missionaries, though familiar with the idea that tribal culture was demonic and something to keep converts away from, rarely thought of applying the same idea to British culture Aboriginal traditions increased the problem: if you believed in a new Dreaming, you did not try to integrate it with the old one, you did it 'the right way', as demonstrated by the lives of the missionaries This was the case even if you continued many of the old traditions side by side with new Christian ones, as in the Central Desert and Arnhem Land Different missions passed on their own denominational traditions: Lutheran, Catholic, Presbyterian, and Anglican MARY: The Lutherans followed the European tradition of cathedral singing: slow congregational chorales such as 'A Mighty Fortress is our God', often in choral parts Originally these were designed to be accompanied by organ or small orchestra, but in the early days of missions they were sung unaccompanied CHESTER: Various other denominations introduced the standard English hymn repertoire Far more widespread and long lasting than these in its impact on Aboriginal people was the repertoire introduced by the conservative evangelicals, whose presence dominated the mission scene in many parts of Australia Most of the interdenominational missions were conservative evangelical in style They sang the urban gospel music of the missions which were led in the 1870s by Dwight L Moody and the evangelistic songster, Ira D Sankey, first in the USA and then in the UK These were missions to the working class poor Their hymn style, inspired by the importance of the spirituals in the earlier American revivals, was adapted from the music hall ballad and often had an easy repetitive
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Ernabella Girls Choir performing in Emabella Church, 1980 Photograph courtesy of Bill Edwards.
chorus for singing along The words emphasised deeply personal emotions of 'lostness' o r peace and often included the straightforward nostalgia of the household ballads Most Protestant denominations came to draw on this large repertoire for their missions to the masses or the poor, including Aborigines For some black and white churches it continues to be a staple diet, together with other hymns added by later international evangelistic missions in an intentionally similar style The standard books are Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos, Alexander's Hymns No 3 and t h e 1958 Billy Graham Crusade Songs LEILA: At Point McLeay they still sing songs like 'Showers of Blessing', 'Rock of Ages', 'Pass Me Not, 0 Gentle Saviour' and 'Old Rugged Cross' CHESTER: Harmonic part singing, both improvised and formally conducted, became not only familiar to Aborigines, but a much loved tradition on most Aboriginal missions Distinct Aboriginal styles of hymn singing developed A Point McLeay rendition of 'Showers of Blessing' is quite different from those I know in white churches The tempo is very slow (so that 618 turns into two bars of 3/4), the key is low to accommodate deep women's voices, and the pianist is playing by ear, even with the hymn book open on the stand At Ernabella in the Centre, the tribal people sing standard hymn tunes (among others) in their own language, unaccompanied, in four part harmony as taught by successive
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superintendent choirmasters They feature the sharp high nasal tones of Pitjantjatjara tribal music In 1980, 'God Be With You Till We Meet Again' was their farewell to supporters as their bus drove off from the historic land rights meeting on Adelaide's central race course People related to the hymns at times when something had happened; the passing of a loved one, or a joyous occasion, singing in a soulful way It was the manner in which we sang that made them really meaningful t o the people involved Even today the hymns are sung in the same fashion, according to whatever's being celebrated at the time We've accepted them as part of our cultural heritage, I guess, especially those of us who grew up in the urban areas with no traditional background LEILA:
CHESTER: As popular styles have changed, so have hymn styles There is now a big tradition of guitar accompanied gospel songs which are heavily influenced by American country and western and gospel music of the twentieth century-songs like 'Royal Telephone', or 'Have Faith, Hope and Charity' There are also much simpler ones of the Scripture in Song variety, like 'Rejoice in the Lord Always' A lot of the old Sankey numbers are easily adaptable to the style Apart from favourite Christmas hymns, standard English hymns are not well represented in Gospel Favourites Along the Murray, a publication used by the recently formed black church-the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship (AEF) 27 MARK In 1981 we met a few Aboriginal composers of sacred songs in the southeast Annie Koolmateri was one, of whom we'll speak later. There were two Ross brothers in the Deniliquin area of Victoria, where the Salvation Army was strong, who composed with guitar strumming accompaniment Some folk hymns are still current only among Aboriginal communities 'He Sends the Rainbow' is widely known in South Australia and western Victoria It is sung in English and repeated in the local language All the singers we heard claimed that it was translated by a missionary in their district and that they learned it as children in Sunday School
CHESTER:
He He He He
It is an Alexander-style chorus, with large expressive leaps:
sends the rainbow, the loverly rainbow, sends the rainbow with the rain sends the sunshine upon the shadow, sends the rainbow with the rain
But now there are new winds blowing in Aboriginal churches in many parts of the country GUY- As they gain control over their own affairs, tribal Aborigines are slowly beginning to indigenise their Christian beliefs by using traditional idioms,
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Part of the Warlpiri Easter Purhpa at Ywndumu, 1987: Wangkajalparla Kajanyanuju Wapirrakuju (Jesus prayed to the Father) Wearing whitefeathers, Jesus is alone in the garden of Getbemane as hefaces crucifixion On the rock is painted a cross, which is used as a prop. Photograph by Noel Bachelor.
not just translating hymns into the vernacular but including ceremonial music and dance The main conservatives are now the Aboriginal congregations themselves, which tend to stick closely to the ways of the non-Aboriginal ministers of old CHESTER: %H Strehlow reported in 1978 that Christians of the Western Aranda at Hermannsburg in the Northern Territory, did not mind their sons being initiated because tribal religious training began several years after initiation It was this training to which black Christians would object.29 GUY: During Easter 1978, southern Warlpiri Christians presented an Easter corroboree at Yuendumu It was done in traditional style, with all the features of a tribal song series, with body painting, ground designs, singing and dancing Each verse described an event in the Passion story Warlpiri groups from further north, from Warrabri and Hooker Creek (where a Christian corroboree had already been composed) came by invitation and learned the ceremony A Walrnatjeri group from Fitzroy Crossing, far away in the Kimberleys, was also invited Although they could not understand the language, they were able to follow the story from the dancing and design and learn some of the verses, just as the old ceremonies could cross language barriers 30
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In 1988 the Warlpiri churches in Lajamanu and Yuendumu, at their own expense, took their 'One Family purlapa' (corroboree) t o several cities as a bicentennial gift These people, many of them close relatives of the victims of the Coniston massacre, expounded in traditional song and dance the words of St Paul about reconciliation: CHESTER:
nyuyu maninjarla mardarni kangalpa jintangkajuku Wapirraluju Having brought us together, God has one family maru kardirri mardarni kangalpa jintangkajuku Wapirralwu Black and white, God has one family %
kuruwarriwangu kuruwarrikirii mardarni kangalpa jintangkajuku
-
Wapirraluju Those with law and those without law, God has one family
,.
\
hi'\
*+
,,J? ¥
,.
yk;kk$
(3 +V some of.&te women at
Rev Bill Edwards wrote in 1971 that Ernabella sang the Christmas story 'to traditional rhythms' 31 ~nterestinusing traditional music for Christian purposes gradually developed in the various Pitjantjatjara communities Eight years later a related group of older women at Mimili presented the story, straight from the Pitjantjatjara gospel translation, to the maku (witchetty grub) melody 32 Everything about these songs is traditional apart from the 'new tradition' content They tell of long ago events that are revered today; they are formed by their composers in a dream; they are (at least among the Warlpiri) accompanied by dramatic 'sets', dancing and body designs Wilf Douglas, a missionary and linguist at Kalgoorlie, formerly of Warburton, writes of a blind Walrnatjeri elder at Fitzroy Crossing, who was encouraged by a missionary to write a chorus 'using traditional music' and followed it with 'a whole book of songs which became very popular' 33 CHESTER: Rev Jack Goodluck, parish minister on Croker Island in the 1960s, writes of Arnhem Land tribal churches: GUY
Occasionally, with pushing from missionary people (for example on Goulburn Island), Aboriginal churchmen would create an 'Easter corroboree' or similar event, but once performed these seem to have been forgotten They did not arise spontaneously and they did not become part of the living body of church music George Winunguj of Goulburn Island introduced sticks and didjeridu into church music at Warawi about 1970 This was seen as fairly revolutionary, more so t o the Aboriginals than to white churchmen The younger generation, as represented by the young adult, leadership of the 'new life movement' stemming from Elcho Island (Galiwin'ku), made much use of guitars Elcho had developed several guitar groups, including electric with vocals, and taken concert tours through the outback, before the 'revival' Singing and guitar playing
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became very important to the 'fellowship' meeting six nights a week, after the 'revival' The most fascinating traditional feature of this is the 'song cycle' form that singing takes Everyone sings for up to an hour without stopping to announce what is to be sung next The songs are mostly Christian choruses or hymns as sung around Australia, but some local songs have been written and are included The old reticence about innovation seems to be going
Out of these movements some new indigenous styles may be coming to birth FORMAL MUSIC TRAINING
MARY: Direct formal music training was a second influence through the nineteenth century and after. Much of the training which Aboriginal people were able to receive took place on the missions, where promising youngsters were selected to learn piano or violin CHESTER: Missionary staff were likely to be the only local whites who would bother to put formal training of any kind within reach of Aboriginal people MARK In many places the missionary formed and trained a choir. Sometimes students were sent to outside music teachers, if any were within reach, or sent down to a city college to learn music among other things CHESTER: In many ways CASM's old orchestra continued this kind of policy, making available new instruments, skills and repertoire. Much of the music thus learned was classical, and there is plenty of evidence that 'favourite classics' have been well known and loved on the missions, including great opera singers with a popular touch, like Caruso, Crooks, and McCormack Missions occasionally nurtured outstanding talents such as organist David Ngunaitponi at Point McLeay But there was no possibility at all of making a musical career in the white world Even today, that has been achieved by only a handful of Aborigines
It is true that hymns, choirs and classical music were often imposed on Aboriginal people rather than freely chosen But what were the alternatives? Apart from the missionaries the only other white people who were likely to pass on their music to Aborigines were stockmen, shearers, prospectors, swaggies or alcoholics Granted that colonisation was killing off tribal arts, was it a good thing or not to teach at least one socially approved form of music? BUSH BALLADS
DOUG: A third main source of music in the nineteenth century was the collection of tradition brought from the homelands of the stockmen, drovers and shearers-their traditional songs, reels and jigs and the bush ballads which grew out of them The words of the bush ballads do not seem to have filtered
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Mrs Nora Whitehead (violin) with performers in the Adelaide Aboriginal orchestra at a CASM concert in Scots Church, Adelaide in 1973 Noel Wilson at rear w i t h members of Paint McLeay children's choir.
through very much to Aboriginal communities because the concerns of the ballad singers were rarely the concerns of the Aboriginal people CHESTER: Yet the black reserves may be the last surviving venues where white folk songs passed on in the oral tradition can be heard DOUG: The strongest influences of bush balladry on Aboriginal music were the fact that people could sing stories about their predicament; the introduction of new instruments such as tin whistles, concertina and harmonica; and a white style of melody and musical form (narrative verse with chorus and very square four or eight bar phrases in harmony, melody and rhythm) By the end of the century the miners added a direct American influence, or an indirect influence from American touring shows They added guitars to the lineup The perfect example of an American derived song is 'The Old Bullock Dray' CHESTER: Cody Murray was still singing that song on the reserve at Wilcannia in 1957 It's about a white bullocky who takes a black wife: Now I a m married and with piccaninnies three, There's no one lives so happy as m y little wife and me. The Missus she goes hunting just to pass the time away, While I take the skins to market o n m y old bullock dray 35
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DOUG: This verse is rather different from the common white version, which suggests that it has not only been taken over by the Aboriginal community,
but changed and added to MARY: Unaccompanied singing and bush instrumentation are still common among Aboriginal folk singers. Singers are accompanied by whatever is available: beating or tapping,guitars, mouth organ, concertina and gumleaf Often they make their own instruments. There have been some really weird and wonderful ones, some very difficult technically to make and operate, taking years of practice Gumleaf playing is still common among Aboriginal people along the river and on t h e southern reserves. At Wallaga Lake in New South Wales, I heard Alec Walker and Clem Parsons playing gumleaf in real counterpoint while also dancing and foot tapping Alick Jackomos wrote in 1971 of t h e touring choir and gumleaf band of Wallaga Lake, Cummeragunga and Lake Tyers in the 1930s and 1940s: CHESTER:
They were also in demand at weddings and dances where a gumleaf band and a piano were sufficient to provide all the music required During the Depression years and until a few years ago it was common to see one or two Aborigines busking in country towns and in Melbourne 36 Gumleaf playing happens spontaneously i n Aboriginal churches, perhaps to t h e accompaniment of harmonium or piano Pastor Doug Nicholls did it, Pastor Ben Mason of the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship does it and in his Adelaide years, Yami Lester, now of the Pitjantjatjara Council and Mimili Station, was well known for gumleaf playing among some of Adelaide's white churches TOURING COMPANY PERFORMANCE
The fourth main source of music was the touring company performance-the commercial shows which were seen not only in the cities but in the country towns They came from England and the USA, playing music hall shows, minstrel shows, variety comedies, classical and semiclassical music, operas and operettas They attracted big audiences, but their music was more likely to reach Aboriginal people indirectly, from the local whites who had learned it CHESTER: The staple musical fare, common to all these shows, was the household song, that is, an air or ballad used by the touring singer to promote the published version for drawing room use, and by the publishers to promote the singers The need for home entertainments made a vast market throughout the Western world for these ballads They were typically narrative songs with chorus, similar in form to the bush ballads but with more sentiment, more 'arty' harmonies MARY:
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GurnIeaf players at Lake Tgers, Victoria, in the 1930s. Photograph by Alick Jackornos
(often arranged for three or four voices) and more sophisticated melodies featuring chromatic cliches and 'expression' There were Empire songs, drinking songs, humorous ballads like 'Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-wow', ballads of sentiment like 'Home, Sweet Home', 'Won't You Buy My Pretty Flowers', 'Silver Threads Among the Gold', and the American Stephen Foster's 'Beautiful Dreamer' and 'Gentle Annie' The best of the sentimental ballads have proved amazingly durable They celebrate the lost love, the lost homeland, mother (who is usually either old or dead) and the loss of the good old times These themes recur in many of t h e Sankey style hymns, which were modelled on the ballads A sense of exile and hopeless nostalgia dominated the imagination of the nineteenth century west The spreading industrial revolution was breaking up stable communities, splitting families and creating a new rootless and poverty stricken working class, deprived of most of the old social supports, traditions, autonomies and pride in work It was changing the landscape and the heartscape, filling the world and emptying men's souls The songs of dispossession were adopted by the black dispossessed too, and became deeply meaningful to them MARK The touring 'nigger minstrel' shows were all the rage for the last half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth They were usually all
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white, all male companies painted with cork black, though negroes began t o enter the profession late in the century CHESTER: 'Plantation songs' and comic parodies of negro slave dialect, music and dancing, were the mainstay They were written or borrowed by white composers and published in 'Christy Minstrel' collections, in arrangements which adapted the banjo, bones, violin and tambourine to drawing room needs Most popular of all were Stephen Foster's songs, for example 'The Old Folks At Home' Though many of his negro imitations were exuberant ('Camptown Races'), many others expressed the same loss or homesickness as his other household songs These were adopted by Aboriginal communities, speaking to their hearts from t h e hearts of another displaced people.
Stephen Foster's songs were very popular at Point McLeay I grew up with them: 'Old Black Joe', 'Swanee River', 'I Dream of Jeannie' and 'Beautiful Dreamer' LEILA:
In Aboriginal communities where choirs a r e still encouraged, 'Old Black Joe' may be one of the top choices An Aboriginal girls' choir was singing it at the 1974 Darwin Eisteddfod CHESTER:
MASK Some of the ballads, both 'plantation' and others, were changed by Aboriginal singers to make them relevant to Australia, such as by altering the name of a river. Some were parodied, the words as a whole being changed Sometimes the time signatures were changed Some of the comic ballads have lasted too and are danced to, particularly where there's a party The dancing style is reminiscent of the minstrel dancing-buck 'n' wing, a lot of foot kicking and the like For example, old Isaac 'Grampa' Hunter, living at Gerard Reserve on the Murray in the early 1960s, was relegated to one of the 'old fogies' of the community, but he had been known as the best singer When someone took an interest in his songs, he blossomed out with an enormous repertoire, only a small proportion of which was ever recorded Even in his eighties he was a magnificent performer and knew how t o put over a song One of the songs he sang was 'It's Getting Larger', which appears to have been lifted straight from late nineteenth century music hall It has a slightly bawdy text, in lolloping 618 time, with the usual square phrases and tonic-dominant harmonies Each verse applies in a new way to the chorus; the thirst is getting larger, then the egg, then the wife's legs Isaac had another one in music hall vein, 'What-ho, She Bumps' 37 There was an old waltz ballad too, called 'If Those Lips Could Only Speak (It's Only a Beautiful Picture in a Beautiful Golden Frame)' written by Charles Ridgwell and Will Goodwin in 1906
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LEILA: I recall my Dad and my uncle singing that song to us as kids We grew up with it MARY: A comic parody of this was known along the Murray towns in Victoria and Cath Ellis recorded it as sung by Tom Lyons Ibm was a semi-nomadic fringe dweller, who, like many others, moved from town to town a s the mood took him 38 He learned this one from old Jimmy Little:
If I could only lay, What a different bird I'd be, I'm only a n old shanghaid rooster, A bird that no one can make lay 39
Tom also had a large repertoire and was a good singer. Aboriginal people regarded him as very 'Aboriginal' in style; rather slow and quiet in manner with a deep, somewhat burry voice CHESTER: Aboriginal ballads in the old drawing room style are still sung, for example, by Mrs Annie Koolmateri of the Lower Murray MARE Annie liked to sing about the countryside and lots of hymns I remember her singing 'Australia's on the Wallaby' She also sang a lot of borrowed tunes with her own words, or tunes where you'd recognise a familiar phrase from a different song In 1981 I recorded her at Barmera, in her eighties, singing her own composition, 'The Coorong Song', about her husband's homeland where they both lived for many years She accompanied herself on the concertina CHESTER: It's in the old, slow ballad style, the tune being a variant of Lay My Head Beneath a Rose' It was popular enough to get into Gospel Favourites Along the Murray (No 334): Let m e sing about the Coorong, Where the mighty seas roar, Sounds like music in the springtime, Singing songs of long ago (Chorus) Birds of every kind are whistling, When the evening shadows fall, I can hear the people singing, Singing songs of long ago
Two verses remember the tribal times, but the song goes on to lament the changing times, as irrevocable as the passing of the seasons: Now today, the times are changing, Summer comes and winter goes, Strangers coming to their country And living o n their tribal groun,d
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(Chorus) Round the campfires they are singing Of the songs of long ago, I c a n hear the people singing, Of the songs of long ago 40
Late in the nineteenth century a number of American words were adopted into Australian currency, along with a number of American songs 'Coon' was a standard US term for 'black person' 'Zip Coon' was a stock minstrel character. There were probably negroes among the later minstrel companies touring Australia, and there were certainly some on the goldfields 41 Regardless of the US models and how they got there, we find that 'coon' now occurs in a number of Aboriginal songs So do 'piccaninny' and 'black crow', and some Australian equivalents such as 'Jacky-Jacky' and 'gin' MARK One of the songs that came from America was 'Little Alabama Coon', a lullaby designed for stage and publication It was adapted by Aboriginal people along the Murray and used as a true lullaby They had a version 'in the language' and claimed that it was 'the same song' CHESTER: Tom Lyons has a delightful spiritual style pentatonic father song, which deserves a lot of singing It was made by his own father: Hullo baby, I'm, your Daddy, Up in Danikay. You're a black piccaninny all the w a y from A b m i n n y , A n d God bless the day he was born Bring h i m u p to homestead, make h i m go to church, Rarin' like the possum in the fire; n l i alla-ha, illi alla-ha, And tie a yellow ribbon in his hair.42 MARK
Then there is T h e Coon Song' So-called, no doubt, because it makes such a heavy point of
CHESTER:
the word! This folk song exists in a number of related forms, with choruses that are similar or at least reminiscent of each other, while the verses vary in melody, words and singing style The differences appear to be regional CHESTER: Tom Lyons's version is a kind of slow ballad or 'air' He sang it to the Ellises near the Finley rubbish dump, in his humpy made of salvaged corrugated iron: MARK
The old coon hain't what he used to be, He's not what he was years ago. He can't swing his looves like he used to do, When he danced w i t h the moonlight o n the green
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Every nation has a flag except the old black coon, I wisht I was a white m a n instead of a n old black coon Coon coon coon, Coon coon coon, I wisht I was a white man Instead of a n old black coon
As he finishes, Tom chuckles and says 'That's a good song!'43 Isaac Hunter's version rollicks along in good humoured 4/4 music hall style Two of the four verses are given here Although it's not m y colour I'm feeling mighty blue. I've got a lot of trouble, I'll tell i t all to you I ' m certaintly disgusted with life and that's a fact, Because m e 'air i s woolly and because m y colour's black My girl she had a notion against the coloured race. She said that i f I'd w i n her, I would have to change m y face. She said that if I'd wed her that she'd regret i t soon, But now I've shocked her good enough because I a m a coon (Chorus) Then it's coon coon coon, I wish m y colour would fade, Coon coon coon, I'd like a different shade. Coon coon coon, at morning, night or noon, I wish I was a white m a n instead of a coon coon coon 44
The song is greeted with amusement whenever it is sung There seems to be a tradition of songs going back a very long way yet still current, in which Aboriginal people poke fun at themselves, pick up white images of themselves and show a wry, dry sort of hufhour at it-understated, not overstated MARY:
For a white listener, no statement could more powerfully express the meaning of racially based oppression; the oppressed come to believe the degrading stereotypes of themselves and agree that all beauty, virtue and value go with being white As Bennie Bunsee (a black South African on a lecture tour of Australia) said in 1980: 'My own people in South Africa are incredibly degraded and humiliated, but I have never seen a people so psychologically battered as the Aborigines' 45 MARY: Another similar folk song is 'Jacky-Jacky', which is known through the southeast of the continent I've found that the older people are now a little reluctant to admit they know it, but they do and when they're feeling relaxed they will sing it, to the surprise of their children! It's sung by both men and women and there's not much variation in the versions CHESTER As Tom Lyons sings it, it is even less reminiscent of CHESTER:
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nineteenth century airs and ballads than 'The Coon Song' and seems independent of the nineteenth century harmonic formulae Here we have a genuine Aboriginal folk ballad, a quiet mbato tune with typical quiet humour. The tune is a variant of the shanty 'Johnny Todd' Part of Tom's rendition appears below: J a c k y wed to chase the emu W i t h his spear and waddg too. He's the only man can tell you W h a t the kangaroo told the emu (Chorus) So criketa bubila will-de-my-ah, B i l l y marjung jing-jerri-woi J m k y sits under the old gum tree, Jacky sits and laugh all day. He don't care what become of the country, B u t Jacky like to take it that way46 MARE The chorus is 'in the language' or in some kind of dialect, the origin of which we don't know for certain
I didn't hear 'Jacky-Jacky' until I worked at CASM with Cath Ellis and later in Canberra when I was with the Aboriginal Arts Board One of the people on the board used to sing it and it became a popular request at programs put on by t h e board They were careful and always left out a particular verse. It's sung as a fun song, but also a kind of protest, sometimes Jacky-Jacky didn't give a darn about the country because the white man had taken it He laughed it all off It was their way of saying, 'You've beggared it up, the land's gone, so you keep it'. Behind some of those songs, there's often the feeling that if you didn't laugh you'd cry CHESTER: It's the sort of thing you say when you've got no say: LEILA:
'You can always see them laugh, But you never never see them ~ r y ' 4 ~ (from 'Stupid System' by Bart Willoughby) THE LAST FIFTY YEARS
The hymns, bush ballads and concert songs (both music hall and 'plantation') were adopted and adapted by Aboriginal musicians into a folk culture and gave the characteristic mix to early twentieth century non-tribal music traditions But the last fifty years have been dominated by America and the mass media DOUG: The traditional bush ballad began to die out, though some of the existing material continued, especially in Aboriginal communities Hillbilly CHESTER:
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music (diluted from the Appalachian originals) reached Australia in the 1930s, when it was already beginning its transformation into country and western; that is i n Jimmy Rodgers senior's blend of hillbilly, folk material, gospel, black blues and yodelling At this time, the popularising process was through early radio and 78 rpm records Wind-up record players were popular around the Aboriginal communities Radio ended the isolation of rural people and the music of t h e broadcast affected everyone it touched, black and white alike Rodgers' words and the early material of the Australian hillbilly balladeers of the 1930s and 1940s were influenced by the Depression There were songs of despair, of memories of better times and hopes for better times to come Aborigines, along with many other Australians, identified with these themes The musical form and techniques were similar enough to the bush ballad to make t h e musical transition easy, and so 'ocker' or 'strine' hillbilly accents developed Guitar became the dominant instrument Tex Morton, Chad Morgan, Buddy Williams and Slim Dusty drew on American depression material in their early days and also continued to use old bush ballads, as did Ted Egan and Smoky Dawson They stood apart from the driving commercialism of later country and western music Modern country and western music combined elements of American cowboy and gospel music, blues, the post-war folk revival and eventually rock It de-blued the blues, by taking out its major-minor clashes, and came to be called the only indigenous white American musical form Since World War 11, radio has continued its major role in spreading country and western music in Australia, especially through regional stations Successful Aussie hillbillies adapted themselves to aspects of rock 'n' roll and its business methods Country-rock performers like Greg Quill and Country Radio toured extensively, and influenced several Aboriginal musicians CHESTER: Modern country and western, the glossy, affluent, heavily promoted and highly commercialised product of Nashville and its Australian imitation, "famworth,now dominates the Australian country music scene Television has added a new element which we shall discuss later. DOUG: Two such artists have been especially important to Aboriginal country and western Elvis Presley's songs are sung very widely by Aborigines Early Elvis was very country dominated and was dubbed 'rockabilly' To this h e added the influence of early rock 'n' roll and a lot of gospel material This ability of country and western to celebrate brawls, booze and the low life on one hand and revival style religion on the other, sometimes in the same writer and even in the same song, has been a strong attraction for Aboriginal listeners 'Why Me, Lord?' and 'Me and Bobby McGee', both by Kris Kristofferson, are often sung in Aboriginal communities The other favourite artist is Charley Pride, the first all
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out black country and western performer. He is in every way like the whites: same themes, songs, vocal techniques, done in that same distinctively white style that has been stolen from blacks. His music is a very popular model for Aboriginal performers Slim Dusty and Reg Lindsay still do some balladising in the older style, while Ted Egan and Chad Morgan are mainly balladeers Since all of these are known in the outback through tours, there may be some slight hope that t h e precountry and western ballad form will survive This will especially be the case if it is aided by black bands who value their communities' balladising traditions and even their music hall, folk song and hymn singing traditions
MUSIC IN A SEPASATED COMMUNITY Now we shall draw a slightly arbitrary line at the arrival of rock music and television This happened at different times in different parts of the Aboriginal frontier, so that the old situation is still observable in the remote areas We shall spend a lot of time describing some of the varieties of t h e older music making, before going o n to outline the changes that are now taking place MARY: Aboriginal people who have had some formal music training are today regarded as the professional musicians of the Aboriginal community But not only those Technical considerations in western terms don't come into it very much The criteria for a 'community professional' are different These people are the musical leaders They are called upon to enable musical events to function CHESTER: One of the criteria is probably the old tribal one: 'This is the person who knows all the songs' MARY: Especially since many of them are very good improvisers and can play whatever song is wanted, by ear. They play for concerts, dances, singalongs, church services Sometimes they train bands and choirs CHESTER: In general, they are the enablers, who help the community to be musical together. This is what professionalism is all about as far as Aboriginal people are concerned Many of the community professionals had no formal training at all, but picked up skills by ear and practice Even when they use a music book, they may be playing in a different key and style There is another kind of Aboriginal community musician whom we shall call the 'minstrel' He is not likely to be found performing at the formal social events, dances and concerts, but he will often be seen on the verandah, or sitting against a tree, or on the riverbank, playing and singing for himself and anyone who will listen Often he is nomadic, wandering around the towns and settlements and fringe dwellings of his kin CHESTER:
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Performing is just one of the things you do It is not a paid specialist job, it is part of a shared life It is amateur in the good sense, done for love of music, but it is much less organised than in white amateur organisations To show how music making has been practised among Aboriginal people, we give two illustrations: one of an old mission and its community professionals; the other of a fringe camp and its leading minstrel AN OLD MISSION:
POINT McLEAY
Point McLeay is one of the oldest Aboriginal missionary settlements in Australia The local people are the Ngarrindjeri, once a confederation of eighteen groups whose land extended from Cape Jervis along the coast to Kingston, around the lakes and up the river to Murray Bridge The mission of the Aborigines Friends Association (AFA) was started in 1859 on the southeast shore of Lake Alexandrina, 120 miles from Adelaide, by George Taplin The AFA was an interdenominational body with Anglican and nonconformist support Last century the Ngarrindjeri were well known, even among whites, for their musical excellence and especially for the beautiful and disciplined sound of their choral singing Their Glee Club sang frequently in Adelaide in the 1890s, raising funds Many Ngarrindjeri people excelled in both black and white cultures David Ngunaitponi (Unaipon) for instance, was a lecturer, amateur mechanical engineer, organ recitalist, wide reader of poetry, philosophy and science, as well as a defender of his people 48 After fiftysix years under the AFA's relatively enlightened regime, Point McLeay was taken over by the South Australian government in 1916 Rot set in, with the extraordinary authoritarian powers given to the Protector under the Aborigines Act of 1911 Dorothy Leila Wilson (later the wife of James Rankine) was born in Adelaide in 1932 When she was a child and young adult at Point McLeay in the 1940s and 1950s, the reserve was experiencing the most demoralising problems Under the Aborigines Act, 1934-39 (repealed only in 1962), people were obliged to stay on the reserve unless given the 'Dog TagLa certificate stating that by reason of 'character and standard of intelligence and development' t h e person would 'cease to be an Aborigine for the purposes of the said Act' These people were then obliged to leave and had to have a permit to return for any purpose Pressure was put on residents to gain the certificate and look for homes and work elsewhere This was the new policy of assimilation, honestly expressed in 1963 by a lead article in The Advertiser '"It sounds tough", said Mr Bartlett (former protector of Aborigines), "but the most effective way to assimilate is to cut the natives off from their own people" Australia's policy, with the unstated end result of eradicating dark faces, will have taken a great step forward ' 4 9
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In 1966, the Dunstan government led Australia in adopting a policy of self-determination and in 1974 granted self management to the Aboriginal residents at last The reserve became an open village and station, with its own Aboriginal Council Many people have continued to drift to and from Adelaide, where perhaps a quarter of the Aboriginal population identify Point McLeay as 'our place' Even after one hundred years of institutionalisation, life on the mission in the 1950s was full of music LEILA: I can remember, it was the very popular thing to have singalongs or song sessions at people's homes, to the accompaniment of guitar, or without accompaniment We sang songs like Stephen Foster songs, ones that were popular in their day and a lot of country and western music, which was very popular: 'In the Gloaming', 'I Dream of Jeannie', 'The Rose of No-Man's-Land' (this was always popular for a concert-they would do a tableau with it), 'I do Like to be Beside the Seaside', 'Tipperary' and 'Down on the Farm' This usually went on at weekends, at least every couple of weeks People would visit each other and it would very easily turn into a singalong Hymns were really popular favourites People got to talking, thinking back over the years and someone would mention somebody and they'd sing a song that was his or her favourite and then other people's favourites a s well Even a family unit alone would sit around the open fire or the stove, someone would start singing and then it would take off and carry on After tea, at nightfall, it was very popular to build a camp fire by the beach or lake, or sit outside a cottage and have a chat and a singalong You'd find people with guitars, and harmonicas were popular too Or maybe someone would come along who could play an old concertina or a gumleaf I can remember my uncle and others playing with just gumleaf and guitar, items for concerts or dances There were people who played the bones and some autoharps, but nobody played banjos There's one song I can recall my grandmother teaching me It's a song we've handed down in the family I sing it to my young grandson: There were three little mice playing in the barn, Inky-dinky-doo-dum-day, All huddled u p together just to keep their bodies warm, Inky-dinky-doo-dum-day. Now the old mouse said, 'Little ones, take care, When the owl comes a-singing to you, beware! For the song that he sings 'tis nothing but a snare, Inky-dinky-doo-dum-day'
We'd always get the moral of the story told to us after we'd sung the song It was about being careful not to stay out after dark, but also helped us to
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be more responsible for our actions and realise what would happen if we did something foolish without thinking it through There were lots of stories that they told too, that had morals for us-even some of the Aboriginal legends We also knew 'Little Alabama Coon', but I changed the words as I grew up, to 'Mummy's Little Aborigine' There were old wind-up gramophones that came out for parties My Dad had one of those very old ones with the cylinders Us kids used to think it was great fun to sit there and wind it and listen to the music Often it was classical music, like 'Liebestraum', 'Waltz of the Flowers', Enrico Caruso There were records like 'Two Black Crows' (an old comedy in Minstrel Show style) and 'Polly-WollyDoodleÑpeopl sang along with them And there were the early country and western singers: Tex Morton, Smilin' Billy Blinkhorn, Smoky Dawson, Gene Autry, Burl Ives and Hank Snow There was a piano in the hall in the later years There were people who could play by ear, who could provide music for dancing They did waltzes, military two-steps, the Lancers, barn dances, square dances, sets and quadrilles Us kids got really carried away sitting on the sidelines and watching the adults go in an out of the reels They'd have just the piano and drums, or just guitars, or piano accordion, mouth organs There would be a dance once a fortnight, or once a month Even before the hall was built the dances were sometimes once a week or fortnight in the homes There were dances and concerts also at the Ashville hall on the main road Aboriginal musicians would travel to the hall and people would come in from the surrounding areas; farmers and Aboriginal people from Tkilem Bend, Meningie, Narrung, Poltalloch Station It was nothing to set off and make it a day's journey by horse and cart, sulky or wagon The musicians were really in demand People lived close together and so it wouldn't take much for them to get a casual sort of group together. I can remember Bessie Karpany (deceased) who played the piano with a real swing She never learned music, but she could play very well by ear and was in great demand for dances when the hall was built In the earlier days there was Cecil Gollan, who played the button accordion At any concert or social function, he was very much in demand to sing 'The Parrot Song' (about how my 'Dad gave me a parrot' and how it laughed, with a laughing chorus) If you had a sense of humour, you'd find yourself laughing your head off because of the antics Somebody would probably become almost hysterical Even today, if some of us older ones get together to talk about the old times or sing songs, somebody will always say, 'Somebody sing "The Parrot Song'", just to create some fun Cecil's passed on, but his son Neville sings it and so does my sister Veronica Brodie
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There were the Lovegrove brothers, Albert and Viv, who played guitar, with my uncle Roland Harris on mandolin harp My brother Graham Wilson and I played banjo mandolin or guitar, with John, Jack and Tim Sumner on guitars and drums Auntie Soody Heron had a very beautiful voice and was very talented in the art of yodelling You'd hear her almost like a bell, yodelling Slim Whitman's kind of song If recording companies had been interested then, she would have become a really popular artist She's dead now Auntie Amy Mason (also now deceased) played the gumleaf Stan Karpany was playing there too, along with Graham and t h e Sumners John Bingapore was a very versatile musician from Thursday Island; he was in the army and met up with some Point McLeay guys He came to live in Adelaide, married a Point McLeay girl and settled there John was an expert on guitar, piano accordion and steel guitar. He'd been a student at the Adelaide College of Music and reached the point where they couldn't teach him any more. He was a great musician and very well liked I c a n recall Mrs Annie Koolrnateri and her late husband, Uncle Jack They travelled up and down the Riverland, and as far as Point McLeay, doing odd jobs here and there They were always willing to get involved in any musical program Uncle Jack would sing and Auntie Annie often played the button accordion She still does They would sing as a family and often their kids would sing with them 'The Coorong Song' was always one of their bracket Uncle Harry Hunter is Grandpa Isaac's son He's better known as Uncle Socks to a lot of people He plays an unusual instrument; the kerosene tin, with a piece of nylon fishing line stretched across and attached to his big toe He plucks it with a plectrum and can go up and down the scale by changing tension. He doesn't perform very often, mainly on request MARK 1 got the impression he plays for his own entertainment as much as anything The instrument was dubbed 'The Hunterphone' by a white member of the Sturt Memorial Expedition that came down the river. As well as writing his own songs, he also knows a lot which his father Isaac made He played us 'Roll Out t h e Barrel' on the Hunterphone and asked us if we recognised it He's based at Swan Reach now and is in his fifties LEILA: Harry Hunter (Junior), Dora's brother, is now unfortunately deceased, but he and Dora often used to play piano together. He played accordion as well There was no lack of musicians and you didn't have to have a big group in order to have a singalong, or a concert, or a dance People were really enthusiastic t o show their skills They would have learned by listening to the radio, watching travelling shows, or in the shearing sheds Some learned by correspondence; Mark Wilson, my grandfather, learned this way and taught his skills to two or three girls on the pedal organ My mother also learned music and
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elocution by correspondence Very few people had the finance to pay for lessons, or even the contacts But it was a popular thing to sit down-you'd see people at the piano helping each other, just as a fun thing There was no thought of 'Unless you teach me something, I'm not going to teach you anything' We'd sit on an old stump with a guitar, or around the house watching someone else My brother and I (he played the guitar and I played the banjo-mandolin) would sit in the home and play for the sheer joy of it At CASM too, we encourage Aboriginal students to pass on their skills to younger ones coming on The little church at Point McLeay was built by AFA in 1869 After t h e Methodists, we had Churches of Christ, Congregationals and then the Salvation Army resident there A lot of the hymns were Sankey and Alexander style We had 'Rock of Ages', ' 0 for a Thousand Tongues', 'Old Rugged Cross', 'Pass Me not 0 Gentle Saviour' and 'Nearer, My God, Tb Thee' The church was packed out every Sunday night Everyone came to church We all grew up with the church influence Whether you regarded yourself as a Christian or not, you came along to church and you enjoyed the singing You'd hardly find a spare seat There'd be say 200 people sitting there enjoying the hymns, at least four or five hymns a service When the Salvation Army came, there were hymn singalongs, as well as solos, duets, trios and quartettes In the early days, the minister's aunt or the government officer's wife played the piano and the organ before and after the service, and during it Later, we had Aboriginal people of my generation playing by ear. As people became involved with the church, they got the opportunity to play the keyboards Wanda Mark (formerly Rigney) was one She played both piano and organ by ear and was in demand for funerals and church services as well as socials Later on, there was Noel Wilson, who also played for dances One of the older players for the church was Auntie Janet Smith She also played the concertina. MARE And every instrument she could lay her hands on, all selftaught: accordion, mouth organ, banjo, violin In 1981 she was eighty-nine and tired very quickly, but she sang us a couple of her own songs One was 'Let Bygones Be Bygones', about her husband wanting to come back after she'd thrown him out She was very proud of her husband's war service as a cook Hymns are what she's mainly interested in and when the AEF service is held at Tailem Bend, it's held in her house and she plays the accordion But she also remembers when she was known as 'the queen of the river' LEILA: She's one of the very few people that can relate a lot of stories and history about the earlier days In church, the people sang in two, three and even four part harmony They really got involved The words and the music meant something to them and so it made it a really personal sort of thing 'What a Friend we Have in Jesus'
.
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was often sung, even at other gatherings 'God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again' was well used and very moving It was often sung at farewells There was a very strong choir too, which staff at the reserve used to get involved in At Christmas we would sing Cornish carols and we'd go around the reserve and even down to Naming There was a Glee Club, which was formed through the church and the school, that went on tour round the district to Goolwa and so on, as a fund raiser. We had a school choir. When the paddle steamers used to come across Lake Alexandrina from Goolwa, bringing tourists to visit the reserve, they always came to the school and the school choir would sing for them In later years we would go down to t h e hall and do a concert for them We had a Scottish headmaster at the time and so a lot of the songs had that Scottish flavour, like 'Ye Banks and Braes' There were the 'Vesper Hymns', 'Bells of St Mary's' and old rounds We learned to sing by the old Sol-Fa method at the school After the head passed on, the choral singing carried on, but it turned into a concert program which we did once or twice a year There wasn't that spontaneous community choir singing;that changed Noel Wilson carried on a choir, and they did popular middle of the road pieces, songs like 'It's a Small World', that were popular amongst the Aboriginal community They sang Christmas carols as well, and sometimes special Easter songs They would go to 'Rdlem Bend and Meningie, and once went to Adelaide, to one of CASM's concerts CHESTER: Out of Point McLeay's population of around 350 in those years, there were twenty talented and regularly performing musicians, not including choristers Five per cent of the population, even under asylum conditions; not a bad score! LEILA: I think Point McLeay has been one of the fortunate reserves, because it was a church mission In the past and even later years, we had staff who were sensitive to the situation and who, because of their religious backgrounds, were more sympathetic towards the situation of the people.51Even when it was government managed, there seemed to be an effort made towards making the people more community minded and aware So despite the fact that we came under a lot of pressure over the years, we've been able to grow through it and develop beyond it without too many scars On some other reserves, the kind of pressure people have been put under has been really damaging and people are still very bitter about things that happened. The music at Point McLeay is, I think, fairly similar to music on other reserves No matter where you go, you'll find people who'll decide to sing hymns And it'd be difficult to find an Aboriginal reserve where there was not a choral group of some sort. Some of them had strong choirs
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A FRINGE CAMP: WZLCANNZA
CHESTER: Our second illustration offers some contrasts Wilcannia is in northwest New South Wales, on the banks of the Darling River Once a river port and a coach town, it became a convenient centre for casual work on the sheep stations and in the orchards of the Murray Just over the river from a white town of about 1,000 people there grew up a small reserve A cluster of fringe shacks called the Mallee also developed on the same side of the river a s the town The Aboriginal population was about 300 52 Management of the reserve seems to have been ad hoc It was heavily influenced by the politics of the local council, which was 'anxious not to offend the voters in their electorates by forcing them to accept Aborigines as neighbours' 53 Facilities on the reserve were few and poor, especially the housing and latrines, which created the danger of disease Local whites wanted to solve their problems by closing the reserve and moving its inhabitants elsewhere In 1950 the Aborigines Welfare Board built fourteen houses for the Aborigines. Rowley's analysis is that the decision to build cheap houses located on the reserve side of the river rather than in the town was the crucial moment which ensured that the Aborigines would not be accepted as, nor become, regular citizens of the town Wilcannia remained 'two communities' Anthropologist Jeremy Beckett lived on the reserve for most of 1957 and again in 1964 He wrote:
The police are the only white people with whom most of these Aborigines have any sort of intimacy With the remaining townspeople there is a relation of avoidance, modified only sufficiently t o permit the transfer of goods across counters My association with t h e Aborigines in this township has rarely brought me into contact with whites 64
A continuous defiant round of drinking sprees, cat and mouse games with the police, family disintegration and some violence is the usual thing in fringe camps In this they faithfully reflect the bush frontier culture which settlers introduced to them and which has been their only option, unless they knuckled under to the organisation of a mission, (church or government) While they lack all power to make decisions which will improve their communal future, and while white townspeople and planners refuse to consider them as part of the town, they have little available to them but the self perpetuating ghetto and its thought forms To succeed, by moving into the town and becoming 'upper class', is to cut oneself off from one's relatives and identity Nevertheless, a great deal of music making goes on, some of it similar to that at Point McLeay, though of course, Wilcannia Reserve has never had a hall or a church building Beckett wrote that in 1957 there were still a handful of oldies
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who had been 'through the rules'. 'The oldest generation will tell you how they used to paint up and dance before a great fire, while the women sang and beat time You can still get a few to show you w h a t the dance steps were like; they facetiously call it the "blackfellers' Charle~ton"'.~~ And there are more recent folk songs poking fun at white local authorities, o r celebrating the joys of the communal binge-usually in the bush, since Aborigines are not made particularly welcome at white gathering places Beckett quotes 'The Wilcannia Song', a local folk ballad:66 See the blackfeller drinking beneath the tall g u m tree. When he sees the policeman come you'll see h i m split the breeze. Many's the time I've tried it but r u n n i n g does not pay, 'Cause when they get you in those cells: ten pounds or twenty days Now twenty days hard labour. Oh brother that's just fine! No sweets, no sugar in your tea, no smokes to ease your m i n d You're camping o n a n old floor m a t , the concrete for your bed You feel your belly pinching, and you wish that you were dead
There is also a parody of 'Dear John':57 Dear wife, well I hate to fight Dear wife, well I knocked you out last night All m y wine and money's gone, And you sent round for the John, And tonight I've been arrested, dear wife.
Typically, the dry, understated humour holds pain at arm's length Beckett describes Old Grannie Kennedy's funeral party: On a flattened patch of earth, in front of the old lady's verandah, couples shuffle round to the waltzes and barn dances played on accordion and guitar. Standing on one side were t h e girls dressed in their best cotton frocks and on the other the men i n their riding breeches, high heeled boots and ten gallon hat of the outback station worker. But there is always plenty of music around an Aboriginal settlement During the day the women do their house work with the wireless blaring and a t night someone will sit on his verandah, strumming a guitar, until a little crowd has gathered to listen and take their turn at the instrument 58
We at CASM have regularly seen this sociable music making occur at the Aboriginal Sobriety Group's soup kitchen for Aboriginal alcoholics (Adelaide's fringe dwellers) The community professionals, some from CASM, some not, have their go, then there may be an all-in jam session, whistled and cheered on by a noisy little crowd as person after person gets up off the floor and sings or plays something he knows Occasionally, someone 'talks the blues', backed by the
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professionals like Neville Gollan on his banjo or guitar and there are plenty of requests: 'How about "Me and Bobby McGee", or "Old Rugged Cross"!' 59 At Wilcannia, Beckett found Dougie Young Born near Cunnamulla, Queensland, in the 1930s, Dougie worked around outback stations He settled down at Wilcannia and worked as a council driver after a riding accident Dr Beckett's writings and recordings are the main reasons the white world has heard of Dougie Young Dougie is a shining example of the minstrel balladeer; totally noncommercial, uninterested in any kind of professional or media scene, singing songs and playing his guitar in identification with the fringe dwellers he moves amongst 'He is a rather quiet, happy-go-lucky sort of fellow when the tape recorder is going, he is more keen to get his friends singing or to lead the children in "Sad Movies Always Make Me Cry", than to push himself forward His early songs, according to Beckett, were 'essentially scandal songs, making fun of local personalities' 62 Then he had a whole corpus of booze ballads, such as 'Cut a Rug':'j3 Here's a song, m y boys, fill your hearts with joy, And it's sung by Youngie Doug This song they say will go a long way, 'Cause they call i t 'Cuttin' a Rug' Way u p in Bree [BrewarrinaJ they call i t 'On the Spree', In Bourke it's 'The Jitterbug,' But Wilcannia's got the best name of all, Yes, we call i t 'Cuttin' a Rug' Well they gossip in the town and they r u n the boys down 'Cause they live o n wine and beer, But if they'd stop and think, if the boys didn't drink There'd be no f u n around here.
And go a long way it does For seven or eight long verses A later song 'Drinkin' Beer and Wine', puts the case for the defiant drinker: Now they say it's a crime drinkin' beer and wine, Will lead a good m a n astray When i t comes to grog I'm a f a i r dinkum hog, I guess I was born that way. But I'll drink and roam till the cows come home If i t will give m y poor heart ease. I don't care who knows, I'll work for m y dough, And I'll spend i t as I please. I was cuttin' a rug, they threw me i n the jug, As the magistrate looked down,
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He said 'Youngie Doug, you're a wine-lovin' mug A n d you're a menace to the town' H e said 'I'll put you away, in a cell you will stay Until you learn some sense' Well he cursed and cried, said m y doggone hide Wasn't worth eighteen pence.
The relation between Stipendary Magistrates and Aborigines in Wilcannia has not changed In 1979, the local SM made t h e national papers by summing up thus, after sentencing a twenty year old Aboriginal for using offensive language to police as they were arresting his aunt: 'Your race of people must be the most interfering race of people I have heard of You are becoming a pest race in Wilcannia, wanting to interfere in the job of the police There is only one end to pests Learn this time.'64 B u t Dougie Young also sings of his ideal Aborigine: the smart stockman, full blooded a n d proud of it, holding his own among the other stockmen in 'The Land Where t h e Crow Flies Backwards': (Chorus) l&-, Pm tall, dark and lean, and every place I've been The white man calls me Jack It's no crime, I'm not ashamed I w a s born with m y skin so black When i t comes to riding rough horses, Or working cattle, I'll m i x i t with the best, I n the land where the crow flies backwards A n d the pelican builds his nest
(The crow in the old bush joke flies backwards to keep his eyes from filling with dust )The song's words are mostly spoken, as in talking blues or some music hall and operetta, and there are some defiant lines on the way the white man who is so critical of Jacky has taken over the country and doesn't know how to run it: The white man took this country from me; He's been fighting for it ever since. These governments and protestors they're arguing, And every day they're starting a brawl; And if there's going to be a nuclear war, What's going to happen to us all?
Other songs cheerfully challenge the superiority of the steady job and carefully planned town life and celebrate the ideal Aboriginal swaggie or bushman: (Chorus) No, I don't want your money, you can take i t all away. With m y spear and boomerang I get three meals a day.
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Yes, I live on sand goannm, porcupines and kangaroo. You've heard i t said I make m y bread; with a stone I grind nardoo. Now all the folks that live in town, they are always sad Each day they work around the clock until i t drives 'em mad To work this oil, they sweat and toil long after day i s done, They get the money, by the time they're rich they're too old to have much fun Now I've a little sayin', it's f u n n y but it's true; The rich m a n or the beggar man, i t makes no difference who. Some people think they're better off, but they don't realise That when we're dead, s i x foot of earth makes us all the one size.
Dougie's music follows the square phrased, mostly three chord 414 form of the bush ballads 'Drinkin' Beer and Wine' is two chord, like some music hall songs His vocal style is bright and racy, with a clipped Aboriginal accent and is shown at its best in fast patter 65 In 1964 he was also singing a tribal fun song, in what was, to him, a foreign language-Fred Biggs's song about a lost boy, in the Ngiyampaa tongue of western New South Wales
NOTES 1. J Davis, Aboriginal and Islander Identity, Vol 3, No 4, 1978:back cover. 2. The Australian Constitution 3. The 1986 census figures are quoted here (Australian Bureau o f Statistics,
Census of Population and Housing) 4. B Sansom, 'Contemporary Issues', in A Barlow and M Hill (eds) Black Australia, AIAS, Canberra, 1978:109 5. The word 'tribal' is disputed in connection with Aborigines, whose main social units are smaller and more democratic than t h e word suggests But it will have to stand here because we shall be using 'traditional' to refer also t o westernised Aboriginal people
6 T Jones, in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol 1, 1980:712 A number o f features of voice production, melody, rhythm and metre are listed and Jones notes that local styles result largely from the way they are combined or omitted 7. TGH Strehlow, Songs of Central Australia, Angus and Fbbertson, Sydney, 1971:128(n)
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8. G Blainey, Triumph of the Nomads, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1975, chapters 9 and 13; H McQueen, Aborigines, Race and Racism, Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1974:44
9. CJ Ellis, 'Structure and Significance in Aboriginal Song', Mankind, Vol.7, 1969:7 10. Kimberley Aborigines make a complete distinction between songs 'found in dream' and songs 'like cowboy songs' or 'made with the brain', A Moyle, Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980:717 11. C Schultz, Project on Aboriginal Music, Barr-Smith Library, Adelaide, 1975:22-23 12. Tjungaringanyi, CASM, Vol 1, No 2, 1975:4 13. William Dampier, A New Voyage Sound the World, (1697, reprinted 1968, Dover):312
14. From the LP Wrong Side of the Road, Black Australia Records, 1981, through EM1 15. Baldwin Spencer, 1899, quoted in Strehlow, 1971:7
16. Letter to the Editor, The Adelaide Advertiser, 7 April 1983 17. CJ Ellis, 'Integration and Disintegration', Australian Societyfor Education through the ArtsBulletin, Vol 3, No 5, May 1968:5 The same article tells how casual theft of sacred objects meant that initiation ceremonies could not be performed and therefore generations of young men could not be married to tribal women
18. The problem of music and Aboriginal school children is tackled by CJ Ellis in three articles: 'Non-specialist Music Teaching in Aboriginal Schools', South Australia Education News, No 3, 1969, 'Aboriginal Music and the Specialist Music Teacher', Australian Journal of Music Education, No 5, Perth, 1969, 'Present Day Music of the Aboriginal Student', Australian Journal of Music Education, No 25, October 1979 19. J Stubington in J Isaacs (ed), Australian Aboriginal Music, Aboriginal Artists Agency, Sydney, 1979:14 20. R Allan, in Isaacs, 1979:22
21. Cassette Desert Songs I, CAAMA, 1982 22. Examples on Ted Egan's LPs, including, Tabu Naba Norem, also heard on The First Australians, 1978 and Songs of Torres Strait, from Aboriginal Artists Agency Other examples from Bob Randall, Ballads by Bob Randall, CAAMA, 1983 Published versions in Let's All Sing, ABC Songbook, 1981, and Time To Sing, ABC Songbook 1982
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23. Australian Women's Weekly, 12 August 1981:G 24. J Beckett, 'Aborigines Make Music', Quadrant, No 8, Spring, 1958:37 25. See 'Aboriginal Population', Aboriginal Affairs Background Notes, Canberra, 1982, No 8 The 'more recent' figure was published in Vol 1 of the Australian Bicentennial History Project, Australians to 1788 26. WH Edwards, 'The Australian Aborigines and the Gospel', St Mark's Review, Canberra, No 68, May 1972
27 Pastor K Mildon (ed), Gospel Favourites Along the Murray, Mission Publications of Australia, New South Wales, 1974 28. As sung by Mrs Annie Koolmateri, who learnt it 'when I was very young', probably before 1920, Mary Brunton tape, Barmera, 1981 29. TGH Strehlow, 'Central Australian Man-making Ceremonies', The Lutheran, 10 April 1978:7,9 30. P "faylor, 'A Christian Corroboree!', United Aborigines Mission Messenger, July-August, 1978 Ethnomusicologist Stephen Wild of AIAS made recordings of both these ceremonies at Hooker Creek See also Ivan Jordan 'Christian Faith and Warlpiri Culture', On Being, Melbourne, December 1978:24-5 Words of 'One Family' from their handout, The 'OneFamily' Purlapa a Bicentenary corroboree 31. WH Edwards, 19729 32. B Edwards in conversation with G Tunstill and C Schultz, 3 March 1983 33. W Douglas, Letter to G Tunstill, 17 May 1984 34. J Goodluck, Letter to C Schultz, 24 May 1983 35. J Beckett, 1958:32, plus J Beckett Letter to C Schultz, 18 January 1984 36. A Jackomos, 'Gumleaf Bands', Aboriginal and Islander Identity, Vol 1, No 1, July 1971 37. CJ Ellis, 'Field Notes on Recordings of Australian Aboriginal Songs, 1962-1963', Libraries Board of South Australia, 1964, and 'Folk Songs Among the Fringe Dwellers', Australian Tradition, Vol. 1, No.5, November 1964 38 CJ Ellis, 1964 Field notes, and 1964(b) 39. CJ Ellis, Tape, Finley, 1963; Ellis, Field notes, 1964:16 Ron Edwards collected a related 'Rooster's Love Song' from an Aboriginal station worker in Queensland in 1969; see R Edwards Australian Folk Songs, Rams Skull Press, Queensland, 1972:107 40. M Brunton, 'Ripe, Barmera, 1981 For a biographical interview with Annie
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and Jack, see B Ely, Murray/Murundi, Experimental Art Foundation, 1981 More of her songs are recorded a n d transcribed in W Lobban, 'Aboriginal Transitional Music', Folk Music Collected in Adelaide, 1969, Vol.1, University of Adelaide Music Library, Adelaide. 41. R Covell, Australia's Music, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1967:55 42. CJ Ellis, lhpe, Finley, 1963, CJ Ellis, Field notes, 1964:16 43. CJ Ellis, lhpe, Finley, 1963, reproduced on cassette by RM Berndt and ES
Phillips (eds), The Australian Aboriginal Heritage A n Introduction Through the Arts, Australian Society for Education Through the Arts, Sydney, 1973; CJ Ellis, Aboriginal Music Making A Study of Central Australian Music, Adelaide, 1964:2 44. CJ Ellis, Tape, Gerard, 1964 and on cassette with RM Berndt, 1973 45. D Came, Land Rights: A Christian Perspective, Alternative Publishing Cooperative, Sydney, 1980:93 46. CJ Ellis, Tape, Finley, 1963 on RM Berndt, 1973 For other versions: R
Edwards, The Big Book of Australian Folk Songs, Rigby, Adelaide, 1976:451and MT Clark, Pastor Daug, Rigby, Melbourne, 1972155; recorded by Harry Wiams, Harry and Wilga Williams and the Country Outcasts, Hadley LP, 1981 47. From mini-LP From My Eyes, Rough Diamond 1982 Lyrics reprinted by kind permission of Mushroom Music 48. G Jenkin, Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri, Rigby, Melbourne, 1979:18,225-227, 234-235 49. The Advertiser, 24 May, 1963:2 (Thanks to Graham Jenkin ) 50. Leila Rankine can be heard singing 'Three Little Mice' on Music, Music, Music, Radio 5UV, University of Adelaide, 1978, program 7 51. Alternatively, see CD Rowley, The Destruction of Aboriginal Society, Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1972:204-205 52. Information in this section is from the following: CD Rowley, Outcasts in
White Australia, Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1972, especially Chapter 12; J Beckett, 'Aborigines Make Music', Quadrant No.8, Spring 1958, 'The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards', Quadrant, July-August, 1965, 'Aboriginal Balladeer, The Australian, 3 July, 1965:12, 'The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards', Australian Tradition, No 12 (Vol.3 NO.^), January 1967 53. CD Rowley, 1972284 54. J Beckett, 'The Land Where t h e Crow Flies Backwards', 1965a:41 55. J Beckett, 'Aborigines Make Music', 1958:37
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56. J Beckett, 1958:39-40, Another verse in CD Rowley, 1972:53 57. J Beckett, 1958:41 58 J Beckett, 1958:32 59 Several tapes of these ASG sessions are held a t CASM
60. Beckett 1958, 1965a, 1965b, 1967 Also D Young, The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards, Wattle, 1964 However, the title song has also been recorded by folkie Gary Shearston and by Thsmanian country balladeer Athol McCoy 61. J Beckett, 1965(b)
62. J Beckett, 1965(a):42 63 All Dougie's lyrics are from his singing on Beckett tape LA 626, Wilcannia, 1964, held a t AIAS 64 The National Times, 23 June 1979:26
65 AAA has a tape of Dougie, including a new song 'The Treaty' Dougie did not die in 1979, contrary to Pearce in Isaacs, 1979:46 66. T Donaldson, 'Kids That Got Lost', Problems a n d Solutions: Occasional Essays i n Musicology Presented to Alice M Moyk, (eds) J Kassler and J Stubington, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1984:237-38, 246-47
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ABORIGINAL MUSIC AROUND AUSTRALIA A dozen sketches like the Point McLeay and Wilcannia ones would hardly begin to cover the variety of social backgrounds and musical situations from which Aborigines come We can do little more than draw attention to names and places, occasionally describing in more detail such music and people as we happen to know The hundreds of experienced community professionals and minstrels are not necessarily known outside their own region, even by Aborigines For people with strong family ties, little money, and little access to the media, Australia is still not one country but a collection of semi-autonomous regions, each affected by the national economy and politics only by remote control By European standards, the territory of a given group may be quite large in area and quite small in population A majority of the people we will mention have an importance which makes them household words in their region, at least among Aborigines But in most cases they have achieved this without the aid of the media, and their music goes on in a separated community This is not necessarily their own choice, and perhaps a first step to wider opportunities is for the white public to know that they exist Our quick survey starts with 'colonial Australia' (CD Rowley's term) and works around anticlockwise to 'settled Australia' CHESTER:
CAPE YORK AND THE TOP END
We have no information about non-tribal music in the large tropical and predominantly tribal region of Cape York Peninsula, Torres Strait Islands and the Gulf Country, apart from the popularity among younger Aborigines of Island style singing, with harmonised thirds accompanied by guitars, seed rattles, skin drums, and even spoons But there are plenty of tapes of Tbrres Strait folk songs at the Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS), in the language but westernised in style A few such songs have been published by Ron Edwards? The tropical Tbp End of the Northern Territory has an even higher proportion of tribal full bloods than North Queensland Traditional life in the Arnhem Land reserve faces many new pressures, especially from mining towns, but there is much musical activity Jack Goodluck writes that there has been a movement of new song-making in Amhem Land church circles since 1970:
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James Galarrwuy Yunupingu, who was later to become famous as the chairman of the Northern Land Council, wrote the following words in English to a haunting Elcho Island tune:
Ancestors of our land, I bring you back to present time. Walk about living on the life you knew. New worlds you never dreamed of are i n our hands. That same year. George Winunguj of Goulburn Island (Warawi) translated an English language verse into Maung and set the words to a traditional tune:
Run into the future, run, Run into the rising SUM, Run into the future, run, Men who run are building the world of tomorrow. He had collaborated with an American churchman in Singapore to write that verse Winunguj allowed me to sing this song as his brother and trainer of his people and their staff members for community development work I shall never forget singing it to an international church group on a hillside in Java, accompanied by Winunguj who had created a didjeridu from local bamboo
On Galiwin'ku (Elcho Island), a seven member family band playing electric instruments is now a substantial business Called Soft Sands and led by Frank Djirrimbilbilwuy, who has been church organist, unofficial social worker and town clerk, the band formed in about 1975 They began playing country gospel, and now have three main vocalists, including Frank (who also plays keyboards) and lead songwriter Dick Mununggu. Mununggu is a senior tribal songman, despite being only in his early forties, and has also written more than forty original country songs. Among them is the famous 'Arnhem Land Lullaby', CO-authoredand recorded by Ted Egan The band sings mostly country and western in English and Gupapuyungu, and has won awards in Tamworth They toured for years to Central Australia and more recently to the USA and Canada. They still play gospel music for church conferences.3 The cassette Soft Sands (CAAMA) ends with two songs written and sung by Mununggu, in country-gospel form but with his vocal line and style strikingly reminiscent of Arnhem Land tribal singing; a unique sound Darwin, with its part Aboriginal population, has an experienced country and rock band, The Mystics, led by Robert Brown. According to Robert's brother Peter, Mrs Kathleen Mills in Darwin 'has composed songs and poetry for most of her life' and is 'the driving force' behind The Mills Sisters, a group formed by her daughters
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Ballad writer Bob Randall p e r f m i ? t g at a C U M concert in Scots Church, Adelaide in 1973
The Top End's most famous English language balladeer is Bob Randall, currently lecturing at Wollongong University Born in 1934 at Angas Downs Station in the Centre, he learned to play on homemade guitars while at high school.6 He and his songs have become widely known through the various jobs he has held in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Darwin and elsewhere. Both he and his wife 'had been parted as children from their families by welfare and taken to Croker Island As adults they had gone on a pilgrimage to Central Australia seeking their lost loved ones and the identity that had been taken from them' Bob sometimes sings of horses, dances, and romances and has a version of a popular Arnhem Land contact song He also has a song 'in the language' with an English verse: I have travelled far away from. m y home Because you said that I should go lb learn a new way of life; But m y spirit remains in Amhem Land 8
His songs are in a hillbilly ballad style which often shows signs of country and western, both in the slightly twangy voice (whether high or low), and the often swung rhythm But his rhythm is strongly Aboriginal Frequent half bars are added or deleted; apparently standard 'oompah' figures do not always
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keep in time with the changing bar lengths, and so cause a kind of slow polyrhythm; and there is a similar flexibility in the rhythm of chord changes 9 Most of Bob's songs arise from the experiences of culture clash He can express them powerfully and concisely but without aggression, as in 'Mix-up Man': The mission changed m y life B y just making me have one wife. The Welfare gives me food: Tb do nothing must be good (Chorus) Who a m I? What a m I? W h a t will happen until I die? M y father had a will, W h e n hungry he'd go and kill If I sit and wait I'll be eating off a plate.
Some say if you be white Living will be all right When sober I be sad; When drunk I'm plurry glad Maybe I get a job, For grog I make few bob. As far as I can see It's the only thing left for me.
His 'Red Sun, Black Moon' is sung hypnotically in a deep Johnny Cash voice. It is about the Coniston massacre of 1928: Black moon, keep shining overhead, On past memories of my people lying dead I can't see what the future holds, But I hope i t won't be people lying cold
Bob is the only songwriter I know who has tackled the origins, emotional realities, and consequences of the so called 'half caste problem': the sexual exploitation of Aboriginal women by white frontiersmen, the 'great dirty joke Black Velvet.'1Â'Why Are You Ashamed of Me?' and 'I'll Keep Watching the Harbour' are about black people deserted by white lovers 'Black Velvet (Ringa's Girl)' is a great favourite where Bob's songs are known: On a cattle station north you said you loved me; m y skin was black you said you didn't care. The story's changed since we are in the city: When you see me on the street, you t u r n the other way.
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(Chorus) 'Black Velvet, m y darling', you wed to say. I'd love you always, please don't go away. You taught me the kisses that I never knew. Though m y heart is breaking, it will never show. On the mustering camps up bush you always kept me By your side without no shame and no care. It seems to me like horses I a m treated, Just used for the season and then let out to graze.
His slow country and western ballad 'Brownskin Baby' expresses very powerfully the receiving end of the next stage of the 'half caste problem' White Australia has expected that 'all persons of Aboriginal descent will choose to attain a similar manner and standard of living to that of other Australians'." Tb speed up the choosing, officers of protection and welfare boards often used police t o remove light skinned children forcibly from their families, to be fostered, institutionalised, educated or apprenticed LEILA: One day at Point McLeay Reserve I heard a knock on the door, and on answering, found two public servants employed by the then Department of Aboriginal Affairs, who informed me that I had neglected to get a permit for my youngest child to reside with us The child was then about six to eight weeks old 'Was I aware that my child could be taken away from me?' Well, that was the last straw! I stood and told them that the only way they would get my child would be over my dead body I have seen for myself Aboriginal children taken from their parents by force, with the poor mother chasing the car up the road screaming and weeping for her child.12 CHESTER: Many Aboriginal communities in all states have bitter and sometimes very recent memories over many a brownskin baby:13 (Chorus) 'Ya-00-wee,ya-oo-wee, My brownskin baby, they take 'im away' As a young preacher I used to ride My quiet pony around the countryside. In the native camp I'll never forget A young black mother, her cheeks all wet Between her sobs I heard her say 'Police bin take 'im m y baby away. From white man boss that baby I had: Why he let 'im take baby away?'
Tb a children's home a baby came With new clothes on, and a new name. Day and night he would always say 'Mummy, Mummy, why they take me away?'
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The child grew up and had to go From the mission home that he loved so. lb find his mother he tried i n vain; Upon this earth they never met again
It is Bob's own experience, and the poignant vocal harmonies arouse very deep emotions wherever they are sung, from Croker Island to Sydney, and around the Centre by Isaac Yama in Pitjantjatjara. THE NOETHWEST
The tropical Northwest region of the Kimberleys has the 'singing politician' 'Aboriginal pastoralist and country and western singer, Mr Ernie Bridge has been elected to the seat of Kimberley in the WA State Parliament M r Bridge was formerly a member of the WA Aboriginal Lands Trust and for many years was President of the Halls Creek Shire Council 'l4 He won the election despite the provision of barrels of liquor outside certain polling booths to help Aboriginal voters not to vote.15 Many of his songs are about the Northwest and his life there He recorded "Helicopter Ringer", which is well known Kimberley Favourites, his first album, focuses on Aboriginality with a strong commitment to the bush Aboriginal and the Aboriginal way of life, as exhibited in two tracks, "AlbertBarungan(the late Mowanjum figure) and "MyPeople" Ernie does a Christmas show each year which features other Aboriginal musicians and is aimed at Aboriginal patronage He has another recording out .on cassette 'l6
Ernie's many songs are bush ballads in a breezy Slim Dusty-ish style with most of the attention on the words He also sings Lawson and Paterson; 'I sing an Aussie song' he sings: only Australian He has shown that Aboriginal musicians can succeed while doing so. He is now WA's Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Broome, an old pearling centre, has its own culture and is a hive of musical activity I summarise the situation as described by CASM tutors Sonja Arnolds and Ron Nicholls, who have both visited Broome to liaise with Aboriginal musicians there There is a mixture of cultures in the town itself, with many people of mixed Aboriginal and Asian (Filipino, Japanese) descent, and a minority of whites. Pearling songs, Japanese dancing and karate exhibitions are part of the town culture. Many of the Aborigines were brought up on Beagle Bay Mission. A few are still closely connected with traditional life and song, and some of the young people are 'going through the Law' in a resurgence of interest in their
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Aboriginal heritage People from further inland as well as the coast live on the nearby reserve Broome is the musical focus for the whole Kimberley region. Ron met and recorded members of an Aboriginal band which was playing swing jazz standards for dances in the 1940s In the 1960s, several bands were playing, including the Broome Beats, featuring singer and storyteller Steve Albert (now an educationalist) These older bands sang little original material, but songwriting was common among the younger bands of the 1970s. Musicians often play in more than one band As well as the usual country and western background and rock developments, many of the musicians have a strong affinity with the atmosphere, subject matter and style of calypso and reggae Some songs feature a straight country and western verse with a calypso or perhaps reggae chorus Older people seem to like reggae too, even traditionally oriented people In 1981two Broome bands came to Adelaide: Kuckles to study at CASM, and Sunburn to play with them and record Since this contact, plans have gone ahead to establish a music centre in Broome modelled on CASM, as part of a new Aboriginal centre ROSIE: Sunburn played boogie and electric blues, and preferred to leave politics alone and sing about love and good times Kuckles used their time in Adelaide to develop their sound from its previous acoustic calypso style to electric reggae rock, and to record and write songs They performed in Germany as part of an Australian contingent which included Wandjuk Marika, at the Third International Cologne Song Festival in 1982 CHESTER: There they were confronted by the question 'what's Aboriginal about your music?' and they came home determined to work on it, by using traditional instruments or other means Kuckles and other young bands often write songs about their Broome lifestyle For example, Kuckles' 'Fishing', by Mick Manolis, celebrates coastal bush tucker: Everyday, go dawn to the water; Going to catch some fishes today, lb feed m y woman, m y son and m y daughter. Times are hard, we surviving this way. (Chorus) We going fishing daytime, we going fishing night time, We going fishing daytime, We going fishing night time, daytime"
'Traffic Lights' by Mick Manolis and Steve Pigram, both singer/guitarists, told of the confusion of life in Adelaide: ROSIE:
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Songwriter/vocalist J i m Chi of Brooms at CASM in 1981
Have you ever had that feeling That you don't control your own mind? 'Cause while he's blinking, he is thinking, Oh traffic light, he thinks you're blind18
But political songs emerged during the Noonkanbah crisis of 1980 such as 'Noonkanbah Blues': So give us a hand, you people, Please give us back our land So we can stay and live in harmony.19
Vocalist Jim Chi's 'Brand New Day' was used by the Noonkanbah protesters as their theme song: Here I live in this t i n shack, Nothing here worth coming back Tb drunken fights and awful sights, People drunk 'most every night Gov'ment give us pension cheque, Steal it off with income tax No jobs for MS, but they all sag,
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"Gw'mentgive us a brand new day' (Chorus) 'On the way to a brand new day' Everybody, everybody say. It make me slag.nO
Along with other Broome musicians, Jim declares that their calypso sounding acoustic music is Aboriginal, not reggae at all Kuckles were influenced by No Fixed Address's driving rhythms and sharp guitar riffs, while they retained a distinctive light touch on drums (Gary Gower) and melody, as well as some Aboriginal words in their lyrics CHESTER: Sometimes this leads to a deliberately elusive in-group humour, as in 'Nyul-nyul Girl', or the slurred Aboriginal station English can be stylised to speak for the outback Aborigines, as in 'Brand New Day' Kuckles have written modal songs like 'Money Ain't Everything' plus a kind of calypso-rockboogie 'Kangaroo Marriage'
Mick and Steve have picked up somewhere a melody-chord approach to fingering which is usually associated with classical and jazz stylings, rather than the open chord folk or bar chord rock fingerings which are usual with players not formally trained The result is a richer harmonic texture, as in the instrumental in 'Traffic Lights', where they play an E-major arpeggio over an Eminor one DOUG:
CHESTER: Kuckles returned to Broome in 1982 and disbanded. Mick and Jim are now with an eight piece rock reggae band called Bingurr ('Moonlight' in Bardi language):
They're a fresh new sound incorporating a brass section Material is mainly original with a few golden oldies, tastefully arranged Nulungu College music teacher Frankie 'Puku' Shoveller, lead vocalist with Bingurr, has his own recording available on cassette Frankie has a country folk style with somewhat of a reggae feel Bingurr are gaining enormous popularity in Broome Another Aboriginal band, Scrapmetal, who are made up of the Pigram brothers, play regularly at the local nightspot, the Roebuck Bay Hotel 21 DOUG: Another young talent from Broome is Arnold Smith, a guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has diverse interests-reggae, folk, jazz, rock, classicaland this is all reflected in his original material He writes love songs, subtle protest songs, and surreal fantasies As a soloist, he had some success within Adelaide's folk community, and he communicates well with kids' groups He has produced a cassette, Stop Ringing the Submission Bells
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TOE WESTERh' AND CENTRAL DESERT REGIONS
Western Australia is about half the size of Europe outside Russia, and the Western Desert region is a large proportion of the state. But we know nothing about non-tribal music there except for the gospel music of the recent Elchoinfluenced revival in the Warburton area However, the United Aborigines Mission (U A M ) has been active there, and is now producing cassettes of local Christian musicians and evangelists GUY: Wilf Douglas reports that the Warburton crusade team and its musicians, directed at white and black, tribal and non-tribal audiences, have reduced alcoholics to tears of repentance. They also reduced Kalgoorlie pubs' business enough to give fright to publicans as far away as Wiluna Some of their music is original.22
CHESTER: Continuous with the Western Desert is the enormous Central Desert, the famous 'dead heart', which again has a large majority of tribal full bloods Traditional culture is still strong in many places, but there are many very depressed settlements, such as those created by the exile of groups as far apart as Maralinga and Warburton for the British rocket and bomb tests in the 1950s 23 Many people in the Centre are bilingual and bimusical. Often the same people are involved in tribal, church and political life. Music in the Centre is publicised and recorded by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) in Alice Springs, by far the most enterprising producer of Aboriginal music so far. Choirs are strong here. Philip Battye of CAAMA lists Ernabella and Amata (Pitjantjatjara), Warburton (Ngaanyatjarra), and Hermannsburg (Aranda), as well as the Yirara Girls' Choir in Alice Springs. Some of these have toured in the south The Ernabella Choir has toured to Fiji, and some of its members have recorded a Pitjantjatjara Landrights Song, 'How Can You Buy My Grandfather?', written by Bill DavkZ4Original gospel music is a spinoff from the traditions of vernacular hymn and chorus singing. For instance, Trevor Adamson, as well as being an initiated man, one of South Australia's first Pitjantjatjara schoolteachers, has put out a cassette in country gospel style Some of it is in English, some in Pitjantjatjara. One very noticeable feature of it is the rhythmic freedom, with a large number of extra half bars or 5/4 bars Another is the piercing tribal sound of children's voices singing with him 26
A major community professional, and a major inspiration to younger bands in the Centre, is Isaac lama. According to Bill Davis, Isaac was born in Docker River and has lived at Areyonga, Jay Creek and Amoongana A strong family man,
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Pitjantjatjara songwriter I s m Yama Photograph by John Corker, courtesy of CAAMA
he sings with his relatives as the Pitjantjatjara Country Band, and has toured most of the Centre's communities He has worked occasionally for the Pitjantjatjara Council, and in 1984 toured all the Ngaanyatjarra communities before playing a t Warburton for Western Australia's Seaman Inquiry into land rights His sound is distinctive, the tunes being at the gospel or old ballad end of the country spectrum They are typically syllabic, but with lyrical excursions, with very little syncopation and mostly three chord accompaniments and lots of expanded and contracted phrases. The famous 'Docker River Song', to an introduced m a n folk tune Isa Lei, fits into this repertoire He sings only in Pitjantjatjara, in a husky voice which owes much to tribal models and nothing to American ones Often his woman Isobel or his sons are singing harmonies or in unison Among Aboriginal singers he is almost unique in regularly employing a 'talking blues' presentation The accompanimentsare often acoustic, combining hillbilly guitar with quick ukelele style strokes high up on a second guitar. His many original songs are not narratives but celebrations, often of the homeland where the grandfathers sit and inexhaustible bush tucker is found? 'Ankupayi Ngura Panya Tjila' ('Let Us Go Tb Our Home Tjila'), has several short and similar verses about the various bush foods (One could validly compare this form with the verses of a tribal song series ) 'Katilanya Malaku Ngura
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Walytjakutu' ("fake Me Back Ib the Land of My Relations') is one of a number of songs about Kaltukatjara (Docker River) Another song, 'Ngura Fanya Pip*' is about 'our home Pipila', where all can drink, and where people from every centre are going Guy hears the chorus varying subtly as follows: 1 ngura pana Pipilu home earth Pipila anangu tjutangku tjikilpayi people many drink 2. ngura palya pipila home good Pipila anangu tjutangku tjilkilpayi people many drink This form is strikingly similar to that used in many Desert tribal verses: a short text laden with heartfelt meanings, which may be repeated in t h e next verse with a change of only one sound or word, so adding another layer of meaning Isaac Yama has lively songs for children, one with the call of t h e Barn Owl; a tribute to Gus Williams, 'the mountain man of Wati music'27;a lament for Amoongana, the tribal fringe camp at Alice Springs, the 'place of unhappiness, sickness and death, that people always want to leave behind'; and his own idiosyncratic translated version of 'Brownskin Baby', which he has sometimes dramatised Howard Groome writes: 'Isaac Yama's words and sentiment are pure PitjantjatjaraJAranda, expressing all the longing for home places where life can be simple and nearer to the traditional There is no anger against the whites-just longing for the old ways'28 Alice Springs is home base for touring professional singer Auriel Andrew She has worked with Reg Lindsay, Chad Morgan, Johnny Mack, Brian Young and many others, building a considerable reputation and a busy schedule in the national country music circuit.29 A young electric band from Papunya, consisting of four Aboriginal men and one white, has recently made quite a hit. The band's name, Warumpi means honey ant dreaming, being one of the sites at which the honey ants camped The Warumpis see themselves not as black people playing white music, but as a group of musicians who have synthesised the best of two cultures into one musical form Their influences they list as Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones and every country and western artist who has ever been in town 30
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According to Philip Battye, they identify themselves as Luritja and sing sometimes in English and sometimes in a Pintupi-Luritja dialect They play stylish light, bright country rock spiced with boomerang claps, and their original songs by Neil Murray (the white guitarist), Sammy Butcher and others, show a clear sense of homeland roots 'Warumpinya', possibly the name of a waterhole on the north of Papunya hill, celebrates 'our good home Papunya' in cheerful shouts and quick rock rhythms 'Kintorelalcutu' has a fresh approach to three chord form, playing the basic chords in three different keys successively Without bitterness, it exuberantly spells out the motivation of the Kintore homeland movement, in energetic syllabic polyrhythms very reminiscent of tribal singing (Kintore is a new tribal camp far to the west, nearer to the heart of Pintupi country): Arnangu tjurta kakawara n yinapayi ( A lot of people always stay in the east, ie Papunya) Tjurratja tjikira nganarna pikarripayi (Aftei drinking grog we always start fighting) Nganarna kakarrara wiyarrinyi (In the east we are becoming nothing) Nganarna watjilarrinyi (We are yearning for our own country) (Chorus) Arralaka w i l w a r r a Kintore-lakutu! (We must go west towards Kintore!) Tjamuku ngurrangka palya nyinantjaku (We'll be better in our grandfather's country )31
They also have an anti-drinking song in their language: This grog will finish you off Don't be like this m a n 32
All this shows a clear affinity with older community musicians 'They are very popular in Central Australia, and all express a desire t o "go home" as soon as they can Non-urban Australia is at least as important musically as Europe, the band feels This statement is of added significance because it was made when they played in Sydney in 1983 and their record became a top hit among Redfern blacks, with 'JailanguruPakarnu' ('Out From Jail') actually making the Tbp Forty on some Sydney and Melbourne radio stations They have been toured several times in the cities by Hot Records, with great success, but they prefer the 'rush of inspired enthusiasm' of outback Aboriginal communities, where the 'organisational shambles didn't seem to matter. The Aboriginal way also ensured that an otherwise disorganised band with limited resources could still travel and find gigs's4 ls3
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There is a Pintupi electric band operating at Kintore. They play gospel music, but we know little else about them. They make recordings for their own use only 35 CHESTER: A newly formed young group, Ilkari Maru, based at Amata, has recorded original rock and country rock in English and Pitjantjatjara, replete with flexible bar lengths.36!I%e centre has a number of well known vernacular, English language, or bilingual hillbilly singem and song writers: b y Forrester, Wally Morris, Frank Byrne, Colin Pound, Gus Williams and others, but notably Herbie Laughton, with his guitar and pipe. Herbie was born in 1927 and his connections are with the Aranda people of Alice Springs, Finke River and Hermannsburg His songs are in English, many of them in the Buddy Williams tradition; they include some country and western love songs, topical songs like 'The Southern Stuart Highway' and songs of home like 'My Finke River Home' and 'MacDonnell h g e s ' 'Ghan to the Alice' is an up-tempo ballad about the famous train: GUK
?Wwn bneliness and s m and tvoubk comes m y way, Rim.&I have so many to help m any day. m n sickness overtakes me, I won't be all alone, My dear old folks are waiting to w e k m me hmm.
(Charus)Tb those far distan4 ranges, valkys and plains, Mother Naturek calling me back hmne again %e's fifty m i k s befwe me, nine hundred m i k s behind, And this old Ghan is rocking me back hmne on
This is friendly, homely music about some of the basic values, sung with zest in a characteristic Aboriginal accent. Herb also has some deeply felt laments in country waltz form about the tragedy represented by the camp at Amoongana. He introduces 'Arunta Man's Dream' with an accompanied story about 'my old Uncle Sid, locally known as Hungung' and sings: No more will his young race then folbw, As the laws of his ancestors p m ; And his race now will all be fmgotten As his Beamtime is all in the past
(Chorus)Gone are the d r e a m of tomarrow, And there's TW one to take on his past; B r his Beamtime hm now t u m d to s m w As t h whii% man now walks i n his path Is there ever a place f w the dark ?nun In this wondqful nation so grand? AV they are the dinkum Australians, But the white man hm taken their land
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In slow waltzes like this one, Herb often shows his independence of European dance origins by adding or omitting one beat at certain times, especially in the instrumental interludes 3s 'He is a regular compere and host at the annual Aboriginal Country Music Festival Herbie's songs have been recorded by other artists such as Buddy Wi1liam~'~O Gus Williams was born at Alice Springs and raised at Hemannsburg where for years he conducted coach tours, managed an artefacts shop and gave concerts Since 1976 he has been active in community councils at Warrabri and Hermannsburg 'Mr Williams has led the Country Bluegrass Band for more than a decade It has gained local and interstate popularity and includes members of his family'40His touring shows have sometimes included Walbiri tribal dancers 41 Warburton girl Josie Boyle has recorded two cassettes of popular hit and gospel songs in Wongi, a Pitjantjatjara dialect,42while Yuendumu teacher %ss Nabauari has collaborated with Ted Egan to write 'Wawirri' ('Kangaroo') This song introduces children to some Warlpiri words
SOUTHWEST WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Closer to 'settled Australia', the Aboriginal population becomes less tribal and more 'part Aboriginal' The southwest of Western Australia has a flourishing Aboriginal musical life, much of it publicised through Aboriginal radio on 6NR, Perth, or at festivals like 'Aboriginal Arts in Perth '83', or at the Nyoongah Community Centre set up in 1977 by Ken and Betty Colbung at Lake Gnangara, near Perth Among the older musicians is Alby 'Bronco' Lovegrove, now in his 60s According to his son Phil, until fifteen years ago Bronco sang and played country and western, including a lot of his own songs, around the southwest from Perth to Geraldton, and did live-to-air radio shows Vi Chitty was born at Mooreesa4=and brought up on the Carnarvon Mission, where in 1946: I was told never to sing an Aboriginal song or I'd get the cane I never had the o p p o r t u ~ t yin the 1940s for schooling or music or any encouragement to further my musical career and there were many like me So now I sing about what I feel deeply inside We are getting up from our sleeping and bondage of the white man's hold over us 44
After living in Collie for many years, she cofounded Perth's Aboriginal Radio in 1978 and broadcast regularly with them until moving east in 1984 She now lives in Cairns
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V i Plays original music influenced by her Aboriginality and the southwest where she grew up Her music borders on a folk-country style and with h e r distinctive voice she gives it a unique and special sound Her autobiography is to be published Vi was a regular and famed busker around Perth
S h e recorded a single, 'Awakening', in 1979, appeared in the play Through the B h k Door in 1983 and produced a cassette, lbll Frees (jarrah of course) 46 Some of the songs are about places and personalities, some tell a story in accompanied speech as well as song, some are explicitly 'gospel' She has the very flexible approach to phrasing which we have seen in other Aboriginal performers, b u t often with less sense of divided phrases and more of a feeling of flowing prose. Several songs are meditations in minor keys, an unusual feature with Aboriginal artists. Mew Graham is an excellent singer-guitarist interested in contemporary pop and black protest music He recorded '150 on Down the Line' as the B side to Vi Chitty's 'Awakening' His recent music is chart oriented, having a more pop influence He recently returned to Perth to concentrate o n music after a two year stint as a country welfare worker.47
Merv's vocals in '150' are in a polished, intimate pop style, comparable among Aboriginal musicians only with Hard Times His lead guitar playing can be heard o n some tracks of Vi's cassette Marcia McGuire is a vocalistlguitarist with a preference for popular country music and gospel influenced music With one of the best voices around, Marcia is a well sought after artist In 1982 she represented Western Australia at the Coca Cola Quest in 'Runworth and collected first prize She has toured the state with Ernie Bridge and provided backing vocals on his latest album She also performs some of her own compositions Neil Phillips alvays tries to keep an all-Aboriginal band called Black Label Their music is aimed at the general Aboriginal public, which is interested in mainstream country music Their repertoire also includes some of the well known rock'n'roll numbers of the past The band includes singerlguitarist Des Mippy, who is an exponent of moving ballads He also plays saxophone, organ and piano, in which he is self taught He also plays in his own band and is widely known in the southwest The A t k h sisters, Donna and Sandy, are polished vocalists with a popcountry style Donna plays guitar they am versatile singers who do rock and country and entertain at festivals and horse shows, either as solo or duo They have made many talent quest and TV show
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appearances Both have been singing since they were nine Sandy performed for two yeam with the Johnny Young %lent School in Perth when she was in her early teens Kevin Gunn is classified as one of the best Aboriginal guitarists in this state With two albums under his belt, he's a popular artist at festivals and concerts 49 He concentrates on country music and is renowned for 'picking out' a tune 60
He frequently tours with Rick and The1 Carey, and also writes his own country and gospel songs Wayne also mentioned a jazz style singer, Lois Olney Betty Colbung has written songs and Ken plays didjeridu, as do R d Wilkes (who appears on Josie Boyle's cassettes) and Richard Walley of Middar Aboriginal Theatre, Perth George Walley sings and writes country gospel music with his wife b s e NORTHERN SOUTH AUSTRALL4
Port Augusta is the strategic centre of South Australia's mid north region, from Eyre Peninsula to the Flinders Fbnges, with a considerable flow of Aboriginal people from tribal areas further northwest But local tribal traditions in many parts of this area have been largely extinguished, within living memory From Koonibba, near Ceduna, comes a young but experienced electric band Coloured Stone, formed in 1978 and now well known throughout Australia It has played in five states and has recorded songs for the film Death on the Golclen Mik 63 Led by the dynamic drummeq lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist, Rupert 'Buna' Lawrie, the h e u p has included Mackie and Neil Coaby, Bruce Lawrie, and others at various times, among them Bart Willoughby of No Fixed Address They based themselves at Alice springs for a time, but Buna has now moved to lbwrnsviUe DOUG: Coloured Stone has remained a popular band in Aboriginal circles, but for a long time was unable to gain a white audience Lack of management, backing and promotion could be cited, but there is a further reason, their musical Aboriginality They play rock and country rock, but often break accepted white rules, such as square phrasing and constant rhythms, even when doing cover versions of popular standards Dougie Young does the same thing White audiences saw these deliberate colourations as mistakes By being uncompromising about this, Coloured Stone alienated white audiences, albeit for wIong reasons, but they have pleased blacks and done valuable service in sticking to Aboriginal phrasing and rhythm CHESTER: This can be heard in all of Buna's songs Not only may phrases vary in length, but verses may vary in their number of phrases 'Waiting for the Tide', a love song, exemplifies this and also shows the band's warm sense
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of full harmony, every chord relished and resonated. This kind of sound is dear to the hearts of people who grew up with harmonised hymns, country and gospel: I see the birds a-with their babies on the beach; They must be teaching every one of each But when they learn how to fly up in the deep blue sky, But birds don't have no pride; they don't wait f w the t i e they get tiredfmrn the places that they'veflied (C'lwrus) Because I'm waiting for the tide Tb wash away every tears that I cry.64
Another of Buna's songs 'I Miss my Way of Living', puts his people's case in strong and simple language: We used to feel our land U& our feet, But now i t k t u m d into street.% We used to live off this land, But now we watch the town expand (Chorus) I miss m y way of liwing What ok we get for thunhgiving? I miss t k things w e did, And I miss the w a y we used to live. And when we get sick, we don't get the s u m t ~ e a t m n as t the whites We always fight for our rights We always had dis&mination, But we have a strong determination They rate us second class, But we know all about the past
Buna has made a minor key adaptation of this song in a kind of staccato reggae style rock. He says this direction developed out of 'Dancing in the Moonlight'. Coloured Stone's cassette mingles these newer songs with t h e older country rock ones, while Buna's high, driving vocal style with occasional glottal inflections uniquely developed, gives a rough energy to both styles. The band has the distinction of making the first ever record on Aboriginal-controlled label (CAAMA's Impaua). It is a single which includes 'Kapi Pulka' ('Big Rain'), a traditional story of the beginning, and 'Black Boy', on Buna's recurring theme of children: Black boy, black boy, The colour of gour skin is your pride and joy.66
In the F'linders Ftanges, Leigh Creek has produced at least two country and western song writers, Elva Bright and her son Gerald, though they are only
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PoethnusiaianLeih Bankine with her daughter, ~er/flautist/pian¥is VeronzCa
Bankine and grandson, William, at the premiere of the f i l m 'Wrong Side of the Road'
to be heard so far at Aboriginal parties Buck McKenzie, of Port Augusta, who played with the Wildwood Country Band in Adelaide in 1982-83, has written songs for TV Also in Port Augusta is the Kujani Country Band, led by Fred Buckskin and his brother Kenny, ex lead singer with Wildwood Band
THE ADELAIDE REGION
The closely settled Adelaide region includes the very old Aboriginal missions of Point McLeay and Point Pearce and an interrelated Aboriginal population in Adelaide and the towns of Yorke Peninsula and the Lower Murray Among the older musicians, Leila Rankine has been reciting her many poems and singing at black community functions around Adelaide ever since she moved there in 1964 Before 1972, she and Dora Hunter were singing with the Salvation Army; Leila then joined the Adelaide Aboriginal Orchestra and played cello and later trombone In 1976 she became chairperson of CASM Through her influence and that of her sister, Veronica Brodie (singer, pianist, violinist and now an Aboriginal health worker) the orchestra and its ensemble of skilled players were heard in churches, senior citizens' clubs, schools, parklands and the black community in
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Pianist Dora Hunter perfarming at a CASM concert in Scots Church. Adelaide in, 1973
Adelaide and country centres. Leila has been a focal person in trying to bring together new, young ideas and the older Aboriginal traditions, both tribal and nontribal 59 Dora Hunter is the daughter of Harry Hunter (senior) of Point McLeay, but has lived mainly in Adelaide. She began to learn piano while living in the United Aborigines Mission's Colebrook Home for Aboriginal girls at Quorn and shifted to Adelaide with the home in 1944. Later she learned formally, collecting and shelling almonds in order to pay for music and lessons Winifred Atwell met and encouraged her at that time and has been her inspiration. For about twenty years, Dora has been pursuing music as well as training and then working full time in welfare.
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Cabaret singer Val Power singing at a CASM concert in Scots Church, Adelaide i n 1973
She plays accordion, steel guitar and mouth organ and sings in one of Adelaide's small choral groups She is most renowned for her piano and organ playing at all kinds of events in both the black and white communities Val Power, born in Point McLeay and raised in Wellington, took regular acting and singing roles with Joyce Johnson's Nindithana theatre group in Melbourne Back in Adelaide, she became a very familiar face at many Aboriginal events, some of them musical. She is a powerful hostlcompere of many concerts and dances and sings variety style songs She and a number of other Aboriginal women were the driving forces of the Widjarookie Players, a variety theatre group which diversified in 1981 as a singing group, with song writer Naomi Dempsey 60
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Cherie Watkins is a full time welfare worker a t Gawler. She is also a song writer, guitarist, painter, poet and potter. The daughter of Fred Turner, a Western Australian who came to live at Point McLeay, s h e spent much of her childhood o n South Australia's northern stations from Leigh Creek to Marree: Where I grew up, there was no radio or TV; personal music was the only entertainment, and every second person had an instrument Both my parents were musical, my father playing several instruments (when he could get hold of one) He had his own banjo mandolin, which I learnt 61 Tiaking her family to many parties in Adelaide, Point McLeay and Point Pearce, Cherie became interested in writing songs and learned guitar, 'mostly from other Nungas, who were self taught' 62 Encouraged by Max and Cath Ellis in the early days of CASM at the Port Adelaide Friendship Club, she wrote more songs, played trombone with the Aboriginal Orchestra and has continued to perform solo at parties Her song, 'Prison's Nothing Special', is becoming well known in the southeast With her low pitched, slightly twangy voice occasionally using the glottal inflections, t h e style is hillbilly, heading for country and western. The form is four square, the words and style incisive: Come listen all you Nungas, come listen to m y tale Of our poor downtrodden brothers a-rotting there in jail They've committed no real crime, apart from being black Some don't know why they're in there, and they'll probably go back (Chorus) But prison's nothing special to any Nunga I know, 'Cause the white m a n makes i t prison 'most everywhere we go.
The last verse rallies the Nunga morale: That's how m y story started, and probably will end; But don't be too downhearted: at least we don't pretend
Essie Coffey sings this song, substituting the eastern 'Koori' for 'Nunga' 'Carrington Hotel' consists of Cherie's music t o words by Cyril Coaby, an Adelaide Aboriginal health worker. It is another hillbilly ballad, sung very low and gutsy, and vividly captures the experience of knowing that the one place you can find congenial Nunga company for a drink is the place where you'll be most likely to get into trouble: I n the heart of Adelaide city there's a place we know so well; Some say it's just like heaven, but others call it hell I n the day time or the night time, if you're passing thru' Skid Bow, You'll always find a Nunga who's got no place to go.
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And if you happen to be drinking in the lounge or in the bar There's every kind of Nunga; they come from w a r and far. You can meet your own relations, and find a long lost friend Some say they won't go near there, but they'll be there in the end And of the inmates at the watch house, it's nine times out of ten That they will be arrested in that same old place again And it's said i f you're a copper and you haven't made a pinch, Just take a walk down that way; no worries it's a cinch! But no matter what they say or do, or try to r u n it down, It's still the Nunga's own retreat, the only one in town It's in the heart of Adelaide city, a place we all know well; Some say it'sjust like heaven: the C a h n g t u n Hotel 64
A few older Aboriginal pub band musicians of Point McLeay origin have been pursuing independent careers. John Bingapore (who died in 1984) and Stan Karpany both played around Adelaide for many years. Les Sumner, a guitarist, drummer and song writer, played in a number of white bands and cofounded Country Freedom (of Murray Bridge). Stan Karpany and Billy Wilson now continue with this band while Les has pursued his career with Black Pearl and others Young talents like Peter Butler (ex-Us Mob), continue to look for their own niches. Noel Wilson has moved from Point McLeay to Adelaide and continues to play piano in country and western and gospel styles for Aboriginal events. Carroll Karpany (exUs Mob) has formed an all-Aboriginal band, Nukkunya (a Narrunga-derived word common around Adelaide, meaning 'see you there').66 Veronica Rankine, Leila's daughter, is a singer, pianist, flute and sax player. She spent some years with the Aboriginal Orchestra, a year or so singing with No Fixed Address, and has worked with the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre in Sydney and Sue Barker's band in Adelaide. More recently, she is playing in CASM bands and has been an exchange student in New Guinea. CASM is a major focus for young Aboriginal musicians at the moment Apart from all these actual and potential professionals, informal and formal, the Adelaide region has its undergrowth of minstrels There is the old stager, Ted 'Feather' Chester of Point Pearce, who has songs of his own, some country and western and some in the old gossip ballad vein, such as 'The Point Pearce Cardsharps' : Hullo everybody, now don't get me wrong, For I wrote you a song of this place I belong The people included you all know so well, So sit down and listen, the story I tell:
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(Chorus) The F o i n t Pearce cardsharps are too good for me. 'You don't believe me, just try them and see. Came to the game with a handful of notes, Now I got nothing, not even a smoke.
A queen of the table is old Charlotte Gray She might be a ratbag, hut boys, she can play-
and so on down the list 66 Another song writer is Nelson 'Snooky' Varcoe, also of Point Pearce, who was leading a band called Hi-Tide at CASM for a while in 1980-81 67 Young poet Robbie Walker was born in Port Augusta, with Point Pearce connections, according to Sonja Arnolds Much of his life has been spent in institutions and jail and he reflects on this in the booklet of poems, Up, Not Down, Mate.68 He was influenced by an uncle who made a song about Hindley Street; and also Bob Dylan and Rodriguez, Presley and the James Dean image His songs with acoustic guitar speak of his experiences with the law, race relations and social pressures. The music expresses different moods by different tempos and keys in the one song For example, 'All the Way': You tell me I'm your brother, And you don't mind me living next door; And you tell me that I'm your brother, And you're out t o help me off the floor; (Chorus)And we'll share bread, and we'll share waM, Just as long as I don't try to marry your daughtm70
Or 'Memo to the Bent Heads of the Straight World': So I didn't understand the cold wa? And I didn't see no talking wall, And I should have said no instead of more When I felt myself begin w a l l So I'm gonnu ask m y old friend Tb ride in m y guitar again, Tb dig u p the shallow grave My heart's burled in Then I'm gonna wander Once again i n m y mind Where I know there's thunder And a n old love of mine.71
Enclosing this song with his letter from Fremantle Prison, Robbie wrote: 'I'd send you a tape, but they don't allow that sort of thing here, ya know'. In August 1984 he died in that prison, after a struggle with warders.72
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THE SIVERLAND
On the riverland further up the Murray, Bill Cook at Gerard Reserve has long been playing accordion for dances His son Colin Cook, chairman of the council at Gerard, has a country and western band called The Dreamtimers, who in 1981were the backing group for the South Australian Aboriginal Country Music competition At Mildura, an Aboriginal community lives across the river at Namatjira Avenue Here the Bruntons found a group of minstrels in 1981 MARY: Walter Parkes was in his twenties, an excellent self taught guitarist who sang country and western in the popular white style, nasal and fairly high His model is Charley Pride He eventually sang songs he'd made himself: 'I'm Never Getting Drunk no More' and 'Once you Drink the Devil's Wine' Halfway through our session with Walter, a middleaged man named Brian Whyman joined us He's a singer and self taught guitarist, a drifter, an alcoholic, moving up and down the Murray towns He said he sings mainly his own songs. Many of them deal with his feelings about how he lives One was about prison being his home Another one, which drew a very moving response from the Aborigines in the group, was sung for his two children who had died, saying how much h e missed them and that he'd join them in heaven Brian was regarded as the leading Aboriginal musician amongst all the down and out Aboriginal people in Swan Hill and Mildura. At Swan Hill were the Kirby brothers, John, Josh and Philip, all country and western guitarists They do a lot of work in schools and play with local white artist Slim Connor on his cassette 73 Further still up the Murray at Echuca, in 1981, was a very musical couple, Wes and Barbara Day Mrs Day was a n Atkinson and the Atkinsons, who seem to be scattered all over, obviously have a tradition of musicianship 74 Wes and Barbara both sing and play as a duo and do a lot of work amongst the Aboriginal community. At that stage there was a farm not far from Echuca for the rehabilitation of Aboriginal alcoholics and they used to perform there They also compete in country and western festivals They make a lot of their own songs I spent many hours one afternoon listening to their music At first they would only play their privately produced cassettes because Mr Day's guitar was broken, but he eventually fetched it and played anyway with the guitar's back smashed in They described how one of Wes's songs was composed, when he had come home quite late one night, sat on the bed, picked up his guitar and started singing; when he'd sung a verse, his wife sat up and responded with another verse; he sang the next and she sang the fourth It was a bright love song, quite fast: 'Baby, How I Love You Now' It struck me because it was unexpected, it had so much vitality CHESTER: The Riverland has had many Aboriginal folk entertainers, like Hilton Walsh, Ibm Lyons, Isaac Hunter and Jimmy Little senior, 'who
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apparently had an inexhaustible supply of songs for all occasions. Little had, in earlier days, a touring group of singers' 75
TBE EASTEKN OUTBACK CHESTER: Up the River Darling and into the Eastern Outback there is seasonal movement to and from the Murray MARE Robert Young, son of Dougie, was at Namatjira Avenue in 1982 He's another singer with the deep husky voice and Aboriginal accent He makes a different use of time from white singers and is making his own songs CHESTER: Jeremy Beckett says that 'Dougie Young junior has composed a song about pension day in Wilcannia, called 'Dodge 'em Day' Further north, the Aboriginal settlement of 'Dodge City' (West Brewarrina) is the base for Skipper West and the Westernaires, a country band, and for Essie Coffey (singer, guitarist, drummer) and her band, Black Images 77 Essie is rather a legend in her own lifetime A Murowari born in 1940, her tribal name Essieina Goodgabah ('flower of the honey tree'), she symbolises the determination to solve problems of alcoholism and demoralisation by returning to the homelands, bush living and some of the tribal traditions. She also works for the local Aboriginal Legal Service Her situation and vision are recorded in the film My Survival as an Aboriginal, which won two Australian documentary awards and an international . recommendation She was director, coproducer, actor and musician. The theme song of the film is 'Bush Queen'. In slow country ballad style, starting with harmonised refrain, it is performed quietly and objectively The simple condensed statements with large connotations, remind one of tribal song poetry: (Chorus) Bush queen, bush queen, ah
She's a woman, a beautiful black woman She loves her people, she loves her land She's a fighter, she's a voice of her people. Her dad'sa tribal leader, a leader of his people. His name is Gwdgabah, his tribe is Murowari He fought for his people, he fought for his land He fought for the people that he once knew. He was a hunter, he was the greatest black man (Spoken) This land is our land, this land is our body, This land is our love, this land is our soul This land is our palace, and you and I will be as king and queen Bush queen, bush queen, ah
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(Spoken) The white man came and took our land where once we lived so free. He used his guns, his jail, his grog, as poison weapon is. But did we die, or leave the land we love? No; we have survived, we have lived, and we will never move. Bush queen, bush queen, ah 78
As well as country and western songs about lost love, she has a lilting Latin American influenced song, 'She Moves with the Wind', again expressing a n aspect of her ideal black woman: She moves with the wind, She moves like the wind, She soars like a n eagle With a song on high She is black as the night, Her hair is the colour of a raven, Her beauty the colour of a rainbow; She sings with a song in her heart She travels around With the wind at her back; She carries her guitar With a song on high 79
1
Essie's unusual accent is part of her individuality She often sticks to'g outback Aboriginal pronunciations like 'hon 'igh', and her phrasing has the samfe flexibility as Coloured Stone's
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QUEENSLAND
The east coast of Queensland is part of 'settled Australia', but the Act' has been very much like being in jail or asylum If much of the no music from Queensland sounds militant, this is hardly surprising Mos Queensland information comes from Marlene Cummins Kuranda, in the tropical rainforest region near Cairns, is the home of a very young band, Mantaka (Warrior) ROSIE: They include a &dgeridu in their lineup and played a t Aboriginal events, before they were heard playing at Rock Against Racism concerts during the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, along with No Fixed Address and Redgum
According to Ibina Cundell, a reggae dancer living in Kuranda, 'They have had a bit of experience with some West Indian musicians CHESTER:
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Mantaka band p e r f m i n g inKuranda amphitheatre, North Queensland.Left, Ashley Coleman; right, Albi Gai Photograph by Maureen MacKemie.
who found their way up here. but they are very Aboriginal in their interpretation and style' Les Collins, born in Cherbourg, coordinates a health centre in Cairns In his thirties, he is a solo singerlguitarist who performs mostly his own songs They are protest songs in the Pete Seeger folk tradition; topical, punchy, sometimes funny He has set Kath Walker's sardonic 'No More Boomerang' to music and made his own words for Lennon's tune, 'If You Had the Luck Of the Irish', calling it 'If You Had the Luck Of the Abo' 'How' is a Queensland black's view of our system: Hey black man, while you're slaving out your guts, Sweating, working, trying to get your folks enough, Up there in his building, in his big cushy chair, Sits the big fat big-business man, takes more than his share. Now he don't give a damn about you or us, I f you don't do like he says then he kicks u p a fuss. He don't care i f your house is clean or condemned, Just cares about how much money he's got to spend Your kids they go to school to learn how to live, But the education system it's got nothing to give; It's just geared to suit the big big slob, 'Cause he's got all the money and your kids they'll need a job.91
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Palm Island, the infamous penal settlement of which Willy Thaiday t , ~ produced ~ some musicians and nearby lbwnsville has written in Un&r t h . e A ~ has is a centre for musical life Micky Thaiday, Willy's son, who was raised on Palm Island, is a country and western singer and runs a regular Aboriginal hour on local radio Mick has released a cassette Two Sides of Me (CAAMA); one side is country and western, the other gospel, including two original songs R e d Doolan is a steel guitarist and his sons Billy, Kevin and Raymond and daughter Sivanna, are all musicians The late Pastor Don Brady (Kuwangi) was also born on Palm Island A great mover for Aboriginal rights all over Queensland and especially in Brisbane, he was a musician himself He communicated the value of his tribal heritage to his sons, three of whom are now in Bapu Mamoos, and to his nephew Joe Geia lbwnsville has an articulate Aboriginal student, Eric Barkmeyer, who writes and sings in the acoustic folk pop and protest veins, sometimes playing major seventh, ninth or added chords which show an urban taste hitherto rare among Aborigines 83 Further south in Mackay, the Aboriginal population is small, being far from the surviving tribes and settlements. But also living in the towns are considerable numbers of lbrres Strait Islandem and Pacific Islanders, descendants of indentured cane labourers The South Sea people, the lbrres Strait people and the Murris are culturally quite distinct and do not mix much According to Andy Kiwat, The Hawaiian Quartette, including Andy, his cousin Cecil lbnga, uncle Philip lbnga and Eddie lkrriela (a South Sea man), were playing for social events in Mackay in the early 1970s Eddie abandoned the Hawaiian theme for the Dominoes, which is a band consisting of his whole family, playing country and western and rock Getano Bann remembers his uncle Getano Lui playing solo guitar regularly in a pub; and Ernest Ahwang, a 'Ibrres Strait man, well known for his flamboyant guitar and steel guitar with white bands who tour the Mackay area Cherbourg settlement, in the far south of Queensland,was the birthplace of Harold Blair and Les Collins Meanwhile, a much travelled community band centres around Darcy Cummins and his brothers Paul Meredith and the late Dudley Meredith All family men and attached to their black community, they have conducted musical functions almost everywhere in Queensland, from Brisbane to Bamaga at the tip of Cape York Peninsula and outback in the west, moving about with their families Darcy, now sixty, is a grader operator and plays pedal steel, any kind of guitar and even the trumpet in Winton's town band on one memorable occasion Dudley and Paul played guitars and would have a go at anything else They appeared regularly on TV in Brisbane in the early 1960s,according to Paul Meredith junior All have played since they were very young In the early years they were called The Ravens The
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band is never the same twice, since their policy is always to bring in whoever is available, and get people up off the floor to play with them Marlene (Darcy's daughter) describes their pattern, which succeeds in Brisbane as well as it does in Mount Isa. Respected older people are on the door, and drink is only allowed outside The band starts off with a waltz, two step, barn dance and fox trot for the oldies, with all the young people doing it with them, then advances into Shadows numbers As the audience gets hyped up, a young singer like Angus Rabbitt gets up to do 'Good Golly Miss Molly' and the head-to-feet rock 'n' roll shakes. Everyone, young and old, is rocking and yelling for more Then they calm down to end satisfyingly with a waltz to 'Now is t h e Hour'. They believe in catering for all ages; they play mostly in the black community and want to keep it that way. 'It's being Aboriginal', says Marlene, 'you don't become a great big commercial success, you're making people happy in the community and including other black people who've got something to offer'. The younger Paul remembers how in 1972 Dudley and Paul joined Bob Mckod to sing political songs during the %nt Embassy in Canberra These three have recorded in Melbourne Among those who have played with this band are names which have become well known to South Queensland Aborigines: Les Colhs, Micky Conlon of Cherbourg and Micky's younger brother Dennis, who has a band called The Magpies. In 1982 The Magpies produced a single The style is straight and stylish country rock, while the words are forthrightly black Australian, whether protesting ('Brisbane Blacks') or comforting ('Don't Give In'):85 Z know how you've hlped all the others, And God only knows just how you've pulled them through; But you're not the only on@with t b s e problems, 'Cause Jesus shares t h s a w ones with you ( C b m ) Don't give in to t h lure of t h bottle, It o d y adds more to t h strain NEW ENGLAh'D
The New England region has produced many musicians and not all are in Yhmworth From Moree comes Jamie Smith, a drummerlsinger, who was playing in the band Uluru at CASM. Moree has often been a trouble spot, with a large part of its population black and hardline discrimination in public places In 1982 it boiled over into the fatal street shooting of an Aboriginal youth, with widespread media coverage of the incident. Now, says Jamie, at least one pub has allowed older people to use a black accordionist to 'bring some happiness and joy into the pubs instead of fighting, to be sociable and get around with each other' Experienced lead guitarist, Johnny Craigie, used to have an all-Aboriginal band,
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but more recently he has been playing with the Moree Police Boys Club band, with success Jamie reports the local success story of Fbger Knox, lead singer and guitarist, now about forty Roger originally came from Bogabilla, but now lives in 'Ihmworth His band is a family and community affair. They have been playing country and western and country rock for about thirteen years, winning awards at festivals, touring pubs, football clubs and New England towns, being featured on local Ty and in 1983 touring Sydney and performing for white and black audiences Their very professional cassette, Give It A Go,is standard country and western, with an emphasis on Aboriginal compositions: Harry Williams, Dennis Conlon, Jimmy Little and others, ranging from celebration to protest, sometimes with Johnny Marshal1 on didgeridu It features some gospel and pop and plenty of slick backing harmonies Knox's band Euraba has produced a series of 'Koori Classic' albums, with Bicentennial funding. Knox, recalling how an old Aboriginal woman 'hummed heaJing songs' while nursing him back to health after an air crash, says 'I wanted to sing songs that linked awe and wonder with something more spiritual, like in the Dreamtime st0ries'.8~ New England has also produced Wilga Williams, Johnny Marshall, Zac Martin (originally from Queensland), Cedric McGrady and Andrew Donnelly. It was near Kempsey, in about 1937, that a boy named David Kirkpatrick heard a guitar for the first time. It was an old-fashioned, home made guitar played Hawaiian style with a steel, by an Aborigine from the Bellbrook Mission. The ten year old youngster was inspired to take up music and soon learnt the guitar himself Later he called himself Slim Dusty SYDNEY
Much further south, Sydney has a relatively large Aboriginal population gleaned from many parts of New South Wales, Queensland and elsewhere and concentrated around the semi-industrialslum suburb of Redfern Here a number of vital Aboriginal controlled services have been set up Sydney also has a number of Aboriginal artistic centres such as the Cultural Centre, with Murri Jama; the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre; the Aboriginal Artists Agency; and some small but determined Aboriginal radio programs Unless otherwise indicated, our Sydney information comes from CASM students Andrew Donnelly (lead guitarist with All-States),Jim "Tip" Reece (ex-bass player with Uluru) and %ny Weatherall, all of New England origin; and Jan Gaynor of the Aboriginal Artists Agency Older hands in Sydney who have gone solo include the now venerable and retired Alan Saunders, a long time country singerlguitarist in the Jimmy Rodgem mould He played in dubs and hotels and was the teacher of Harry
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Williams. There is Buddy Williams (not the famous white hillbilly) who sings straight country and western, and Pat 'Paddy' Lord, known as 'the blue eyed blackfeller', who used to jam,sing Rodgers style and yodel at the Namatjira pub (a music venue in Rooty Hill). He taught guitar to 'Cowboy' Bob Purtel, now a well known lhmworth artist There is also Sugar-Ray Williams, a brother to Harry and now deceased, w h o sang and played guitar in clubs; and Noel Stanley, who sings Slim Whitman style in Sydney and at Aboriginal festivals Jamie Smith reports that his c o w h Cedric McGrady plays in a pub band around Richmond, sometimes returning to his home town, Narrabri, to perform Among Aboriginal solo careers, that of Jimmy Little Uunior) is one of the few that has passed into national white consciousness. Son of the Wdaga Lake and Cummeragunga Old Jimmy, he was cutting records in his teens He then made big hib with 'Danny Boy' and in 1964 'Royal %1ephone1,which is still sung in many churches around Australia He made many TV appearances, running his own show for a time. He has produced many L&; with his white band he still sings at the big Sydney venues and on country tours, and sometimes a t large Aboriginal events He has some original songs His brother Freddy Little also appears on TV and tours and is resident compere and vocalist at Auburn RSL Jimmy's daughter, Mnces, sings and plays old country and western numbers as a soloist around Aboriginal 'do's'. The other Sydney success story is the country rock family band gathered around George Flsher of Penrith. George and his sister, Debbie, were playing and singing during their school days. Their family had a musical background and money and were able to get financial supporters For a few years around 1970, they played as The Opals (after their home Lightning Ridge, the opal district north of Walgett), with cousin Mattie Scott (now deceased) Later, Clark Scott joined them on steel and they became well known as Mr George, and put out an LPe90 Now in his thirties, George has his younger brothers Peter and Mark in the band, which has a sophisticated image, with suits and prerecorded sounds George writes songs and is a private music teacher in Parramatta Some talented female vocalists have come and gone on Sydney's night club scene. Betty F'isher (1940-76) was a well known, respected and multitalented personality. Born in Berry on the New South Wales south coast, she moved to Sydney where she was a leading cabaret entertainer for sixteen years and sang with Graeme Bell's jazz group Andrew describes her as 'a kind of smaller Billie Holliday' She worked on many Aboriginal service committees, directed Black Theatre full time and travelled with Black Lace for three years before her untimely death. 'She put the pressure on all her musical contacts for jobs for the band', Andrew remembers, 'and taught us how to approach the red necks: made them
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look us in the eye and admit that we're people too She was always outright in her ways She was black and she knew it and really laid it on them' Another cabaret singer is Queenslander Sivanna Doolan, described by Marlene Cummins as 'the greatest jazz singer ever, better than the black Americans' In the early 1 9 7 0 ~ ~ S i v m a sang jazz, blues and soul songs by Aretha Fhnklin, Lens Home and Eartha Kitt around the top Sydney clubs and restaurants and once beat Marcia Hines in a talent quest at the Whiskey-a-go-goNightclub She found that while her singing was very acceptable, her attempts to include facts about Aboriginal life 'under the Act', were not She has retired into occasional solos for black community events, but can be heard singing the theme song on the national program 'Black Magic Radio' Zac Martin and Johnny Marshall are two familiar faces on Sydney streets Zac is a well known busker, singing acoustic country ballads with Aboriginal phraseology and pronunciation. He hitchhikes all over the country ' d i m g in deep into the Aboriginal community in any town' Johnny's cowboy hat and didjeridu are also well known Both men have appeared on the 'Skippy' TV programme and have visited schools around the state Zac sings while Johnny plays and they talk about Aboriginal culture, the past and the plight of their people Zac spent two years working with Vi Chitty on Aboriginal Radio in Perth and wrote and performed music for the film Backroads, with Johnny on didjeridu. Johnny plays guitar as well and has original songs about the bush and the city.02 A leading figure in the 1972 %nt Embassy was Bobby McLeod from Nowra, south of Sydney In his late forties, he still sings, plays acoustic guitar and writes songs in country-folk style He is regarded as one of the leading artists of the Aboriginal political scene.93 For many years after its purchase in 1964 the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs (FAA) building in Redfern was a major centre for things Aboriginal! including regular entertainments A loose confederation of drummer Mac Silva, guitarist b r o t h e ~Candy and Harry Williams, Stevie Lugan, Geoff Compton and Arnold Williams became the FAA's resident band! interchanging with other Aboriginal musicians They called themselves Silver Linings and after a few years they were playing at the Birrong Bowling Club and touring country communities with a sound featuring Candy's early 1950s style lead guitar. In 1968they entered a talent quest on the Gold Coast against Brian Cadd and Billy Thorpe and won it, but the promised recording contract and Sydney tour never eventuated, and they 'faded back into the Koori scene' Harry moved to Victoria and Candy continued to be one of the main comperes and singe^ a t FAA while working in nonperforming jobs (more recently in the Aboriginal Artists Agency) Candy played with Han-y3sCountry Outcasts whenever they came to Sydney Meanwhile, the
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band changed its name to Black Lace, and Andrew Donnelly came down from Baryulgil in 1976 and joined them as lead guitarist They played countless charity gigs for the Aboriginal community sometimes in Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin and Cairns. They became the best known and most requested Aboriginal band after the Outcasts, but they have had no opportunities or money for recording, except for one single for the All Blacks football team.04 Their music was wide ranging, from waltzes through country and western to rock'n'roll, with the old philosophy of watching their dancing audience and catering for their needs rather than having a fixed repertoire. They had a few original songs and rearranged many popular standards in their own style. Encouraging praise came from a few successful white artists, notably Johnny Ashcroft and Bob Purtel, but no money, facilities or promotion Candy's death in 1983 and Andrew's departure to CASM, probably marked the demise of Black Lace. The Williams family has a great musical and sporting tradition. Charlie Perkins speaks of Harry's brother Mervyn 'Boomernulla' Williams, the soccer player: This was Booma He did not smoke But he drank Harry did not drink But he smoked And Candy did neither. That is how we Aborigines described these three outstanding Williams boys Yet they could play all the musical instruments They could sing, dance and entertain and play sports Each of them had a tremendous personality Harry WiUiams was born on Erambie mission near Cowra, of the Waradjuri tribe Both of his parents were full blood Aborigines Harry's father ran a touring variety show All his family played musical instruments and his mother was a good singer. Wilga (his wife) was born in Taroworth For a number of years she did a host of musical and sporty things. Then Wilga moved to Newcastle, where she met Alan Saunders and Harry O6
Wilga and Harry formed a group, Wilga playing bass with Harry on guitar, and both singing. More was to come MELBOURNE
The Melbourne region is centered on another big city which has Aboriginal people from settlements in Victoria, the Riverland and southern New South Wales Like Sydney, it has its own 'Aboriginal' suburb, Fitzroy, with a number of Aboriginal service organisations and as in Sydney and elsewhere, experienced Aboriginal musicans have had an involvement in these fields as well The following history is gleaned mostly from Ian Johnson and Henry Thorpe During the war, Joyce layloi; at the age of twenty, was regularly singing country and western on Melbourne radio and her program was heard as far away
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as Darwin She performed at parties, sang gospel music in churches and was also a pianist and accordionist After becoming Mrs Joyce Johnson and raising children in the 1950s and early 1960s,she moved back into performing, along with her son Ian and daughter, singing in cabarets from about 1967 to 1974 Meanwhile, Harry and Wilga Williams moved to Mooroopna and formed a band with Harry's son Bert on drums and brother Candy on guitar. They went to Melbourne and inspired partly by Joyce's achievement, began to play in hotels around Fitzroy. So began the Country Outcasts, one of the first Aboriginal bands playing to white audiences in Melbourne pubs and certainly the most influential Aboriginal country band yet Joyce joined and became their long term secretary and adviser. Joe McGuinness (not the Queensland one) was an early collaborator, but he and Candy soon embarked on separate voyages One of Harry's early activities with Joyce was to lead the regular Aboriginal country and western talent quest at Grandview Hotel, F'airfield, which was a chance for any Aboriginal musician to get up and have a go Bigger and better things followed, with festivals in the parks and on the ovals In the 1970s,when Harry joined the Aboriginal Arts Board, he and Joyce worked on the idea of a national Aboriginal Country Music Festival, with state run-ups This has been a success now since 1976.Harry is the patriarch of Aboriginal country and western and has written some very popular songs about his love of country life ('Blue Gums Calling Me Back Home'), about love and about the Koori's sense of alienation and loss For instance, 'My Home-Made Didjeridu', with its wry humour and ambiguously up-tempo tune: Nothin' seems to t u r n out right w i t h everything I do. I'm just a country Koori w i t h a home made didjeridu Whenever I feel lonely, whenever I feel blue, I sit down b y the camp fire and play me didjeridu Play me didjeridu, play me didjeridu, I sit down by the camp fire and play me didjeridu Well m y tribal songs and legends I only know a few, So I play country music o n m y home-made didjeridu And when I go to Fitzroy to have a drink or two, Ya'II find me sippin' Carltmi Draught through me home-made didjeridu Oh me home made didjeridu-du, me home-made didjeridu, You'll find me sippin' Carlton Draught through me home-made didjeridu
Sung in Harry's relaxed Aboriginal accent with its slight country and western twang, and backed by the very professional harmonies of Wilga and the others, this song epitomises the old Aboriginal style of slyly protesting lament
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Mmbers of the Country Outcasts in 1981; (standing) Walter M U ~ T O Wilga , Williams, Joyce Johnson; (seated) Harry Williams, Janice Johnson, Niaka Williams. Photograph courtesy of Hadky Studio, Tarnworth
His slow country and western ballad, 'Streets of Old Fitzroy', expresses with direct pathos the country Koori's poverty-stricken life in the city: City lights are drivin' me crazy As I walk the lonely streets of old F i t m y . How I wish that Z was back there in the Dreamtime I n the country where there's always peace and quiet
(Chorus)Oh I wish that I was back in the Dreamtime, Hear the didjeridus a-droning in the night, Where the c m b o r e e s are seen by the firelight, Far away from the glow of city light Now G'ertru.de Street i t makes me feel so lonely For the gumtrees and the taste of porky-pine [porcupine, or echidna] Z see m y brothers and m y sisters here in Fitssroy Ibm apart by government ways and city light Yes the city lights are drivin' me m y As I walk the lonely streets of old Fitzroy I know someday that I'll be called back to the Dreamtime Where the white man's ways won't bother me no w e . 0 8
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Harry's 1979 LP has very slow and intensely emotional country blues ballads dealing with the lonely and hopeless life of the city outcast On it you can hear Wilga's clear ungimmicky soprano, Joyce Johnson's vocal harmony and Ian Johnson's drumming. Male harmonies give a rich sombre sound below Harry's vocal line rather than above it (a feature found in Pitjantjatjara country gospel harmonies too) DOUG: The dark sound is underscored by frequent use of blue seventh chords on tonic and subdominant as well as dominant; this is a blues tool, not country and western at all Harry often finishes on a seventh, which is also blues or country blues; it is rare in straight country and western CHESTER: Harry is one of the few Aboriginal songwriters who puts chromatic turns in tune and harmony in addition to the standard final semitone slide up to the tonic Candy can be heard playing with the Outcasts on The First Australians Joyce and Janice Johnson can be heard on Harry's 1981LP, on which he made the first commercial release of a country western arrangement of the Aboriginal folksong 'Jacky-Jacky' The Outcasts' repertoire covers the standard songs, but, says Ian: 'Harry has pushed away beyond the American stuff you hear at 'famworth and also from a lot of Kooris: Charley Pride, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Chet Atkins He's done his own music, and done it very well 'lo0 In the mid seventies, Joyce Johnson directed a black theatre group called Nindithana, which collaborated with the Outcasts to stage floor shows in pubs frequented by the Aboriginal community, alternating song brackets with acting and 'variety'. People such as Val Power gained valuable experience there About 1975, Country Outcasts Number Two was formed by two of Harry's sons, with others including Joyce Johnson's son Ian, and drummer Henry Thorpe from Gippsland Henry writes: The original members of Outcasts Number Two, except for Bert Williams, became Hard Times Over the years, the lineup changed somewhat, leaving a three-piece band-Peter Kanoa (Rotumah) from Portland (though his father is from NT), Ian and me We played mainly to the black community, mainly blues, rock and country, and original music (mostly protest songs) It was hard to venture out, mainly because we didn't have our own equipment It was rare to get work in the white society After a year or two, Wayne Thorpe joined, and played with us for about two years After realizing how hard it was to get work in Melbourne without equipment or money, we moved to Adelaide and were accepted by CASM We played around Adelaide during our year there, and then broke up I stayed at CASM for two years, and during that time nothing much was happening for any of us After some long discussion, we decided to re-
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Melbourne band Hard Times at CASM in 1981: Henry Thorpe,1anJohnson, Wayne Thorpe, Peter Rotumah
form in 1983, this time with Buster re-joining and Wayne leaving Thus the name Hard Times!"J1 CHESTER: With the exuberant and good humoured lead singing of Peter Rotumah, who also wrote many of their twenty-five original songs, Hard Times has shown a sophisticated urban pop taste in instrumental arrangements, vocal solo style, and high vocal harmonies with triplet rhythms which perhaps owe a little to calypso
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ROSIE: Hard Times did Cash Backman's sympathetic 'Dust of Empty Sand', which he wanted performed by a black band In 1981 Henry had this to say when asked about the band's beginning:
'Only a Few' was the first song we wrote as a band, to say how we felt about what's happened to us, how we came from being in our traditional culture to where we are today, you know, wearing denim, living in houses I t really brought us together as a band, gave us a direction We felt we'd set the record straight ' (Spoken) Long before the white man came, Our people never lived in shame. We took what we needed/rom the land, Worshipped Mother Earth, her clouds and her sands. (Sung) But when the Endeavour arrived We had to struggle to survive. They chained us and cast us aside, And waited for a nation to die.
(Chorus)And so, black brothers, Hard Times gives this song to you Murdered our people, now we are only a few, only a few. Tbday's life is so unreal; White m a n taught us to drink and steal Vo understand why, we're really not sure, But it's hard living under white man's law. I f you agree that this story's right, Join together to win the fight Our/athers' Dreamtime will come true; Now it's up to me and you lo2
Harry Williams moved to Canberra in 1980, but the Outcasts continue to play gigs, and Harry pushes for funds and national platforms for Aboriginal musicians Meanwhile in 1979, Harry's daughter Debbie, and Joyce's daughters Roslyn and Janice, together with Marion Green, formed the Ebon Koorines They played at black cabarets in Melbourne and toured country areas of New South Wales, but had to disband in 1982 through lack of money and equipment, and having families. Joyce Johnson died in 1982, but the tradition continues as Harry's youngest children sing in the Junior Outcasts Another musician who is usually present to take part if there's some Aboriginal music going on in Melbourne is Herb Patten, until recently manager
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of the Harold Blair Hostel. He has often appeared as guest artist with the Outcasts or soloist at parties His country and western ballad 'Numerella Pines' is a popular request wherever Herb appears among older Aboriginal people in the city: I was born an Aussie son l b a Mum I loved so dear In a land I believed was mine. O h the troubles and the strife That followed Dad throughout his life, When we lived amongst the Numerella Pines. O h he worked the timber mills Just to pay for all the bills, l b keep his family of nine. The snowy floods in wintertime Washed away the railway lines, When we played amongst the Numerella Pines103
At the height of the boxing fame of Gippsland's Lionel Rose, Johnny Young launched him as a country and western singer and wrote several songs for him, including 'I Thank You', which became a hit. Lionel is still a good friend of Johnny's, and still gets up t o sing with the band occasionally at Aboriginal cabarets
WESTERN VICTORIA
The western districts of Victoria have only a small Aboriginal population, but it includes musicians MARY: Angus 'Hank' WWams, aged fifty-seven, is a shearer living at
Heywood, married to a white woman and with a well established family. He plays guitar and gumleaf, sings country and western songs and ballads and puts his own words to well known melodies. He said he makes most of his songs when he's out on the shearing rounds, t o entertain himself and the shearing team. CHESTER: Another musical family lives in the area. According to his son Monty, Claude Lovett was playing and singing with his brother Johnny from an early age, at Heywood. Moving to Hamilton and later Dunkeld, he married Harry William's sister, taught guitar to his sons Monty, Lexy and David, and from the mid 1970s has led the part time family band, Black Opal. They perform country and western from Mount Gambler to Melbourne, but are especially well known in the local area They have backed Kevin Shegog Bass player Monty says: We get very good reactions from our audiences, which are mostly white; we have white people come up from the floor and sing into the mike The pub managers over there are good I didn't strike problems getting
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gigs till I came to Adelaide and played in the Wildwood Band It struck me as the most racialist bloody place
Since Monty came to CASM, Black Opal continues as a three-piece, with Claude, Lexy and David MARK At Portland, Richard Frankland is going t o be another important musician When we saw him in 1981, he was quite young, about eighteen He was untrained, singing his own compositions, and working very hard in a friend's recording studio to improve his electric guitar playing and singing. He hadn't adopted the current fashion for high volume, but sang very much in the old ballad style in a very soft voice, about love, his feelings as he grew up and his love of the country
TASMANIA
Finally, we reach Tasmania and its much-forgotten Aboriginal populations on Flinders Island, Cape Barren Island and the mainland. The existence of these people was ignored by nearly everyone until some of them hit the national media in 1983 by protesting about endangered Aboriginal sites on the Franklin River, while their State Government continued to claim that they were 'not really Aboriginal'. But 4,000 of them are still there, many forming the backbone of the muttonbird industry Jim Everett, the 'Tasmanian Welfare Department's Aboriginal liaison officer, told us all we know about 'Tasmanian Aboriginal musicians In the old days, before the people were spread all over the state, the Brown brothers used to play country and western and folk at the big community get togethers on Cape Barren and the muttonbird islands Les played fiddle, Dennis guitar and Norm (the only one still alive) played squeezebox There are still a few copies of their single around?04There are no other all-Aboriginal bands, but quite a number of individual musicians Acoustic singerlguitarists playing country and western as Aboriginal community professionals have included Clive Beeton, song writer, now an old man in Melbourne; Darryl Maynard, Doug Mansell and Alvin Beeton There are two minstrels who live in Launceston: Dianna Newson, author of a song about the Oyster Cove museum controversy, and Clyde Mansell, 'a song writer, singer and a shy guitarist He has been actively involved with our organisation (the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre) for many years and currently works as Aboriginal Vocation Officer with the Department of Employment'?06 Some individuals are moving into the professional arena, playing at pubs and clubs as well as Aboriginal parties They include Ronnie Summers, electric guitarist and singer, Itormie Shegog of Georgetown and Stephen Lowrey of Flinders CHESTER:
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Island. Hobart has Marilyn Pitchford, a private and school music teacher, pianist, and electric bassist, who plays country and western and modern jazz. As a performer, she is mainly back-up guitarist for Paul Bessell, the full time Aboriginal leader of a white folklcountry and western/bluegrass band, who plays electric guitar, fiddle, accordion, mouthorgan, bass, ukulele and banjo and writes some original music. There is Jean Stafford, well known on the Australian mainland as a full time acoustic country and western singer and guitarist. Kevin Shegog (brother of Ronnie), now in Melbourne, is successfulin the mainstream of Australian country and western, with several singles and LPs to his credit.106Jim Everett is primarily a writer of plays, poems and short stories, but has written and sung some lyrics which were set to music for the Salamanca Theatre Company's touring educational play Tell 'Em You're Maoris (now called Put Your Boots On).The play tells the story of his life, from Flinders Island through many kinds of work to the public service?07Since 1981,Tasmanian Aborigines have been running Wayee Radio in Hobart and collecting old stories and new poetry and music from all over the state for broadcast
SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF ABORIGINAL MUSIC MARY: The centrality of music for today's Aborigines cannot be overestimated Wherever people come together there is music making of some kind .Frequently a guitar is the first thing bought and the only material possession to which a destitute man will cling, although he may willingly lend it to a friend or be unable to play it for months because of a broken string The opportunity to play or acquire other instruments is much sought after and all parents desire to have music tuition provided for their children. Moreover, all Aborigines possess, or have access to recorders and cassettes, and even in homes where there is no furniture and little clothing or food, there is frequently a good quality stereo?08
An astonishing amount of creative activity has gone on among Aboriginal communities; this is evident not only in composition, but also in the making and use of instruments. The amount of composing alone is much greater than you'd find in a corresponding number of white people. The status of Aboriginal musicians among their own people is high Those who are recognised as performers are responsible for providing music for ceremonies and rites such as funerals and weddings as well as for less formal occasions. They are often among the leaders of the community and have a deep commitment to improving the lot of Aboriginal people as a whole Older musicians provide models for younger
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Aborigines Particular families are recognised music is one of the few areas in which non-tribal Aboriginal men, as well as women, are able to fulfil a similar function today as they did in their former tribal so~ieties?~~ CHESTER: 'Part-Aborigines' have been and still tend to be ignored in policy making In much the same way, their music has been looked on by whites as a totally westernised, second rate imitation of white music, of no interest at all The Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies has over 120 hours of tape, plus another 100 hours of Island style music but few researchers listen to it.l1ÂWhite people at large remain totally ignorant of the distinctive culture of the seventy or eighty per cent of Aborigines whose basic language is a form of English. Although the three chord, major key standard form was set by hymns, gospel choruses, bush ballads, music hall, plantation songs, hillbilly and country and western, it has been adapted to a very low technology, grassroots folk culture in which unaccompanied singing is still possible and self entertainment has to be the norm And the adaptations have many distinctive things about them, some of which suggest the continuing influence of tribal musical habits?ll DOUG: First, instrumental style Aboriginal balladeers often play guitar in thumb-only down-strokes, with occasional swung up-strokes This gives a very full sound It is related to old styles of ragtime guitar, fox trot ukulele, or even Pacific Island styles The total sound of vocals and accompaniment is mostly pre-country and western hillbilly, except for recent examples influenced directly by modem country and western But the same songs can easily be given the full country and westem treatment and now often are Secondly, form and rhythm are often very distinctive If word lines need more prominence, they will add extra bars or half bars, or even extra beats. ; A word which they want to emphasise may be spread over an extra beat, r a t h e r than gabbled A lot of extra half bars appear in between sung phrases, to makg the flow easier and less hurried ' -v CHESTER: Or they omit half a bar to avoid having a gap that is too lo@ 'a between the sung lines. Bar lengths may or may not vary from verse to v e r s e this way as well and at times it happens structurally in the tune itself. Then a regular pick-strum bass line often becomes polyrhythmic against the flexible vocal phrasing This sort of thing does occasionally happen in old white hillbilly music from the 1940s, especially in yodelling refrains It occurs most often in the songs of Buddy Williarns112and occasionally in very early Slim Dusty and Gordon Parsons songs, but it is rare?13In Aboriginal hillbilly and gospel music it is common among artists as diverse as Isaac Yama and Vi Chitty It suggests an partial continuance of the tribal stick beat, which may be polyrhythmic against the vocal line and
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is not metrical, but just continues for the variable duration of the verse. In the westernised music, the flexible unit is no longer the chant-verse but the chord, or the phrase of words. DOUG: That tradition has continued right u p into Aboriginal rock music Coloured Stone, for instance, both in their original songs and also in standard rock material, do this as a deliberate thing to give the words the prominence they deserve in particular songs. Other Aboriginal bands do it less consciously,sometimes to their own annoyance because they want it to sound like the white original and strive to eliminate their 'mistakes' CHESTER: Teachers beware! Sometimes a 'mistake' is not a mistake Thirdly, Aboriginal voices, as Jack Davis has written, have 'mingling musical sounds' The various Aboriginal accents, often gently husky and relaxed, and very similar to tribal speaking voices, are things to be valued. Listen to Herb Laughton, Isaac Yama, Dougie Young, or Ibm Lyons. Many Aboriginal women singers produce a deep, powerful sound which in Australia is almost unique to them The sound of the voices, plus the absence of body movement which is frequent among Aboriginal musicians, adds up to a relaxed and unobtrusive friendliness Fourthly, most Aboriginal music is dominated by the words; this is a characteristic of folk music and balladry in general, but again consistent with tribal traditions. As with tribal songs and even didjeridu rhythms (which are based on vocalisation), almost all non-tribal vocal rhythms are based on syllabic articulation. This easily becomes additive, leading to polyrhythm, when combined with the beat. A tune has little existence separate from the words. Many songs tell a story at considerable length in many verses, like a tribal song series or a bush ballad Often the words are allusive and elusive, full of in-group secret lingo, like tribal songs. The Aboriginal forms of English have their own beauty and logic and so are not to be despised or eliminated in favour of some kind of dull standard?14 Fifthly, by sticking to ballads in a variety of styles, Aboriginal musicians continue t h e central tribal tradition of story telling through music and of using this as a way to entertain, pass on information and point morals The kind of stories told are very distinctive, being largely stories which white people have not heard. There is some overlap with white models; you find the legendary horses, the sentimental generalised songs about home, the old times, broken hearts and the free life. But Aboriginal lyrics are usually free of the corn and balderdash we hear in American country and western, even when they use some of the same words. They often sing about home, but it is usually their own actual home, the land where they grew up. As Herb Patten said, introducing 'Numerella Pines': 'The reason I like this one is it's about my mother and family in Victoria. Of course you always write (sic) something you love'?16Aboriginal song writers sing of what they know:
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police, prison, welfare, family life, the value of kin and friends, race relations, the excitment and perils of booze God gets a mention much less often than in America. Yet these direct, realistic songs also avoid the crude 'she'll be right' attitude and overstated toughness behind which many Australian country and ballad singers hide Poetic punch sometimes arises from concisely expressed experience which does not rely on cliches or self conscious figures of speech The older lyrics tend to be more subtle, more indirect, and may lament something without appearing to protest-a tradition where people had no power and knew they were expected not to complain More recent and urbanised lyrics speak more directly, telling how it is with strong protest overtones But rarely do any of them theorise ideologically about causes and solutions and very rarely do they address the dominant culture. They are talking to their own people, building up their own community, expressing their own identity. If we can generalise at all, we can say that old style Aboriginal music is, sixthly, communal music Things are done 'the Aboriginal way'.l16 The desired object is not to be a star, a thing which easily leads to accusations of being 'flash', nor to worship a star, but to have a good time together. Singing along and dancing are the basic ways of doing this and they use forms which enable it (The extra half bars do not worry Aboriginal dancers ) But after all the generalisations, what strikes us more is the variation: regional variation according to the degree of westernisation and local patterns of taste, and individual variation according to personality and gift Out of all this we may see the birth of the first distinctively black' country music, Australia's answer to Nashville; better music, with more integrity; not content with the American ethos of easy emotive sincerity, but built on its own native traditions of truthfulness LEILA: We don't have to imitate the American scene, or the reggae scene We've got our own style of music and we should be developing that Urban Aborigines are realising that they too have a culture of which they can be proud, their tribal heritage and also their own music Music takes them out into the community where they can meet other people and be seen in a different light, doing something positive, rather than being seen as 'dirty filthy blacks lying in the gutters and the parks' For many years they've been told that they've got nothing that's of any worth So often, the media have presented them in a negative manner. But seeing us as musicians gives us a lift And Aboriginal musicians are models for our younger people to strive towards They see something positive, a group of people who have learned skills and written down in musical form the experiences they've grown through and can say: 'Look, we've done it and you can do it too'
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NOTES
1. R Edwards, The Overlander Songbook, 3rd Edition, Rigby 1971:222-233, and The Big Book of Australian Folk Songs, Rigby 1976 2. J Goodluck, Letter, 1983 On Yunupingu, see also Stewart Harris This Our Land, ANU Press, 1972:3-6, which quotes words from his song "Tribal Land' As a boy he leads the singing of three traditional songs on Sandra Le Brun Holmes, Land of the Morning Star: Songs a n d Music of Amhem L a n d (HMV LP), now unavailable 3. Information from Frank Djirrimbilbilwuy, 14 May 1984 and Jack Goodluck, 3 June 1983 and 23 April 1984
4. 'Darwin Is Proud of the Mills Sisters', Country Music News, (Morley, WA), Vol 1, No 3, December 1984:4 5. CAAMA publicity leaflet 6. C Meacham, Listen to the Aborigines, Religious Society of Friends in Australia, Melbourne, 1973:12 7. Djamparpuyngu language
8. All Bob Randall's lyrics are from cassette Ballads by Bob Randall, 1983 9. Bob's guitar style is heard better on the old solo tapes held by CASM, or in the vekes of his on Music, Music, Music, 1978, program 1 On Ballads, it is overlaid by a rather indiscriminate session band
10. Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1938:72 11. Federal Assimilation Policy, 1965, see HC Coombs, K u l i n m , ANU Press, Canberra, 1978:105
12. Tjungaringanyi, Vol3, No 1, CASM, 1977:6, see also MT Clark, 1972:40 and the documentary film Lousy Little Sixpence 13. For example, the Tasmanians of Cape Barren Island in 1976, see 'Racism in Tasmania', Australian Union of Students, broadsheet 1978:7 14. Nunga News, Aboriginal Community Centre, Adelaide, February, 1980:5 See also Gemma Reeve Music, Life, History, and Meaning: An Essay on Country Music and Aboriginal Identity, thesis, University of Western Australia, 1985:41-2 15. The Advertiser, 25 February 1980:1, 26 February 1980:7, 19 November 1977:21 16. W Bynder, Letter to C Schultz, 29 March 1983 and 22 May 1984
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17. Kuckles, 'Traffic Lightsl/'Fishing', CASM, 1982, Kuckles, MiLliya Rumuwa Brand New Day, CASM, 1982 18. Kuckles, 1982 (both)
19. Milliya Rumuwa, 1982 20 Milliya Rumurra, 1982
21. W Bynder, Letter, 1984 Scrapmetal have released an album, Just Looking (1986) See also Jimmy Chi, Michael Manolis and Fbn Harper Broome Song Writers, Hodja Educational Resources Coop, Richmond, Vic, 1985, a children's book with cassette 22. W Douglas, Letter to G Tunstill, 17 May 1984 23. See MT Clark, 1972, chapters 15 and 18
24. B Davis is a white employee of the Pitjantjatjara Council Old Choir LP's, now unavailable, include Ernabella Aboriginal Choir, Singing Walkabout (EMI, 1966) and The Ernabella Choir i n Fiji (ABCIEMI, 1979) and H m a n n s b u r g Choir On Tow (Davan, 1967) which includes Gus Williams and an original hymn by Moses Tjalkabota and Johannes Ntjalka 25. T Adamson and the Ernabella children, Godaku Walytja-Piti: God'sFamily, Adelaide, 1982 He can also be heard on T Adamson Trust in the Lord, CAAMA, 1985; and on Desert Songs I, CAAMA, 1982, in 'Nyuntapa Nganampa', and on some copies, also 'The Ernabella Song' He is the subject of one of the ABC-TV series S i x Australians 26. Isaac Yama and the Pitjantjatjara Country Band, CAAMA, 1983 Thanks to Howard Groome for providing the gist of these songs from Yama
27. 'Wati' means 'initiated man' The reference here is obscure 28. H Groome, from 'Notes on Isaac Yama's cassette', 23 April 1984 29. See the publicity leaflet for her CAAMA cassette Mbitjanu
The documentary film Country Outcasts shows her returning to h e r roots in Alice as a professional after five years in the east
30. The National Times, 11-17 November 1983:4, see also KC and LE Hansen, Pintupi/Luritja Dictionary, Second Edition, Institute for Aboriginal Development, Alice Springs, 1977:159, under 'warumpiyi' 31. Text and translation on the cover of Warumpi Band, Jailanguru Pakarnu/ Kintorelakutu, Hot Records Also on Warumpi Band Go Bush, Parole, 1987 32 The National Times, 11-17 November 1983:4 33 The National Times, 11-17 November 1983:.
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34. N Murray, 'Turning the Stars U p Full Blast-fouring the Outback With a n
Aboriginal Rock Band', Australian Playboy, January 1984 35. Rob Amery in conversation with G Tunstill A cassette WesternDesert Gospel has become available from CAAMA, and also various cassettes from UAM Recordings in Geraldton 36. Zlkari Maru, Imparja Records, 1984, via CAAMA 37. All Herb's lyrics are from Herbie Laughton, CAAMA, 1983, but he is also on Desert Songs I, 1982 and on 4th Natwnal Aboriginal Country Music Festival, Adelaide, 1979, cassette with booklet 38. 'Macdonnell Ranges', Desert Songs 2, CAAMA, 1983, and on Herbie Laughton, 1983 See 'Arunta Man's Dream', Desert Songs I, 1982 39. CAAMA advertisement for Herbie Laughton 1983 40. Aboriginal Newsletter: National Monthly, No 121, Canberra, February, 1983
Gus is the narrator of the film Malbangka Country, AIAS, 1975 41. TGH Strehlow, 'Central Australian Man-Making Ceremonies, The Lutheran,
10 April 1978:10 42. Josie Boyle, 'Dinki-di Aussie' and ' Warburton Mountains', Planet Studios,
via CMC, Western Australia She h a s now produced several more cassettes See also Gemma Reeve, 1985:40 43. Interview in On Dit, Vol 52, No 12, Adelaide, 16 July 1984:Z 44. From Vi's notes on the first draft of this book, April 1984 45. W Bynder, Letter to C Schultz, 29 March, 1983 46. Vi Chitty, 'Awakening'Merv Graharn, '150 on down the line', EMI, Homegrown Productions, Perth, 1979, via radio 6NR 47. W Bynder, Letters, 1983 48. Donna's original song 'Dinki-di Aussies' is sung by Josie Boyle on 'Dinki-di Aussie' 49. K Gunn, Country Variety, Matilda, via CMC, Western Australia, Travellin' Man, Matilda, via CMC, Western Australia 50. W Bynder, Letters, 1983 See also Gemma Reeve, 1985:30-31, 53 51. Richard can be heard on Josie Boyle, 'Dinki-di Aussie' 52. See Aboriginal Arts in Perth '83, Western Australian College of Advanced Education and Western Australian Institute of Technology, 1983, for these people 53. CAAMA's publicity leaflet for Coloured Stone, CAAMA, 1984
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54. Coloured Stone (CAAMA cassette, 1984) gives the older country-rock version Coloured Stone Koonibba Rock (Imparja LP, 1985) gives the newer reggae-rock version 55. Older country rock version, as on CASM tape, No 18, 1980
56. Coloured Stone, 'Black Boy', Imparja 1985 and Koonibba Rock In 1987 Coloured Stone won the first ARIA award for Best Indigenous Recording ('The Dawn of Black Rock', Advertiser 11 February 1988, Entertainment section:!) 57 Two of Elva's original songs are on CASM tape, No 8, 1980 58. See ABC-TV documentary on Cliff Coulthard, in the series Six Australians,
Film Australia, 1978 McKenzie's Artoowarapana Band can be heard on the cassette Artoowarapana Country, available from Aboriginal and Islander Media Service, Port Adelaide
59. Some of Leila's and Veronica's activities can be seen in the documentary film Sister, I f You Only Knew (Film Australia, 1975) 6 0 Information up to this point is mainly from Leila
61. C Watkins, Letter to C Schultz, 27 February 1984, phone conversation, 29 February 1984 62. C Watkins, 1984
63. Words from Cherie Can be heard on The First Australians, AAA-04 64. From Cherie's singing on CASM tape, No 43, recorded by Max Ellis, 1973 65. 'People Sick of Music of Racism', The Advertiser, 30 March 1987:5
66. 'A song composed by Ted Chester and sung a t New Year's eve dance in the hall, 1958-59' Words only, collected by the late Judy Inglis and supplied to C Schultz by Jeremy Beckett 67 Snooky sings his original songs with Us Mob on CASM tape, No 2, 1980 and Hi-Tide is found on several other CASM tapes 68. R Walker, Up, Not Down, Mate, Catholic Chaplaincy to Aborigines, Adelaide,
1981 Reprinted in 1987 with additions
69. R Walker, Letter to C Schultz, 28 March, 1984 70. From CASM song file This and four other original songs are performed by Robbie on CASM cassette No 117 71. Poem with Letter, R Walker, 1984 72 See The News, 4 September 1984, 26; The Advertiser, 17 October 1984:3; 18 October 1984:s; 7 November 1984:3; 9 November 1984:18 The National Times, 16 November 1984:24; 7 September 1984:11
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73.Slim Connor with the Aldoradoes: Country Music, Swan Hill Features the Kirby brothers 74. The documentary film Oranges andLemons (Swinburne, 1978) shows brief performances by 'the Atkinson brothers' and Dempsey Knight
75. CJ Ellis, Aboriginal Music Making, 1964:352 Jackomos, 1971 76. J Beckett, .Letter to C Schultz, 18 January 1984
77.On both of these bands see Pearce in Isaacs, 1979 On Essie, see her film a n d N van Oudtshoorn, 'It'sBack to Her Land for Essie', Woman's Day, 24 December 1979:ZO-21 7 8 . As sung by Essie with Us Mob, CASM tape, N o 2 79.CASM tape, No 2 80. I Cundell, Letter to G Tunstill, 4 January 1984
81. Rebel Voicesfrom Black Australia, CAAMA, 1982
8 2 . W Thaiday, Under the Act, North Queensland Black Publishing Company, Ibwnsville, 1981 8 3 . E Barkmeyer, CASM cassette, No 116, 1983, with Eric's notes
84. Dennis Conlon and the Magpies, Don't Give In/Brisbane Blacks, Sundown Records, Brisbane, 1982 85. These and two other Conlon lyrics appear on Murrie Cooee: A Collection of Aboriginal Writings, Brisbane, 1983 86. Roger Knox, Give It a Go, Enrec studios, 'Ikmworth
87. 'Funding Helps Koori Music', Bicentenary 88, Australian Bicentennial Authority Newsletter Vol 7, No 2, June 1987:lO 88. Phone conversation with Slim Dusty, 4 April 1984 Slim Dusty and John Lapsley, Walk a Country Mile, Rigby, Sydney, 1979:21
89. See N Drury, Music and Musicians, Nelson, Melbourne, 1980:67 Two songs on R Knox, Give It a Go Also J Little, 'Australia Down Under', Festival 45 See also Erie Watson Country Music In Australia Vol2, Cornstalk, via Angus and Robertson, 1983:158-60 and Gemma Reeve, 1985:30, 32-3, 53 90. George Fisher, Mr George, Philips, 1970's 91. Betty's obituary in Aboriginal and Islander Identity, Vol2, No 10, Perth, 1976:lO 92. See also Pearce in Isaacs, 1979
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93. Enrec Studio has released a cassette of McLeod singing his own songs, Culture Up Front, 1987 94. Black Lace, 'All Blacks', Sydney Also on cassette Rock Against Racism Vol 1, Koori Radio, Melbourne 1985 95. C Perkins, A Bastard Like Me, Sydney, 1975:108 96. Dennis Payne's cover note on Harry and Wilga Williams and the Country Outcasts, Hadley 1981 97. The First Australians, 1978, Harry Williams, 'My Home Made Didjeridu', RCA; The song is transcribed in Investigating Music, ABC, Sydney, 1978:64 98. Harry Williams and the Country Outcasts, RCA, 1979 99.4th National Aboriginal Country Music Festival 1979, on most of which the Outcasts are accompanying 100. The Outcasts' first Central Australian tour is documented in the film Country Outcasts, Film Australia, 1977 101. H Thorpe, Essays presented to C Schultz, 21 June 1983 102. From the Hard Times word book, 'Only a Few' by Peter Rotumah, Henry Thorpe and Ian Johnson, 1978 Hard Times can be heard on cassette Rock Against Racism, Vol 1 , 1985 103. Supplied by Herb Patten He sings it on 4th National Aboriginal Country Music Festival 1979 104. The Brown Brothers, 45, Hobart The documentary film Lousy Little Sixpence, Sixpence Productions 1983, has some soundtrack music by Les and Norm Brown and Alvin Beeton 105. Heather Sculthorpe, Letter to C Schultz, 31 May 1983 106. See E Watson, 1983:175-77 107. On Jim Everett, see also Peter Ward, 'Black Power Seeks a Political Way in Southernmost City', The Australian, 'Magazine', 20-21 October 1984:8 108. M Brunton, 'Western Impact on Aboriginal Music', Media Development, Vol29, No 1, 1982, London 109 M Brunton, 1982 110. G Koch, Letter to C Schultz, 20 March 1984 111. M Brunton, 'The Songs of Detribalised Aboriginal Country and Fringe Dwellers', Tjungaringanyi, Vol 6, No 2, CASM, 1980, abridged from, 'Musical structure as a reflection of the process of acculturation among detribalised
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Aboriginal people in south eastern Australia', presented at International Musicological Society Symposium, Adelaide, 1979 I Knowles, Notes on Andy Kiwat, Monty Lovett and Randall Butler, TJungaringanyi,Vol8, No 1, CASM, 1982 112. B Williams, 'Riding Home at Sundown', 'The Dying Soldier's Prayer', 'I'll Be Back, Never Fear', Regal Zonophone 78s 113. Slim Dusty, 'A Modem Yodelling Song', Gordon Parsons, 'A Happy Bushman', both reissued on Australian Country Yodellers, WRCIColumbia 114. 'Recent studies commonly express the view that Aboriginal English is an adequate medium through which to express the full range of human experience', K Chesson, 'The Problem of Nonstandard English', Aboriginal and Islander Identity, Vol 3, No 4, 1978 115. 4th National Aboriginal Country Music Festival 1979
116. N Murray, 1984 has a good description of this
PART THREE
BREAKING DOWN THE WALL?
BREAKING DOWN THE WALL?
RECENT POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS Leslie Graham of No Fixed Address said in 1982: 'When we play at places, people come up afterwards and say: "This is great, you should've been doing this ten years ago" And what do you say? That we used to be on reservations, not allowed to come out?' CHESTER: It's already too easy to forget how very recent are the times when Aboriginal people in any field have been able to get any public money, support, or publicity. The changes in the politics of race relations here, such as they are, date back little further than the 1960s: the first organisations with a significant Aboriginal voice or leadership, the first national organisations, and the setting up of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies to coordinate research The 1967 Referendum gave Aborigines the right to be counted and gave the Commonwealth government the power-still largely unused-to legislate nationally for Aboriginal affairs USILA: Since the war, Aboriginal people have become more aware of their situation as citizens in this country. Many of them served in the army and felt the discrimination, especially from American soldiers; they were not able to be served in hotels, even though they were in uniform People realised it was time to stand up and be counted in the political arena We were tired of being used as political footballs by both parties We had more Aboriginal people being outspoken, and new ones who were very strong, though what they said wasn't allowed past a certain level in the system CHESTER: With the long drawn out Gurindji and Yirrkala disputes, and the humiliating blow to white Australia's self image from the Tent Embassy at Canberra in 1972, Aborigines and their supporters forced both political parties to rethink the ideology of assimilation. A new feeling of hope arose when Aborigines could put their own case properly and be officially heard, even if they were rejected. This was a change from the old feeling that all the power is on the white man's side and so it's no use trying to achieve anything? The 1970s saw Whitlam's government set up a number of new directions in Aboriginal land rights, selfhelp and leadership training, and antidiscrimination laws Money began to flow into Aboriginal organisations for the first time Neville Bonner (senator), Charles Perkins (senior public servant), Doug Nicholls (state governor), and other Aboriginal leaders cut new ground as familiar national figures ROSIE:
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LEILA: But the National Aboriginal Conference still has no power to actually make decisions. The politicians still have to be made to act positively on land rights, mining, health, education, and housing; and the idea of a Makaratta treaty too, if it turns out to be not just a token. CHESTER: A new sense of being one nation h a s barely begun to grow between t h e diverse and traditionally quite separate tribal groups and pastoral, settlement and urban Aborigines. Aboriginal arts now receive financial support which is unprecedented though still unreliable Since the rise of the Advisory Committee on Aboriginal Arts, which changed its name in 1973 to the Aboriginal Arts Board, with all black membership, public money has been obtainable from the Australia Council. Organisations were set up like the Aboriginal Publications Foundation (1971) to publish work by Aboriginal people instead of about them, and the Aboriginal Artists Agency (1976) to promote and protect Aborigines in the market. In the last twenty years publishers have occasionally put out work by Jack Davis, Kath Walker, Dick Roughsey, Kevin Gilbert, and others. It would be wrong to suggest that white Australia has suddenly become very just o r even very charitable to the original Australians Handing out money has been t h e easy solution, by itself not as appropriateor urgent as changing white people's thinking and redistributing their power. Because almost all Aboriginal organisations still depend on the yearly conditional handout of federal grant money, they are still controlled by the white public service bureaucracy and white politics The money flow is often a mere token, and tends t o dry up unpredictably. Organisations like CASM have to operate with housing and facilities which few white organisations would tolerate. Most Aboriginal 'rights', including land rights, twill be insecure charities until they are written into the Constitution. Many things have not changed, but the budding of self respect and , l hope is the most important result of events in the last twenty years. The 1978 National Aborigines Day Slogan summed it up: 'cultural revival is survival'. Some will be quick to scoff at any elements of romanticising in this, but we had better not point the finger while romanticising our empire, soldiers, Ned Kelly mates, and boozy battlers. Much good can come of a romantic revival of spirit. Many a public meeting of Aboriginal workers is enlivened by Aboriginal music of many kinds, united by a common appreciation of the tribal heritage, and a desire to maintain a n Aboriginal identity in the future. Jacky no longer says that 'he don't care what becomes of the country'; he says 'pay the rent: you are on Aboriginal land'. This will be a crucial test for the meaning of democracy in Australia; will it be freedom and self determination for minorities, or the tyranny of the majority? !
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EXILE, EMBASSY AND HOME FIRE We drew a slightly fuzzy line at the arrival of rock music and television on the various Aboriginal frontiers This line separates on one side the older acoustic musicians, the regional community professionals and minstrels, serving only or mainly Aboriginal groups which are marginalised in white society and largely separated from it socially; and on the other, those whose careers depend on some degree of integration with large numbers of whites and their electric, city based, commercially competitive world of management and mass media The line has been pushed back daily ever since World War I1 Aboriginal people are moving more and more into the big cities, looking for work which is less and less available, so that some settlements are losing most of their able bodied male population The 1986 Census of Population and Housing showed twenty-four per cent of Aborigines living in cities of over 100,000, and a further forty-one per cent in towns down to 1,000 The city culture meanwhile is reaching out more and more into their rural communities via cassettes, radio, and TV. The current political struggles are largely about the need to control its advance in time to keep some vestige of Aboriginal culture on the map, in such a way that an Aboriginal identity can survive in some form Postwar western man offers quicker variations on empire man's old theme of cultural destruction On the home front he now plays down superior weapons in favour of white man's ease, in the form of a culture based on technologies of consumption and the power to make them available to all, irresistibly attractive, and addictively 'necessary'. Television is so far the most powerful, with films or videos a close second Radio and 78 rpm records did not have the ability of TV to replace home made performances or to hold out such a carrot of affluence. Commercial satellite TV will expose every Aboriginal community in Australia to the cunning fake substitute for real togetherness. As in white society, it will make grassroots musicians compete with a very attractive, prestigious, standardised product Thus it will strongly tend to rob them of their audience, and either kill their music or commercialise it as they try to survive by adapting themselves and it to the standards of the media Freda Thornton (now Glynn), co-ordinator of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), points out that 'it is important that Aboriginal communities become involved in using new technologies, or they risk being used by them' This is true But there is risk also in using them Fighting modern technological culture by 'participation' in its own methods, you may find that you have given in on the main issues, which are issues of means You cannot keep grassroots culture alive by giving it lots of money and TV exposure Grassroots culture can be maintained CHESTER:
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only by pursuing it in local life and by personal contact instead of by watching TV That which depends on TV becomes part of TV culture CAAMA and other organizations will have to battle to change TV culture itself, to keep it in its place, make it less 'necessary' and more amenable to non-standard arts. This is a cruel dilemma, familiar to tribal people: salvage what you can by compromising what you must-or else lose the lot. The changes arrive long before TV, as electrified instruments and microphones come into use The musicians may be able to survive on love and a feed, as of old, but electrical equipment cannot. Electric music is capital intensive, and so concerts cost a lot. Since Aboriginal communities usually have very little money, the musicians have to depend on government grants or white benefactors and become paid specialists. This is something the traditional acousticcommunity professionals avoided Electric bands are locked into the white economic system by the very maintenance of their equipment and have to spend time with richer audiences who are white, rather than with their home communities. Accordingly, they are forced to be more responsive to white expectations White audiences are sensitive when looking at dark skinned entertainers; they usually do not want to hear about unfamiliar worlds so close to home, nor about their own collective iniquities. White funding bodies have their own concept of 'results', while the musicians constantly have to justify their actions to them. The conditions of the grant often contradict the Aboriginal tradition of sharing what you have. And of course, the music changes Country and western is no longer the thing with younger audiences. In the cities, and probably soon in the outback, it is regarded as very old and square; and if you're old you're gone! Inevitably, country and western bands find themselves mixing in a substantial slice of rock'n'roll or middle of the road pop, or adapting to the style of country rock. Musical styles are heavily promoted by the electric music media as specialised exclusive markets, in which the so called 'generation gap' is essential. It is really a culture gap, and does not depend mainly on age, but bright packages can easily persuade young audiences about what is 'necessary' to them and their peers, and what is 'old-fashioned ' Music contributes to this dangerous split in Aboriginal community life wherever the media are widely used. There is a hard future ahead for any society in which older and younger generations despise each other. LEILA: The singalongs and dances don't go on as often now. The people on the reserves who organised them have moved away The musicians tend to move to the city to get involved with other musicians They rely on electric equipment, and a lot of the musos think they can't sing without a microphone in front of them. Now you have to pay for a band, and that takes away the family
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kind of evenings and people can't afford to do it as often There's not the same motivation towards the old kind of music TV has killed a lot of the social activities that people would have come out to enjoy, even in the middle of winter. That's made it very difficult for the black community to get close to their musicians But not everyone enjoys the same kind of music now People forty years of age and upwards still prefer the softer sound of piano, piano accordion, soft drumming, guitars, and country music My kids will eventually clear out of the room when I play my type of music The modern style of dancing doesn't suit a lot of the older people and the younger ones think it's funny to see the older ones waltzing and doing the military two-step It all has an effect on family gatherings The old kind of community musicians still have a large following in the city as well as the country, but it'll die out eventually unless there's a surge back towards it CHESTER: Andrew Donnelly, ex-Black Lace, says: Young people want to be in a mass of people these days, and t h a t means electric music, and amplification for acoustic music It's a problem when there's no money to pay a band even when they have travelled 500 miles; there is only enough for their fares, and maybe no accommodation You mention a sum to cover costs plus a little bit, and they baulk There's too much demand for charity gigs, and this is very tiring and demoralizing for the band Koori communities need to be honest about their ability t o pay, and they should run raffles and raise money in advance, if they expect a working band And there's a need for more Aboriginal Arts Board grants for equipment to be given first to bands that are playing continuously for the Aboriginal community
On the other hand Neil Murray writes positively of how an electric band can survive on black community gigs Aboriginal musicians are now struggling to work out their identity under these conditions Their responses can be classified, for temporary convenience only, under three headings: exile, embassy, and home fire EXILE
The Aboriginal musician trying to succeed in the white entertainment system is likely to be exiled from his origins to the extent that he succeeds He can work with white colleagues, in country and western or anything else, as Harold Blair, Jimmy Little, Lionel Rose, the Fishers, Joyce Johnson, and others have done for at least part of their career To be able to feature his Aboriginality in any way, whether musically or as ambassador for his people, the artist has to be lucky in his associates, backers, audiences, and the historical moment when he arrives Generally speaking, he may succeed if he is good enough to make the audience
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forget he is Aboriginal. But he will be o n his own. "Ell 'em You're Maoris' He cannot bring his black community supports with him. He will tend to be forced into a compartmentalised life, the career compartment expanding to leave little room for the community compartment, progressively tearing him apart until he chooses one and abandons the other, or perhaps destroys himself with alcohol Andrew Donnelly regrets that the few successful Aboriginal musicians don't seem to support others or give them advice or opportunities as backup artists in the professional scene. But there are obstacles to even this degree of success. ROSIE: In the large cities where audiences can support professional bands, and where bands therefore come in search of work among the pubs and clubs, any band faces its first problem: t o get a 'gig' or booking Because of the isolation of the Aboriginal community from power and influence, black artists often do not know the most basic facts about promoting themselves; for example, in the free gig listings in the entertainment guide of many city newspapers Black bands are not known, and the hotel and club managers are often unwilling to book Aboriginal artists unless they already have a residency in town to prove they are respectable. Catch 22! The excuse given is that the 'troublesome black crowd' associated with Aboriginal performers will put off regulars and give the establishment a bad name. This can be easy to substantiate. If troublemakers in a crowded pub are white, they are seen as ordinary folks who have had one too many If they are Aboriginal, they are seen as the tip of an Aboriginal iceberg aiming to wreck the venue and destroy civilisation. And a quite placid Aboriginal look can easily be seen by a nervous manager as a 'black look' All of these problems apply even when the band are seasoned performers who have played perhaps for years at functions for the Aboriginal community, and at 'black pubs' These black events are ignored by the media, and usually heard of only amongst Aborigines. The managers of black pubs are not Aborigines, and regard promotion as a waste because a regular crowd is assured anyway, as they are friendly places for an Aborigine to be normal rather than stared at. The prejudice against Aboriginal bands does not apply as much to black musicians from other countries, who are viewed as exotic and interesting. Unemployment and low income affect Aborigines proportionally much more than whites Black bands are frequently underpaid, making it harder for them to finance equipment and travel than for white bands. Police harassment of black bands on the road adds another obstacle, as was shown in the film Wrong Side of the Road. CHESTER: Aboriginal artists rarely get as far as contemplating the next steps: recording and airplay. Highly skilled and experienced musicians, like Country Outcasts, Black Lace, Hard Times, Coloured Stone, and tenor Harold Blair, have
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found this scene impossible and given it up as not worth the alienating struggle for acceptance They have 'faded back into the Koori scene', with little hope of ever getting competent backup or presentation. Like the Wilcannia young people they will be tempted, even expected, to say 'We're like white folks now'; but they will usually be prevented from being so and the social price of success may be slow exile EMBASSY
Musicians have always been among the leading Aboriginal cultural ambassadors With more government and private enterprise funding for multicultural events, it is now possible for a 'folkloric embassy' to appear relatively often: at festivals of arts, ethnic festivals, eisteddfods, and some schools and colleges There are also fund raisers for Aboriginal causes through groups such as Rock Against Racism, the anti nuclear movement, the Australian Cultural Association, Campaign Against Racial Exploitation, student unions, church based groups, and occasional support rallies backed by various groups of sympathisers This is hardly mainstream success, but has been essential for groups like No Fixed Address Busking has been an outlet for a very few, while it is possible that the jazz clubs could provide moral support for Aboriginal country blues artists DOUG: Folk clubs are among the few places that could give a good hearing to Aboriginal balladry. The seventeenth National Folk Festival (Adelaide, 1983) helped break new ground as CASM students aroused interest among the folk audiences through concert sessions and a workshop led by Phyl Lob1 CHESTER: The ambassadors have tended to be regionally-based musicians brought to the city for these occasions, or else temporary theatre groups like Adelaide's Widjarookie Players, or continuing ones like Sydney's Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre and National Black Theatre Tribal music has made more forays into the white world than non-tribal, because it has had more support from the establishment both at home and overseas In 1961 the North Australian Eisteddfod Council decided to include tribal singing and dancing sections in the Darwin Eisteddfod. Whatever the dubious ethics of putting tribal arts in a competitive context with white adjudicators, the move did result in the Elizabethan Theatre Trust bringing three groups of Top End performers to Melbourne and Sydney for a very successful run in 1964 Yet such interest is more likely to come from international entrepreneurs than Australians The 1981 tour of twenty-eight singers and dancers across the US for instance, was instigated by a Californian after seeing the films Walkabout and T h e Last Wave. The team performed outside New York's Metropolitan Opera House, and discussed issues of justice and culture with blacks
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in Harlem and Indians in Los Angeles. However, they were 'disappointed that though they were able to perform all over the US, the finance is not available to take their dances to Australian city dwellers'. And Anthony Wallis of the Aboriginal Artists Agency added, 'Australians may be the last to know'.6 Meanwhile, tribal and non-tribal artists in many fields have taken part in South Pacific Festivals of Arts and overseas art circles know the names of many of them. Aboriginal artists well known internationally include didjeridu players Djoli Laiwanga (of Beswick, Northern Territory), Paul Gurrumurruwuy (of Lake Evella, Northern Territory), and Bobby Japanangka (of Yuendumu, but taught didjeridu by an Arnhem Land man); songman John Dhundu (of Lake Evella); Wandjuk Marika, didjeridu player and bark painter from Yirrkala, for many years chairman of the Aboriginal Arts Board; and David Gulpilil, young actor/dancer/singer from Maningrida. LEILA: The programs presented overseas or in the Australian concert scene have more often been from the Top End, and there is a definite line between these and the performances done by the Central Australian people The Top End people give a concert type performance, more polished and more acceptable to promoters. Other kinds are often misunderstood even though they may be more closely related to traditional lifestyles Aboriginal performers need to maintain something that can be easily seen as belonging to their area, not just changed to suit white audiences CHESTER: The word 'primitive' and its more patronising alternatives like 'simple', 'raw' or 'pristine', float ominously through many reviews There is a danger that Aboriginal artists may be let in only far enough to give the cultural establishment a trip on primitivism. Part-Aboriginal artists are usually ignored in favour of 'the real thing' (the trip?). The arts may remain acceptable only as long as the artists keep quiet about the political issues affecting the survival of what they are doing: land rights, mining, living conditions, education policy, and so on Nevertheless, artists have an important role in these battles Within Australia, land rights laws in the Northern Territory and elsewhere have committed traditional owners to proving their claim by performing and explaining the songs which belong to the localities in question. Surrounded by white lawyers and anthropologists, and sometimes by cameras, tapes, and TV crews, they sing these songs to uninitiated people at some cost to the traditions they hope to preserve. For the TV news viewer the music is lost in the political commentary. Embassies play to white people and to the mobile, mixed Aboriginal audiences of the cities, and they meet musicians from other regions. In these situations, new kinds of consciously political music are developing, and a new kind of band based not on regional and family ties but on a self-chosen style, politics,
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and audience This is closely linked with the slowly emerging sense of a single Aboriginal nation where blacks from any region strive to address all other blacks on themes of common concern, and to address the white nation on behalf of all blacks. It is still a new and urban idea and will not be easily achieved among people whose concerns have never before extended beyond their homeland region But it has already had international airing from musicians, among others Of great significance is the new meeting of tribal and non-tribal Aboriginal people and their various arts This was pioneered by such events as the Melbourne Aboriginal Moombas (camp concerts), dating back at least to 1951, and inspired by Pastor Doug Nicholls and others GUY: The meeting has continued in many places, but most successfully in country areas where they feel themselves on a common levelsuch as the Yuendumu annual festival CHESTER: It has already led to some musical mingling: notably, younger Aboriginal bands often using traditional instruments such as didjeridu, boomerangs, and clapsticks HOME FIRE
The power of embassies, and the ability to avoid exile, depend on the warmth of the home fire, the quality of the things that happen when Aboriginal people are able to be at home together. Much of the current response to the electric city consists of building black alternatives These ongoing communications in new styles exist for an Aboriginal community which in the city has to be less regional and more national because it is a mixed population with roots in many different parts of the country The older regional community system is being extended to carve out a home in the city and take charge of it There is enormous importance in the few permanent places which are widely recognised as black territory and are big enough for artists to meet and perform together regularly at black gatherings: the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs building (now sold) and Black Theatre Arts and Cultural Centre in Redfern; the Koori Kollij in Melbourne; the Nyoongah Community Centre near Perth; and Adelaide's Aboriginal Community Centre and Aboriginal Community College; as well as the less reliable black pubs At such places a sense of pride and belonging is built up and a confidence in the power and right of Aborigines to do things their way Poverty plus the high cost of electric music and city venues make it inevitable that they rely on government money Government funds have also established various artistic and theatrical organisations to provide home-fire black gigs and support for embassies The Aboriginal Cultural Foundation in Darwin is devoted to tribal arts National Black Theatre in Redfern is now defunct, but has been followed by other theatre groups
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CASM student Gayle Rankine teaches at a music workshop in Sedfem,Sydney in 1981
For more than ten years the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre in Glebe, Sydney, has been training urban people under black American Carole Johnson, but also with regular input from traditional Torres Strait and Mornington Islanders A cultural complex is proposed at Mowanjum and a music centre at Broome The National Aboriginal Country Music Festival has been held annually since 1976. Several states now have local festivals as run ups to it. Under the general umbrella of competitive country and western music making, these events turn into huge communal celebrations of Aboriginal identity and Aboriginal music making of all kinds. The fourth Festival, at 'Eiperoo (Adelaide), was attended by about five thousand people. Wandjuk Marika could be heard along with The Country Outcasts, who hosted the show and provided support for most of the music for two-and-a-half days straight. There was reggae from No Fixed Address, tribal dancing from Kunanurra in the far north, boomerang throwing for kids, and country and western music from all over Australia. The whole occasion was a kind of family affair, and grog was prohibited. A white friend that I took along remarked that he'd never seen Aborigines in this kind of positive situation before. A considerable amount of original music was being exposed, in a wide variety of styles from commercial style country and western with twang to heavily harmonised gospel 8
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The Aboriginal Country Music Festival has retained the genuine nature of festival intentions-a coming together of musicians with similar interests to share and enjoy The 'famworth white Festival has largely lost those virtues to commercial interests, and any merging of the two, as was tried in 1982, would undoubtedly see the Aboriginal Festival go the same way and/or disappear altogether. CHESTER: According to Ian Johnson, who represented South Australia at the Tamworth event in January 1982, it went very well for Aboriginal artists in terms of praise, but very little actual support has resulted Ian's impression was that white professionals as a whole: DOUG:
thought 'It was good to have Aborigines there, but let them keep their distance' Harry Williams wanted Tamworth for the recognition of Aboriginal musicians, and to enable them to get money support %worth is just another country and western town, but they want to turn it into Nashville; money, money, money, and electric bucking horses They don't want to hear Koori voices, where you can hear tribal voices coming through There are a lot of Aborigines in the songwriters' section, but it's hard to break through the barrier of people thinking that America is country music Whereas I believe that Aboriginal music is Australian country music Any music from Aborigines is the music of the country
Other occasions arise from time to time for black music making; football celebrations, annual meetings of major organisations such as the Aboriginal Hostels Association, talent quests hosted by leading Aboriginal musicians, even soup kitchens run by the Aboriginal Sobriety Group Black territory now includes some places specifically for the training of Aboriginal musicians, notably the place from which this chapter has grown, where Mrs Rankine was chairperson and 'Auntie Leila' to the Aboriginal students LEILA: The Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) developed out of Dr Catherine Ellis's research into tribal and non-tribal music in the 1960s Starting in the early seventies at the Port Adelaide Aboriginal Friendship Club, she worked to bridge the gap between tribal and urban people through music, and to inject an awareness in urban people that they had an Aboriginal culture which was as important as any other. Urban people have been afraid of tribal people doing things like pointing the bone, or they have been embarrassed about them However, the program tries to get them to look at each other and learn. Since 1975 CASM has been part of the University of Adelaide, and the students can see that the Pitjantjatjara elders have the status of senior lecturer. White music students from the university's conservatorium can also sit with the elders and learn traditional children's songs and dances taught in the traditional way l 0 The urban
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CASM singing group at thefourth National Aboriginal Country Music fkstival at lhperoo, Adelaide i n 1979. From left to right: Charlie Knight, Oscar Kartinyeri, Noel Wilson, Veronica Brodie, Bessie Brodie, Margaret Brodie, Marion Struhs, Becky Kankine, Laurel Wilson, Veronica Bankine, Leila Rankine.
Aboriginal students at CASM used to play mainly wind instruments in the Adelaide Aboriginal Orchestra led by Max Ellis, and became aware that there's a place for preserving experiences in the old ballad type of music, which is still the most popular in isolated Aboriginal communities?l Bringing together tribal and urban Aboriginal musicians and white music students makes CASM unique in Australia. CASM's educational philosophy is derived both from tribal methods and from observations of what is important to non-tribal communities. It involves sociable participation as a basic ingredient, all age community input, and the encouragement of informal amateurs as well as paid specialist^.^^ More recently CASM has ventured into electric music, at some risk to a continued awareness of the traditional kinds. In 1982, following promotions for Us Mob and the film Wrong Side of the Road, Tiga Bayles started the Murri Jama Music Production Company in Fkdfern, 'to promote, train and encourage Aboriginal youth in the areas of music, sound production, film, and ~ i d e o ' Owned ?~ and managed by Aboriginal people, it includes an Aboriginal booking agency with road management and administration. In 1983 it established a regular venue at the Gaelic ClubJ4 CHESTER:
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PLATE 17
School children tap and sing inma with Pitjantjatjara elder Minyungu Baker and CASM administrator Ben Yengi, about 1980
PLATE 18
Memhers of Melbourne band Hard Times and Broome band Knuckks at CASM in 1981 From, left to right: Henry Thorpe, Gary Gower, Ian Johnson, Patrick Bin h a t , Stephen Pigram, Wayne Thorpe.
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Centres such as these and many new ones in different regions will become more and more necessary as more people come to the cities These centres exist so that musicians can pursue some kind of musical existence. The next step, to achieve general recognition for some through recording and airplay, is another thing again and will have to involve yet more black alternatives ROSIE: Faced with strong competition from overseas products and dwindling sales, the Australian recording industry is unwilling to experiment with new styles and artists Aboriginal artists, as unknowns, are at the bottom of t h e list Hope lies in the newer independent labels, like Rough Diamond and Hot Records The problem here is that they don't have the money to press and promote large numbers effectively CHESTER: Nor do the companies know the channels of black communication which amount to a ready made distribution network to the most relevant audience A number of good Aboriginal recordings are languishing unsold for lack of promotion. ROSIE: An alternative is to record completely independently and then to manufacture and distribute through a large company, since these are the stages which demand a large outlay and organisational expertise. In the United States, black artists got to the top of the hit parade by forming their own companies, Stax and Motown being the best known. Before this, 'race records' pigeonholed black music into a black market, while black Americans saw watered down white versions of their music rocket to the top In Australia, excellent black artists are still ignored, go unrecorded, and have their existence debated at white dinner parties. There is clearly a need for a black Australian recording company, especially in country and western, with manufacturing and distribution contracted to a major company. This could allow Aboriginal musical culture a freedom lacking when bands depend on white companies to record them An important side effect would be to give Aboriginal people a share in controlling their own industry and spreading their culture Until this happens the best chance for a black band to get on the market is to record, press and distribute independently as with CASM's Kuckles single "Traffic Lights'I'Fishing' (1983). ROSIE: Airplay is available only through government or public broadcasting stations, which have greater freedom of choice in lyrics and music. Commercial stations have to toe the line to their sponsoring businesses; they stick to light entertainment and play records which can bring profits to record companies They are not interested in demo tapes because they are unsaleable. However, public broadcasters, because they often sign clauses pledging to promote Australian and local music and to combat racist attitudes, can give limited airplay to a black band if it has a demo tape. Sometimes live-to-air performances occur.
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As in the US, black musicians may solve the problem of getting airplay by creating their own radio stations or programs playing mainly black artists to mainly black audiences But in Australia the black population is much smaller. DOUG: Several public radio stations run regular Aboriginal programs featuring Aboriginal music, especially 6NR in Perth, 8CCC in Alice Springs, 5UV's Talk Black program in Adelaide, and 2EA in Sydney There are also 2JJ and 2SER in Sydney; 2WEB in Bourke; 4ZZZ in Brisbane; 4TTT in Tbwnsville; Wayee Radio in Hobart; and others occasionally, such as 5MMM in Adelaide The Public Broadcasting Association of Australia coordinates a program exchange between public stations throughout the country Through this exchange there is a potential for Aboriginal programs to reach wider audiences This has already happened to material recorded and broadcast by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) in Alice Springs, and by the Aboriginal and Islander Media Service (AIMS) in Port Adelaide CHESTER: CAAMA has been working since 1980 to build an Aboriginal controlled media service for Central Australia It also has training programs in both radio and TV skills Its radio and cassette news services are in Aranda, Luritja, Pitjantjatjara, Warlpiri, and English, and it has been making recordings of musicians from the Centre for sale on cassette The first single on CAAMA's own record label Imparja (Aranda for 'tracks') appeared in 1984 AIMS started in 1985as a branch of the Aboriginal Community College in Port Adelaide It has been producing 'Black Magic Radio' weekly, for distribution to public radio, Aboriginal communities, educational institutions, and (for a while) international sale Many 'Black Magic Radio' programs include original field recordings of Aboriginal musicians In 1981the National Aboriginal and Islander Broadcasting Association was formed, and has held national conferences annually. It has the potential to coordinate lobbying for funds, influence federal policy and Aboriginal content, and share and spread skills It can also develop contacts which are ver tenuous between music makers in different regions, and expose musicians to a wider audience. there is a long way to go, though some progress has been made In 1983-84 Aboriginal broadcasters in Perth, Adelaide, Alice Springs and Sydney seemed to have already heard of each other's artists or tapes, but now there is some circulation The kind of future produced by these alternative media will depend largely on how effectively they keep contact with rural grassroots musicians, and whether their audiences will listen to such grassroots music CAAMA (and to some extent AIMS) have already made useful strides in this direction
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NE W STYLE MUSICIANS So Aboriginal musicians in the city culture continue to move between exile, embassy and home fire A few examples will illustrate the problems and t h e variety of responses and achievements CHESTER:
The lonely and perilous attempt to succeed as an Aboriginal solo artist in a system containing (for practical purposes) no other Aborigines, was pioneered in various ways by people like David Unaipon and much later, Harold Blair (1924-76). Born in Cherbourg, separated from his tribe and brought up on a Salvation Army mission, Harold sang from early childhood and defined his vocal aspirations from the mission's gramophone records of Richard Crooks and John McCormack At the age of twenty, this handsome cane cutter and his untrained but clear and lyrical high C's were discovered with t h e aid of unionist Harry Green, and a singing teacher. His wife, Mrs Dorothy Blair, says: The Queensland government was approached by Harry Green to help Harold establish himself as a fulltime student, but the best they could offer was as an errand boy for them during the day, and for Harold to study part-time at night In short, they felt it was not in their best interests to gamble on an Aboriginal who, they felt, may not follow through and succeed; perhaps may 'go walkabout'
Harold developed a refined classical technique at Melba Conservatorium, gave innumerable concerts for the ABC and others, married a white singer, and was a national celebrity when in 1951 he studied and sang in the USA He then toured Australia, performing artsong, lieder, and opera in their various languages, including the Lethbridge arrangements of songs from Harold's Maranoa homelandJ5Harold appeared on radio and TV but his experiences in America had made him more aware of and outspoken about Australia's neglect of its black people After touring Australia for the ABC in 1951,Harold was waiting for certain documents to arrive from America for his return there, but they ultimately did not arrive before we were to sail Therefore it was then that he decided to stay and help his people in any way possible But in doing so, he forfeited the right to take singing engagements other than any which the ABC might offer, for three years Meanwhile, he discovered a teacher here, Madame Wielaert, who he said gave him more valuable tuition than his time in AmericaJ6
Harold turned to working for his people directly in a number of social and political fields As a sideline he continued to sing for Aboriginal charities and functions, using the hymns, spirituals and semiclassicalballads that were popular
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PLATE19
Tenor Harold Blair teaching at Melba Conservatorium, about 1957 Photograph courtesy of Mrs Dorothy Blair.
among Aboriginal communities He taught singing for a while at Melba Conservatorium and for years was a very successful music teacher at two suburban schools Late in his life he sang a lead role in James Penberthy's opera Dalgerie, the first opera to be performed in the Sydney Opera House Among his lifelong promoters was the late composer Margaret Sutherland, who said: 'It was undoubtedly a world class voice in potential, but he needed to have been discovered just two or three years earlier'17He was also an occasional arranger, and composed a song, '0 Land of Mine': The day i s coming when all tIz?'ngswill change, And change will come i n wondrous ways,
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Like winds that blow the mountain range, I n m y cherished land, m y homeland This i s what I see, When m y people shall be free!18
Harold Blair's withdrawal from a promising professional concert and opera career seems t o have been motivated partly by disenchantment with suitcase life and with separation from his people: 'I came to realize more and more that I was living in a dream world The reality was the old Aboriginal who shuffled up to ask hopefully, "Spare us a bob, Harold?'"l9 Many other Aborigines have tried various forms of individual mainstream career, from the successful country gospel tourer Jimmy Little, through cabaret singers like Betty Fisher, and publclub artists like Alan Saunders, Les Sumner and John Bingapore, to the occasional musical spin-off from careers in other fields, as with Lionel Rose These situations are unlikely to allow for much Aboriginality Some have specialised in less formal methods in which they are able to present themselves as Aborigines to some extent: by busking in the city (which requires a certain kind of personality), or by visiting schools and elsewhere as ambassadors, as with Johnny Marshall or tribal people like David Gulpilil and Wandjuk Marika. A few individual musicians, mainly didjeridu players, have found their way onto mainstream records: George Winunguj at the classical level, Wanayawa of Elcho Island on Ted Egan's Bangtail Muster, and Joe Geia and Billy Inda on the white band Goanna's very successful Solid Rock Some have tried to plunge into the difficult urban mainstream as all Aboriginal bands Many competent bands have largely given up trying to do this while some regional bands take the occasional quick dip, like Kuckles, the Warumpi Band, and Mantaka. A few others are still swimming against the current, like the bands of Roger Knox, George Fisher and No Fixed Address There is a strong motivation to keep trying: 'I think our biggest feeling when we're up on stage is seeing mixed people together. Like with half the crowd white and half black, getting along together with no trouble Most of the blackfellows who come to see us feel really proud.. We're just trying to get respected ' 2 0 'What we're basically on about is to show the gubbahs that we are not a bunch of drunks, we're talented and we are out to prove it For young regional bands, and for all those young Aboriginal musicians who are no longer satisfied with the homegrown traditions of gospel and country music because they are growing into the city's media culture, much inspiration has come from the rapid and wide success, just outside the mainstream, of No Fixed Address
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The band No Fixed Address in 1983 From left to right:Billy Gwham, Joe G&, Bart Willoughby,Ater Merridith, ChrisJones and Sandy. Photograph by Carol Ruff, courtesy of Mushroom. Music.
Bob Marley played in Adelaide in early 1979 The dust raised by that tour never really settled While garage bands across Adelaide rehearsed forms of skalreggaelrock, a group called No Fixed Address (NFA) played rock and reggae standards interspersed with original material They believed reggae to be the black music of the future, and heeded Marley's claim that all black men are brothers In 1980 NFA and Us Mob, who were all studying at CASM, worked with Ned Lander (of Dirt Cheap} and Graeme Isaac to make a film called Wrong Side of the Road, which featured the lives and music of the two young black bands Soundtrack songs were released on an LP The film won the Jury Prize a t the 1981 Australian Film Awards NFA features songs by drummer Bart WiUoughby and rhythm guitarist Chris Jones: ROSIE:
All the years has j w t passed me by, I've been hassled by the cops nearly all m y life, People trying to keep me so blind, But I can see what's going o n in m y m i n d (Chorus) 'Cause we have survived the white ma%'sworld, And the horror and the torment of i t all,
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We have survived the white man's world, And you know you can't change that (from 'We Have Survived' by Bart W i l l ~ u g h b y ) ~ ~
NFA have survived too They have been distinguished not only by the original songs, but by Bart's original drumming style featuring rim shots, and by lead guitarist Leslie Graham's bright country and western riffs which infuriated reggae purists Their music is also characterised by long instrumental breaks and a lot of emphasis on bass, percussion, rhythm, and didjeridu, 'painting a landscape with music'; and by determination: There's a lot of things that are trying to stop you, And that is racism, and the cops, and the government which is buggered, But we have learnt within our soul, within our soul, and that is The land controls you, you don't control i t So all you black people, you got to fight for your rights. (from 'Black Man's Rights' b y Bart WiUoughby)
A mini LP, From My Eyes, released in 1982, reflects the influence of Rough Diamond's David Briggs in its faster, heavier style. Critical opinion ran from those who saw NFA as the authentic voice of Australia to those who saw them as an overrated reggae/rock/country and western hybrid. But the fact that they played reggae, and so gave audiences something different to listen to, may be one reason for their success CHESTER: After Les's departure from the group in 1983, their sound had less country and western and more effects As a three-piece lineup of Chris, Bart, and Nicky Moffatt (bassplayer, singer, songwriter), they sang to the striking miners in England. After time out, they are touring internationally again in 1988 as a quartet comprised of Bart, Les (now Les Freeman), John John Miller (the original bassist) and Rick Lovegrove-Maher. Some of Willoughby's best lyrics transform pain into poetic images and pithy sayings: Sitting in the sunlight with m y head towards the sun, Suddenly there's a cloud above me, blocking out the sunlight From m y eyes, from m y eyes. Will you sit with me and try to be m y friend? Don't ever try to take the sunlight or else I'll die like a seed I don't want to be blind, I want to be free. (from 'From My Eyes' by Bart Willoughby) 24 Why must we pay for your price for your American dreams? I sing this song of message from me to you, That's if you understand m y blues, Like the sun, the water, and this land,
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Wally McArthur, Peter 'Bdro' Butler Photograph by Carol Ruff
For this here land is m y only home. (from 'I Can't Stand and Look' by Bart Willboughby)
25
Jones' words are usually a direct challenge to the white audience: But you say you want us to be like you, You say you want us to live like you, You say you want us to be part of you, You say, you say, but it's not the truth We don't need no high society And we don't want no poverty; All we want i s our right to be free Th live our lives the way it's meant to be. (from 'How Much Longer' by Chris Jones)
From its first formation at a national college, NFA has been committed to a national and pan-Aboriginal mode of work Bart and John John come from Ceduna, Chris and Nicky from Gippsland, and Les and Rick from Point McLeay 'There's all this rivalry between the different missions But we're doing it for all the black people Our band's safe because we've got a mixture'Z7 They are determined to crack into the international market as well, believing that a political band's future in Australia is limited because too many people here feel threatened
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by them This is a new thing, and both reflects and inspires the new national thinking Opportunities for international tours now occasionally come within reach of other black bands Kuckles went to Germany, and Mantaka had an offer, according to Ibina Cundell Rock band Us Mob were often thought of together with NFA, because they participated in the film, but in many ways their aims were quite distinct Lead guitarist and vocalist Peter 'Pedro' Butler (who had played with Dugites in Western Australia) came from Port Augusta with a Tasmanian backgroundzg,Bonnie Ansell from Alice Springs, Carroll Karpany from Point Pearce, and the drummer, the late Wally McArthur from Whyalla, was born in England of Aboriginal parents Like NFA, they met at CASM in 1979. ROSIE: Us Mob played, among other things, heavy metal rock, with speed record guitar solos by Pedro and some lyrics that pulled no punches about racism in Australia: They promise MS this and they promise us that, But all we ever get is a stab in the back They tell MS what to do and they push us around, And then they have the gall to go and rip u p the ground
(Chorus) When are they going to learn, when will they stop? When are they going to learn to stop this genocide? (from 'Genocide' by Peter Butler and Wally Macarthur)SO DOUG: Us Mob was once criticized for adopting a 'fascist' heavy metal style Pedro defended their use of the style by saying that it had more in common with Jimi Hendrix than with the heavy metal bands He felt they needed to be loud and aggressive musically. CHESTER: Pedro writes: 'It was an intensity that needed to be expressed at the time 'Genocide', although our most requested song, did rub certain people the wrong way but we persevered for the sake of awareness, not as an angry aggression against racism.'31 In fact, according to Carroll, they were forced into the category of 'political band' although they wanted to be mainly a working band satisfyingpeople in the pubs with a repertoire of ballads, country rock, and rock'n roll. 'Genocide' was an early song, before they decided to play it cool and make people listen to the music first. Unable to get enough audiences in Adelaide, they moved to Sydney where they quickly found that selective media blow ups of the songs they sang at concerts like Rock Against Racism caused pubs to reject them, even though audience reaction was always good. After trying tours to black events in the country, they disbanded in mid 1982 It was a loss for everybody. Us Mob were very unusual among Aboriginal bands in sometimes abandoning chords in favour of stark, heavy instrumental unison lines, for example
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Allan Moarywaalla Barker, &ger/songwriter from. Part Hedland, in 1987 Photograph courtesy of the West Australian
in 'Suicidal Contemplation' On the other hand, they had a vein of gentle folk rock, featuring Pedro's skilful lead playing: you're m y Sunshine, I'm your day; That's the way that we're going to stay, Here until the end of time. No reason to lay v o w love on the line, Because I love you, Sunshine. (from 'Sunshine' by Peter Butler)32
Their country and western backing with vocals for Essie Coffey's demo tape is a musician's treat, notably Pedro's accompaniment to 'She Moves With the Wind' 33
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The band No Fixed Address i n 1988 From left to right: Les Graham, Bart Willoughby,John John Miller and Rick Lovegrove. Photograph courtesy of No Fixed Address.
City culture has introduced not only rock and reggae, but also the earthy American blueslfolk influence to a few Aboriginal musicians, most notably Black Allan Barker from Port Hedland 'He concentrates on original music "Black Allan", as he prefers t o be called, describes his music as "Aboriginal grassroots blues". In his songs h e comments on land rights and the oppressed Aboriginal. After moving to the east in 1959. he became a folk troubador playing in folk clubs around the country In 1971 he was involved with Greenpeace, of which he was vice-president .and in protests against nuclear testing In 1982 he won a busking award for singing at the Festival of Sydney'. a4 A tape shows Black Allan to be a complete master of traditional singing-and-talkingblues, 'blues-harp' harmonica, and folk blues guitar, but with a uniquely Aboriginal use of words and humour. The eighties have also seen a rising interest in black American 'soul' music at CASM At another level, the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre has dance to modern jazz and blues, and their visitors have included Stevie Wonder and Roberta Flack I well remember the excitement generated among Adelaide's Aboriginal schoolchildren in 1980 when the Dance Theatre's Malcolm Cole, of Townsville, with Philip Lanley of Mornington Island, taught them an unaccompanied song in American 'soul' style with stylish body movement. It was written by Bob Randall's son Allan, and adapted by the dancers:
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(Chorus) Aborigine must be free to control his destiny. Maybe if I was white living would be all right, But why should I hope for that when I'm proud to be black? What this land means to me, i t is one with m y soul; I still need my land in order to be whole. Progression travels forward, we forget our spiritual ways. You make life for us awkward, as our culture slips away.36
In the wake of NFA and Us Mob, a number of other Aboriginal bands have been limbering up for the mainstream plunge with music that aims at an Aboriginal identity CASM band Uluru had original material with a reggae beat and an upfront bass Some but not all of its songs were political CHESTER: The band's lead singer and songwriter was Rick Lovegrove Maher, born in Point McLeay but brought up by a white family in Adelaide. As an acoustic singerlguitarist,he explored and wrote in folk territory of the Dylan kind, and his music has also been influenced by Pink Floyd and Bad Company Les Graham, ex-NFA also joined the band, later called Aroona Both men are now in NFA. All-States was another CASM band, with western Victoria's Monty Lovett, Tbrres Strait Islanders Andy Kiwat and Getano Bann, black English tutor David Gregg, and for a while Sydney's Andrew Donnelly. Monty has been writing songs which move away from country and western towards mellow rock. ROSIE: All-States was a soul-rock group with multiple harmonies Several of its members were in the earlier CASM Blues Band, and ~ l l - s t a t e 4 followed in that tradition The group's songwriters wrote of Aboriginal experien but also of what their mixed audiences share in common, as in 'This is Love', base on an idea of Getano's: ROSE:
There's a sunny day out there Just waiting to be lived This ain't no time for hopeless despair. I f you try, you can win (Chorus) This is love; what are we waiting for?
Soul music like this adopts the stance of the winner who refuses to lie down and die It has been inspired by black American soul artists of the sixties, from John Coltrane to Aretha Franklin DOUG: Jardine Andrew Kiwat is from Mackay, and started his musical career at the age of eleven, with the Hawaiian Quartette He plays guitar and drums,
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sings and writes songs not only for All-States but as an acoustic soloist He and his material for kids have proved popular in schools and school holiday programs, and he and Getano have been including traditional Tbrres Strait dances in their repertoire. Andy is now a full time tutor at CASM, and since 1987 he has had a band called Azuar, featuring talented singer/instrumentalists Ladonna Hollingsworth from Cairns and David Page from Brisbane Their publicity leaflet concludes: Black bands in Australia have been labelled in some way or another. We on the other hand would like to present to all races of Australia that there can be racial harmony and understanding achieved through music and that people should accept each other for what they are, hence the name of the band, A ~ u a r . ~ ~
All-States have combined with Leila and Veronica Rankine, songwriter Dorothy Clarke, Monty Lovett, Andrew Donnelly, Marlene Cummins, and others to produce "The Indulkanu Suite',a forty minute expression in music of the Aboriginal past, present, and future, directed and arranged by tutor Ron Nicholls It was toured in the east, played at the Opera House and recorded. This idea has a larger scale, an inclusiveness of styles and a dramatically conceived use of music, which shows how the culture gaps might be bridged, as well as being interesting musically In 1987 staff and students developed a similar jazz-rock suite called Urban Corroboree The Pitjantjatjara elders met with them both in Adelaide and in the Indulkana homelands, performing and talking, and negotiated something which is probably unique in Australia The suite is an urban look at aspects of traditional culture The first section relates a didjeridu 'pedal-note' to various chords on winds, guitars and keyboard. Following a section which evokes Indulkana Spring, Billy Mungie and other Pitjantjatjaraelders sing Nyi-izyi(zebra-finch)verses into the microphone as part of the suite The other performers, black and white, have learned these verses at tribal singing sessions, and sing along while clapping or playing clapsticks, drumkit, percussion and electric bass, with the beat but without bar-lines. This exciting music has only been achieved after sixteen years of shared experience and trust building It is a strong expression of both Aboriginal identity and cultural harmony CHESTER:
Meanwhile in Sydney, Murri Jama has been managing a family reggae band, Bapu Mamoos. This has three of Don Brady's sons (Graham, Matthew, and Vincent) and other men from the same Guguyelandji tribe, according to Marlene Cummins Strong influences from this background, encouraged by Pastor Brady, remain in their music Four of the seven or eight members do cultural dancing as part of the music, and they sing in the language and use didjeridu. Another member is Paul Meredith (junior), son of the Queensland community band leader.
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A public performance of the tribal component, of Urban Corroboree. Left, tribal elder Billy Mungie, right, Ron Nicholls, who arranged and produced Urban Corroboree. Photograph by Liz Thornpson, courtesy of CASM
They moved from Brisbane to Sydney to pursue their career and have supported Peter Tosh and worked around the city with good reports They say: 'Our electronic music is a development of our cultural music in terms of the twentieth century by Aboriginal people expressing the same values since the Dreaming'3' During 1983 Murri Jama hosted the attempt to form a reggae band called Nya Nunga, comprised of two West Indians, a Maori, a white Australian, and an Aborigine Although this has fallen through, it shows, along with All-States, an 'international black' development in the black music movement which Bob Marley's tour sparked in Australia Joe Geia, a nephew of Don Brady, was the Aboriginal member. He has been a guitarist since he was small and is a didjeridu and ukulele player, singer, and songwriter. For a time he worked with NFA and can be heard on their mini-LP From My Eyes His reggae style music includes 'They', about the tourist industry proposed for Palm Island, with multitracked harmonies alternating with his lead voice and forming 7th and 9th chords in a minor key 38 'Uncle Willie' is about Joe's uncle Willie Thaiday, and celebrates the things of our lives', the need to fight for rights, and Uncle Willie himself, in lithe harmonised syncopations Joe now has his own touring band and has released an LP
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Nobody knows Uncle Willie, But he knows about you We are like Uncle Willie, 'Cause our lives are like his.39
SOME GENERAL REMARKS CHESTER: Most of what has just been described has happened in the last ten years Things are changing very quickly, for good and ill Can we make any generalisations about the music? Despite all the efforts of many Aboriginal musicians to broaden their audience and be accepted as ordinary people, most are still playing to predominantly Aboriginal audiences. The music continues to reflect Aboriginal tastes, with country music, either ballad or country and western, not far in the background. But new styles are being absorbed and Aboriginal music redefined to allow for rock, middle of the road pop, negro blues and reggae. There is a wider range of musical elements. Songs in minor keys were extremely rare in the older styles, b u t now they are common in songs by Vi Chitty, No Fixed Address, Us Mob, Coloured Stone, and others. Modal songs like 'We Have Survived' are appearing, as are multi-key songs like Warumpi's 'Kintorelakutu' and more complex chords and progressions, even in country and western. Always sensitive to the available musics of oppressed peoples, Aborigines now have some new examples to choose from How many of the Aboriginal musical characteristics which we identified earlier will survive the pressure of city life and white taste? Will musicians have to choose between sticking to their Aboriginal styles or being accepted as entertainers for white audiences? These issues hang in balance, and unfortunately, may present themselves even to Aboriginal musicians themselves in the form of 'doing it wrong' versus 'doing it right', rather than of a legitimate difference of traditions In the cities, piano accordion, concertina, gumleaf, banjo, violin, and even piano, are falling into disuse On the other hand, there is a great awakening of interest in using clapsticks, didjeridu, and boomerangs in new contexts Much may come of occasional experiments in introducing tribal performers to play them. Loudness is part of the definition of rock culture LEILA: A lot of Aboriginal young people seem to use loudness as a means of getting rid of their frustrations, and also to isolate themselves Speaking to some of them, they say they like the loudness because it shuts out everything else It stops them having to think of anything else except the sound vibrations they feel
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But many Aboriginal electric musicians have been working on the generation gap problem, including the politically labelled No Fixed Address and Us Mob IEILA: A lot of the younger musos who play heavy metal, reggae, or rock are learning to play different styles of music for different types of audience, with some success Coloured Stone have been able to slot in between Some of the older musicians have been able to change some of the ways they perform John Bingapore, for example, was always popular with both young and old, even in the city, because of his style of performance He had some younger musos with him and played a lot of the music Coloured Stone were playing, as well as country and western It's how it's done; the way the band presents the music, their image, and looking good on stage; regardless of whether the music is modern or old CHESTER: Words are changing too We hear less in new styles about the value of folks, friendship and home: a city symptom Electric music often does not intend the words for close listening, and so the story telling is weakened and the lyrics are shorter, with more ideas or poetic emotion The words addressed to white people are often angry, occasionally hostile This had to come We can hardly expect unsullied politeness, and when we do get it we should see it as the spiritual triumph it is Aboriginal dialect words tend to disappear when the music is no longer intended for an in-group However, singing in the language is alive and well in all the strongly tribal areas and groups like Soft Sands and Warumpi Band, which have gone electric but are still based mainly in a vernacular speaking homeland, could restore confidence in Aboriginal languages among city audiences by their visits and recordings The effort to address white audiences in self chosen ways is an important new factor. A few bands confront their audiences with Aboriginal realities and reactions Many others play little else but standard covers or imitations thereof Some try to balance out the two We can be sure that the commercial scene will continue its habit of excluding Aboriginal artists or subverting them by severing their communal roots and eliminating or trivialising their Aboriginality LEILA: Aboriginal performers have to decide whether they're going to be stars in the music world, or whether they're going to be spokesmen and a part of the Aboriginal scene That's not going to be easy Traditional and urban musicians and their promoters need to realise the dangers that go with performing and touring: the tiredness, frustration and anger which come from being away from their black communities too long Being on the road too long can be really destructive to tribal performers because they're isolated from their family, their cultural ties, their homelands-the things which give them the inner strength and CHESTER:
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spiritual sustenance to perform in a manner which relates strongly to their Dreaming. They and their promoters need to build something into their work structures which allows them to go home, away from the pressures, and come back again We went through this early in the history of CASM. The Indulkana elders can't stay in the city for anything like a whole term CHESTER: I t remains to be seen which new influences,if any, will take root and produce new branches of Aboriginal musical tradition There is no single new black Australian style or form But as well as the continuing distinctive ballad style (whether lament, celebration or protest), and a new style of rock protest, there may be emerging an unforeseen Aboriginal marriage of country and western with reggae and other styles based on what tribally oriented musicians are doing with country, gospel, and rock. A new factor in the last twenty years is increased mobility, which spreads new influences further afield. Some Aboriginal musicians with grant money for tours are now influencing other Aboriginal musicians all over t h e continent This could result eventually in a newmusic of the Aboriginal nation, since it largely goes on in a separate world from white music, or alternatively it could help to obliterate the traditions described in Part 2 It all depends on the kinds of influences the touring musicians bring, and the strength of local musical life Therefore, decisions about who will tour, where, how, and with what proportion of the money available for all Aboriginal musicians, are important They should be made by Aboriginal people, not merely on the basis of local interests, but on the basis of comprehensive knowledge, as sketched in this book and preferably much more Decisions should also be made on the basis of service to the Aboriginal community, while the right of tribal and semi-tribal people and rural acoustic balladeers to influence city Aborigines should be equal to the right of city and electric musicians to influence rural Aborigines A 'music of the Aboriginal nation' could be exciting, politically powerful, and even saleable. The more political Aboriginal musicians have distinctive things to say by comparison with the average sloganeering white political band But let white supporters and the media get their preconceptions out of the way. Aboriginal artists come from communities which do not swallow the traditional packages of Left and Right ideas. They may want to lament lost love and also lost heritage, moralise about the demon drink and also about capitalism, celebrate their family and also their binges, praise Jesus and also the Dreaming. I remember a meeting held in Trades Hall, Adelaide, in 1978 at the request of a tribal community Land rights and mining were discussed, but the equally urgent problem of illegal grog was earmarked 'no discussion, in case it alienated the unions' Likewise Us Mob struggled vainly against their 'political' label, while in
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days past the mission Aborigines could rarely get a hearing from the missionaries about land Aboriginal people are familiar with being pushed into a mould while being selectively supported by both Right and Left They are rarely allowed to say what they want to in their own way and in their own time, or to define their own politics, or to have several kinds of politics For what it's worth, I know that my own political actions have been influenced far more by 'The Coon Song' and 'Brownskin Baby' than by any of the consciously political songs Aboriginal musicians are often community leaders too Let them be heard with care LEILA: Music crosses more barriers because it's an art form. It will be heard and listened to and remembered more than just standing and sounding off, or even writing In music we can say how we feel about important issues and get away with it, and people will hang onto the words with the music LOOKING IN FROM OUTSIDE: IMAGES IN MAINSTREAM CULTURE CHESTER: When the frontiers were taken over, local tribal music was only heard by a few missionaries, Bill Harneys, or more recently, a few anthropologists The vast majority, being city people, were not likely t o hear it in person at all For well over a century, only casual and usually unsympathetic accounts of corroborees were available to the public as minor parts of travel or station literature These and the myths passed on by gossip have been taken by too many Australians as good enough knowledge of Aboriginal people and their music Until very recently the process of Australianising our European literature, art, and music has consisted of coming to terms with landscape, birds and animals, and Australian whites, but not with the original Australians A few 'musical settings' of badly heard Aboriginal melodies came out in the nineteenth century, self conscious novelties rendered 'tempo di Valse' or 'andante con expressione' which inevitably misrepresented the melodies as European folk tunes 40 The Aborigines might rate an occasional reference in white folk song, almost always disparaging them as grotesques or 'black velvet'. Indeed, some of the lesser known folk songs are the best indications of the brutal attitudes and practices against Aborigines 41 They might get into a more literary ballad poem or song, as part of the landscape like the wombats, gumtrees, and flies, or as sentimentalised piccaninnies, or caricatures of the minstrel show type, but rarely as real people A few of the older twentieth century composers, like Mirrie Hill, Clive Douglas and possibly Alfred Hill, wrote orchestral fantasies on the theme of Aborigines and occasionally quoted tunes from the few extant field recordings,
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misrepresenting them just as their predecessors had done They made no real attempt to bridge the musical gulf between European 'serious' music and Aboriginal music John Antill's ballet Corroboree (1944) was a deserved success, full of powerful impressions, but communicated little of true Aboriginal music The early sound recordings of authentic Aboriginal music were sporadic, the first dating from 1899. GUY:
CHESTER: Most of them were field studies by researchers, and did not
reach the public at all A few of Professor AP Elkin's Arnhem Land recordings eventually appeared commercially o n HMV in the 1960s GUY: Moreover, not until the 1960s did coherent accounts of Aboriginal music systems emerge, from the pioneers: Catherine Ellis, Trevor Jones, and Alice Moyle These efforts in ethnomusicology were initiated in universities, and in 1961 began to come under t h e coordinating umbrella of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in Canberra Various younger scholars continue the work today. Books have appeared as one reply to the charge that 'it isn't music' or 'it's meaningless' Most notable is Strehlow's near 800 page study of Aranda music, Songs of Central Australia, the work of a man who learned Aranda as one of his mother tongues, and spent much of his lifetime among these people Now quite a lot of published recordings are fairly easy to obtain commercially, but they are weighted in favour of the north. There is a smaller number of films 42 CHEST!: These resources are not obvious but they are available along with occasional visits of tribal performers There is at least the possibility that a more intelligent and informed response to Aboriginal music could now be arising. But to what extent is it happening? j.' 5; The public is most likely to stumble across tribal music as incidents -l', f^in films and television TV entertainer Rolf Harris has incorporated some Aboriginal ideas into songs occasionally, and projected a positive if limited image of Aboriginal people LEILA: But when Aboriginal people are shown on film and TV in an incorrect manner, it can be very destructive to the person involved and to Aboriginal people generally People take it for granted that the scenes are the truth, but they can present a false image and the Aboriginal actors and musicians can be used, without realising it Then there could be a backlash from their own communities. For instance, an Arnhem Land actor dances in Storm Boy, a film set in the Coorong His physical features are entirely different from those of a Ngarrindjeri person, and his way of performance would be too. We are not all alike. The TV fiction series The Alcheringa Stone,based on the book Silent Reach,shows Aboriginal people gun running and killing miners
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Producers, film makers, the media, and any people who use Aborigines, need to show a lot of sensitivity and to do a great deal of consultation Mistakes happen because Aboriginal people with the knowledge were not consulted Mistakes are more likely to occur as script writers or producers dream up ideas without checking with the appropriate Aboriginal people For instance, a producer who is not familiar with tribal ways of performing may think that an old dancer is hesitating with memory trouble, and even dub a commentary about that, when in fact the performer has already started and is imitating a wary animal 43 There are probably no big commercial films which portray Aborigines very accurately To see the few existing Aboriginal controlled films and the real issues, the public has to go to the independents and the documentaries: Essie Coffey's My Survival As An Aboriginal; Philip Noyce's Back Roads; Ned Lander's Wrong Side of the Road and Gerry Bostock's Lousy Little Sixpence However, the TV series Women of the Sun, a dramatised history, was a breakthrough in publicity Schools can play a big part in the public perception of Aborigines, for good and evil Howard Groome, then curriculum coordinator of Aboriginal Studies for the South Australian Education Department, wrote: CHESTER:
At present there is no course available in any state which sets out to give serious coverage of the range and complexity of Aboriginal music, nor to indicate its association with other aspects of the culture, especially the spiritual One exception has been an excellent series of secondary school broadcasts made by the ABC in late 1981 In new Aboriginal studies materials, such as those now being used in South Australia, there are sections on Aboriginal music These units put Aboriginal musical expression into an understanding of the total cultural setting There have been regrettably few continuing programs around for students to meet Aboriginal music-makers The most enduring has been the Australian Aborigines Woomera, a group of dancers from Mornington Island, touring Australia-wide since 1974 44 GUY: There are more and more projects like the two year one
coordinated by Judith Butcher, introducing to Queensland primary schools the music of the various local ethnic groups, including Aboriginal Children and parents were usually favourable, but some teachers made comments like 'I wouldn't classify the noise they make as music', or, from the headmaster of a state school: 'Aborigines should be scattered throughout the state, preferably from a light aircraft and from a great height' 46 CHESTER: Face to face input from skilled Aboriginal people is enormously important, and lacking Just as important as tribal models and still
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largely forgotten, are non-tribal models, to give Aboriginal kids something Aboriginal to be proud of and to aim for and to give white kids an alternative to the stereotypes I will not forget the week in 1980 when CASM toured the lower Murray schools with NFA, Us Mob, Coloured Stone, t h e Aboriginal Ensemble, and others. Beforehand, I saw the few dark faces skulking silently in the student crowd. Afterward, they were lit up as they talked excitedly with white and black friends about t h e music The excellent primary school song books produced annually by the ABC and thrown away in thousands at the end of every year, have included over several years an Arnhem Land children's contact song,46Island songs,47songs by Ted Egan composed with or about aborigine^,^^ and other white songs on Aboriginal subjects 49 Unfortunately these books do not remain available It is high time that editors of such collections asked for the use of some of the best known Aboriginal country ballad or rock songs It is also time that a publisher paid transcribers and Aboriginal editors to compile a book of the top original and folk songs of the Aboriginal people for general consumption in the music shops If anyone wants to buy Aboriginal sheet music, there are three collections, all for piano and voice The first, used by Harold Blair, contains settings in a nondescript nineteenth century style of some Maranoa district songs collected by H0 Lethbridge, one of them 'composed by Boss Davey of the Maranoa about 1900'.60The other two books contain songs for white children fantasising about Aborigines and the bush, with no attempt at authenticity, few explanations, and no translations for the three Aboriginal songs quoted-in other words, forms guaranteed to reinforce the stereotypes Considering the far better and genuine Aboriginal songs that go unheard, it is depressing that these are still the only readily available publications which could be described as Aboriginal music. Many Aboriginal musicians say that until very recently the main Aboriginal contribution to mainstream music has been a number of original songs, some quite well known, which have never had their true authorship acknowledged LEILA: In the past, Aboriginal artists and songwriters lacked knowledge of copyright and they trusted people. They sometimes had their designs or songs stolen and used by so called friends who were popular artists, and so they lost out completely Today the Aboriginal Artists Agency in Sydney protects all kinds of Aboriginal artists, traditional and contemporary, so that their work can't be stolen and misused. But in 1988 AAA lost its funding. CHESTER: The popular concert and record market has rarely featured reflections on Aborigines, let alone by them. However, in 1963 it could make a hit out of the standardised comic caricature of primitive tribes, mixing kangaroos with kinkajous, chiefs, and chicken trade in 'My Boomerang Won't Come Back',
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by Englishman Charlie Drake More recently, some awareness of tribal culture and its religious attachment to the land has brought a few responses from popular artists with a little nature mysticism or passion for justice still in them One example is an unusual and musically excellent LP Birth of the Sun, recorded by Ray Rivamonte in 1976 DOUG: Or folk performers Gary Shearston, Dave Clark, and Phyl Lobl, and the jazz-rock band Ayers Rock Overseas interest has come from Kate Bush, in her Dreaming LP, and David Bowie with video images on the racism encountered by Aborigines, for his LP, Let's Dance CHESTER: Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim), the Black Moslem musician, wrote a lament for Uluru (Ayers Rock) during his 1980 tour. Since 1985 a small Aboriginal presence has grown up in the record market Midnight Oil and Ted Egan have sung about Aborigines and used Aboriginal artists on their discs The Warumpis and Coloured Stone have been regularly available, as well as a slight but steady trickle of Aboriginal country and western records A few serious composers, working in styles less bound to nineteenth century Europe, have recently produced works showing rather more acquaintance with the sound of tribal music, and sometimes a desire to use the didjeridu in their own waysE3 Most famous is Peter Sculthorpe, still a kind of impressionist, who in certain pieces gives the effect of a much more specific Australianness through drones and general imitiations of tribal tunes (Landscape Two for string trio, Song of Tailitnama, Earth Cry), texts from Strehlow's Aranda collection (Song of Tailitnama, Rites of Ptissage), and a melody adapted from one in Elkin's Arnhem Land collection (Port Essington) He also wrote music for the feature film Manganini Colin Bright of Sydney has composed for the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre Aboriginal music has been his main interest, influencing the sound, style and technique of his instrumental pieces His Bed Earth, for example, shows the clear and evocative influence of didjeridu rhythms and Aboriginal song Felix Meagher produced a large scale Alice Springs event, Eternal Water, with text and some of the music modelled on Strehlow's Aranda melodies.E4 Several attempts have been made in opera James Penberthy has written three operas about race relations in Australia: Lorry (1955), The Earth Mother (1957), and Dalgerie (1958) The first two remain unperformed, though there is a recording of his Sixth Symphony, which is derived from The Earth Mother. Margaret Sutherland's The YoungKabbarli (1964) has effective moments, as it tells an episode in the life of Daisy Bates at Beagle Bay in 1900, but also some unfortunate ones, such as oversimplified tumbling melodies sung in Pidgin English My own dramatic musical No Fixed AddresP (1978-79) has a Christ figure who
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appears in several guises, finally as a tribal man who sings verses modelled on Pitjantjatjara but in elliptical English (not Pidgin); the effect depending largely on careful coaching of the singer in desert vocal style and performance practice^.^^ My choral piece TheLand of the Grandfathers (Tiamuku Ngura) (1984) sets poems by Jack Davis and Leila, and arranges a Pitjantjatjara text by Tbny Yduriti into desert style verses which are sung to isorhythmic melodies constructed in something like the desert manner, though without any attempt to achieve desert vocal timbre or tuning The last section nods towards Aboriginal country blues music and Foster harmonies. Since then I have used direct transcriptions too: of the now extinct tribal singing of the Ramindjeri, for cello (Ngartong,1986); and of Aboriginal folksong in English and a children's contact song from Arnhem Land, for voice (Songs further Out, 1987). These pieces have involved ongoing negotiations with Aboriginal people. GUY: English composer Peter Maxwell Davies, while composer in residence at Elder Conservatorium, Adelaide, in 1966, met Dr Ellis, 'from whom I gained a little insight into Aboriginal music and culture, which I came to realize is. a most highly developed artlritual music, totally unlike anything by which I could presume to judge it, and which influenced my formal design greatly in the orchestral work I was then writing'.67 CHESTER Aborigines do get some recognition in the songs of the fokie fringe, notably in Terry Piper's 'NipperIBig Bill', which features Irish harp and the overdubbed voice of Nipper Kapirrigi, and sings of traditional owner Big Bill Neiji's view of the Jabiluka mine pr0posal.5~Country and western singer Cash Backman wrote 'Dust of Empty Sand' and donated it to a couple of Aboriginal bands: Think of m e as a brother, won't you think of me as a friend I f we try to help each other we can find a better end
And just because I'm black, and just because you're white, It doesn't mean we have to differ, 'cause all this fighting, it just ain't right (Chorus) I don't want nothing you haven't got You should have left me a little; why take the lot? It used to be all mine, but you forgot 7b leave a piece for your brother and friend 50
The most direct use of Aboriginal materials is by Ted Egan, a very popular touring outback balladeer based in Alice Springs, and possibly the world's only specialist cardboard box player. He spent many years as a field officer for the Northern Territory's Welfare Department, which used to be responsible for Aboriginal affairs, and he can communicate and sing well in the Tiwi, Gupapuyungu and Warlpiri languages He is looking for a unique Australian sound in his Irish-
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Australian upbringing and the large influence which Aboriginal people have had on him 'Isaac Yama and Dick Mununggu's kind of music could make a really new style,' he says 60 His repertoire is folk oriented, and includes many songs which he has learned from Aborigines, Islanders, Asians, and others Most of his LP's have some of them, with appropriate credits: Tiwi songs, pearling lugger songs, contact songs, Island songs, and fun songs from Arnhem Land, performed more or less the way he was taught them His own country sounding 'Arnhem Land Lullaby', written with Dick Mununggu, has a verse in Djamparpuyngu and is very popular among Aborigines Egan's 'Gurindji Blues' must be the only existing white popular song which is cast roughly in the form of an Aboriginal traditional song The words represent a fair sample of the way the legal wrangles of that pioneering struggle would have to be translated into the local creole: Poor bugger me, Gurindji Me b i n sit-down this country Long time before Lord Vestey. A M about land belongin' to we, Oh poor bugger me, Gurindji Poor bugger blackfella this country, Long time work no wages we, Work for good old Lord Vestey: Little bit flour, sugar and tea For the Gurindji from Lord Vestey, Oh poor bugger me. But poor bugger blackfella this country. Gm'ment law 'im talk 'long we 'Can't give i t land, 'long blackfella, see, Only spoil 'im Gurindji' Oh poor bugger me, Gurindji Poor bugger me, Gurindji, Peter Nixon talk 'long we, 'Buy your o w n land, Gurindji, B u y ' i m back from Lord Vestey.' Oh poor bugger me, Gurindji Poor bugger blackfella Gurindji! S'pose we buy ' i m back country, What you reckon proper fee? Might be flour, sugar and tea From the Gurindji to Lord Vestey, Oh poor bugger me!61
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Ted Egan's LP, The Aborigimls, features another unusual song with didjeridu and no chords, this time less Aboriginal in melody, on the subject of the 1890sAboriginal guerilla fighter, Tjandamara of the Kimberleys Vincent Lingiari, the Gurindji leader, introduces 'Gurindji Blues', and a number of Aboriginal musicians perform, including actor Ernie Dingo with an original song. In 1988 Tfed is reaching a much wider audience than before, including folk and country music circuits in both city and country all over Australia. Songs such as his 'Drover's Boy' (really an Aboriginal woman) could be educating a lot of Australians So there have been some white responses to Aboriginal music Most of them are responses to tribal music, with the exception of Egan's country music and possibly some of Rivamonte, Penberthy and me Non-tribal music remains unknown except for two or three rock bands, and is dismissed as 'not really Aboriginal', as well as being beneath notice because it's only country music Whatever the style of the response, the supposed authenticity of the Aboriginal musical reference may be less important than the 'act of artistic empathy' with the old Australians and their land.63 This latter will involve more than sound effects, transcribing tunes, using Aboriginal instruments, or even putting Aboriginal artists in the show. Some community will have to be achieved between white and black musicians, and musical respect At this level the most notable achievement so far has probably been the collaboration of George Winunguj (of Goulbum Island) with Melbourne composer George Dreyfus and the University of Adelaide Wind Quintet, on the Sextet for Didjeridu and Wind Instruments (1971). It is an exciting piece, and evocative wind lines give ample room for attention to the didjeridu's proper function, not as a sound effect but as a rhythm instrument in virtuoso improvisations.It was a highlight of the Quintet's world tour in 1973.64 An ethical question remains. Charles Perkins speaks for many when he complains that 'some entertainers ..pinch Aboriginal didjeridus to boost their image.'66 We could add Aboriginal tunes, and Aboriginal techniques. White versions will no doubt continue to be heard more often than black versions For instance, readily available but unskilled 'pop' didjeridu playing, used mainly as a sound effect, will not enhance public appreciation of the complex and demanding art of tribal didjeridu rhythm. My choral piece Land of the Grandfathers would be quite misleading if anyone thought of it as being Aboriginal music But is it all mere cultural invasion, robbery, and exploitation? It depends There are many difficulties and perils in representing or speaking on behalf of Aborigines, whether socially or musically. But silence avoids the problem only by leaving it to others So our musical and other representations have to be judged on truth (which depends on contact, knowledge, and empathy), acceptability, including such things as the owner's permission and benefits, and
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on how much they become a substitute for Aborigines representing themselves (which depends on the situation of each audience) Probably such considerations would rule out the quoting of any sacred-secret tribal song tunes and words in any non-traditional context, quite apart from the musical difficulties But otherwise, the moral issues are like those faced by any folksinger using songs of a social group not his own, or by a white musician learning reggae It depends on whether we are building relationships of trust and respect, or neglecting them ROSIE: This question of cultural invasion is answered in a different context by the budding Aboriginal Film Unit in Sydney When asked whether they minded white people making films about Aboriginal issues and themes, they replied that the important thing was for Aboriginal people to make their own films expressing the black experience, rather than preventing white film makers from contributing their impressions LEILA: It's important to either keep traditional instruments in the right context, with Aboriginal performers; or if people want to bring out an Australian flavour by using traditional instruments, they should first consult with Aboriginal people to see whether it's the correct thing to do They can spoil it or cause offence, depending on the song and context Aboriginal musicians must use these ideas, or else other non-Aboriginal bands will, and maybe not so sensitively LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: BLACK AND WHITE KEYS CHESTER: Maybe this material will show how much worthwhile black talent is waiting for support and recognition Maybe it will help to cut through the undergrowth of low and stereotyped expectations which hinder Aboriginal initiative, such as the amazement with which Harold Blair and Dora Hunter have been greeted when performing well in high music culture, as though Aboriginal ancestry implies inferior intelligence and low tastes LEILA: Once while I was waiting for the lights on an Adelaide street, I struck up a conversation with an old lady She turned to me and said she was surprised that I as an Aboriginal was able to speak 'good English' CHESTER: This is just the tip of a huge iceberg of careless ignorance which freezes hearts on both sides But even under that load, much has been achieved and more will be achieved where there is some pride in Aboriginality and some encouragement Aboriginal arts in general are at a critical stage, confronted by inescapable pressures for change Some old forms are still ignored, and face considerable danger of extinction Some older still are belatedly recognised in a
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small way, but face pressures which could turn them into tourist commodities whose logical end is the sort of thing for which Disneyland hires Indians. Says the late Professor Starmer, in words which could apply to music and theatre as well: The market wants only traditional things It smacks of a romantic cult of the past, a cult that could end as rapidly and as strangely as it began I question whether we would be right in reading from the fact of its existence to a proof of any deep seated change of heart or mind towards the living Aborigines I see it rather as the sign of an affluent society enjoying the afterglow of an imagined past and as a reaching out for symbols and values that are not authentically its own but will do because it has none of its own that are equivalent But for all that, the market may turn out to be one of the indirect, and therefore the more permanent, forces making for an appreciation of the authenticity of the Aboriginal past and of their complications of life in the present 66
Perhaps the most valuable influence which Aboriginal artists could exert on white musicians is to cause them to search for a genuinely communal music with valid religious roots in their own culture and an adaptability to all age groups with no loss of musical integrity-a music of reintegration ROSIE: The challenge to white musicians when confronted by
Aboriginal musicians singing about being black in Australia, is to produce something as authentically Australian from their own experience Lyrically, the effect of the black bands has been to further encourage white artists to write about Australia Tribal music has begun to inspire some classical composers to create something unmistakably Australian NFA's reggae, with percussion and didjeridu added to the usual four-piece rock line up, has inspired many white bands to attempt a similar style. Sadly, white bands are in a better position to both record and get airplay while attempting this As one rock critic pointed out, it's a lot easier for Hunters and Collectors (a white rock ensemble) to go on the road with their heavily percussive music than for NFA to do this Put bluntly, Hunters and Collectors won't get their gigs cancelled in Perth because they're Aboriginal, as happened to NFA in 1982. Many white bands support the struggle of black artists to get work and attention There have been several cases of white bands getting black bands to support them on gigs, and so side stepping the problems with venue managers White bands also front up at Rock Against Racism concerts when called for. CHESTER: Most notable here have been the socially committed Peter Garrett with his very popular rock band Midnight Oil, and Charlie McMahon, a one-armed didjeridu player who worked for two years as adviser to the Kintore Aboriginal community and later formed the band Gondwanaland The Oils took
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the Warumpi Band with them on the 1986 tour of Central Australia, with the 'Dead Heart' theme and mini-album This tour was aimed specifically at Aborigines At Kintore it achieved a communication breakthrough and was a major learning experience for the Oils, through the mediation of the Warurnpis and tour 'dad' McMahon, who both had connections there Meanwhile, Gondwanaland's tours and three popular LPs are communicating the didjeridu widely as a serious instrument Their music is non-vocal and textural, organised around the didjeridu as the primary music, while also using percussion and synthesizers In the context of these two bands, it appears that Aboriginal musicians may have a better than usual chance of infiltrating the rock scene In order to be really useful to Aboriginal musicians, white musicians need to spend some effort getting rid of their own limitations in musical taste We, like every musical cult, have our own ideas of good and bad music, and of how to do it properly One has to listen, look and learn what Aboriginal people mean by 'doing it properly', which may be different in aim, context, style, and even technique from what we assume to be culture-free basics. And, like the old missionaries, we will probably not be told about it directly If we say too often, 'This is the only way', both sides will lose, but we will never know Equality then becomes uniformity Meanwhile, there is now a great deal of thinking about what constitutes Aboriginality in the various forms used by Aboriginal musicians Old, new, and mixed styles could all be forces for change in Aboriginal affairs, addressing a wide variety of audiences Some could develop into styles unique to Australia But they need encouragement, audiences, and money Any reader who has some say about money and facilities might ponder the debt we collectively owe to Aborigines, the importance of musicians to Aboriginal identity, and the fact that there are probably some very talented Aboriginal musicians not far away LELLA: People are becoming more sensitive and aware that we do have a music The blending of tribal and urban music is something new and it will enhance the music scene By blending, we can get the best of both worlds As someone once said, 'You can make lovely music on the white keys, and you can make lovely music on the black keys, but if you combine the two you get the very best harmony' We must cross the bridge and not isolate ourselves Music in any society helps us to communicate on a different plane with each other. We can listen to all kinds of music with open ears I heard a tribal person comment that they wonder why white people can't always communicate fully with black people; we must be prepared to 'open our gut', they say, so that people can see inside, be able to bleed and show people just where we're at I think it's very important that both black and white people understand this
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We have to be very sensitive to what musical sounds mean, whether they are traditional or urban; we have to know what the musician is trying to say. Otherwise we can completely misunderstand and even destroy something that could be really beautiful There are different forms of Aboriginal music, and each is important in its own scene. Musicians and songwriters will be able to combine with theatre and dance, and these are developments which music can bring to their highest form, and which people in music and education need to expose their students to Younger musos in rock and reggae are telling us to get up, be alive, get involved, don't sit down in the dust and allow things to wash over us, and w e older people need to understand this The old country music is still important too, because it takes a person right back to the basics, the growing years, to deep and personal things, family, and the kind of struggle we had in those times We do need funds to develop these things, but the struggle is still here and we should go ahead with or without budgets The scene is really exciting, and only in its infancy. NOTES 1. J Goodluck, 'Aboriginal Attitudes to Land Rights', Aboriginal Values in White Society, Move records through Larrikin, Melbourne, 1974 2. Aboriginal Newsletter, South Australia, Vol 5, No 1, Adelaide, September, 1983:ll See also Bicentenary '88, Australian Bicentennial Authority Newsletter, Vol 6, No 3, October 1986:5
3. A Donnelly, Interviews with C Schultz, 22 March 1983, 23 June 1983
4. Neil Murray, 1984 6 . EC Evans, 'Aboriginal Theatre', Australian Territories, Vol 4, No 4, 1964:18 6. D Jopson, 'The Dreaming comes to New York', The National Times, 16-22 August 1981
7. MT Clark, 1972:153-56 8. 4th National Aboriginal Country Music Festival 1979 9. I Johnson, Interview with C Schultz, 20 June 1983 10. These tribal singing sessions are available to anyone interested, and have often toured schools 11. G Tunstill, 'The music making of the Adelaide Aboriginal Orchestra during its first seven years, 1971-1977'; CASM, 1979 The AA0 can be heard on Music, Music, Music, 1978, Program 7
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12. On the theory and experience of CASM see Ellis, in Isaacs, 1979, and CJ EUis, Aboriginal Music, Educationfor Living: Cross Cultural Evperiences From. South Australia, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1985 13. From advertisement in Black Nation newspaper, No 4, February 1983:4,
Brisbane 14. On the Street, 6 July 1983:l 15 H0 Lethbridge, Australian Aboriginal Songs, arranged by AS Loam, Allan, Sydney, 1937 The only recording of Harold Blair available is a studio overdub from his last years, 'Mary's Boy Child', The First Australians, 1978 H Blair, Aboriginal Songs, score, 1956, has been copied for the Aboriginal R p e Exchange, Melbourne; as has a Crest record containing 'How Great Thou Art', 'The Holy City' and 'I'll Walk With God' 16. Mrs Dorothy Blair, phone conversations, August 1988 17 K Harrison, Dark Man White World: A Portrait of the Tenor Harold Blair, Melbourne, 1975:280 18. K Harrison, 1975:212
19. K Harrison, 1975:177 20. B Willoughby, Roadrunner, Vol 3, No 7, August 1980:12-13 21 P Butler, Nunga News, Adelaide, January 1980:7 22. Wrong Side of the Road, 1981 Lyrics reprinted by kind permission of Mushroom Music 23. Wrong Side, 1981 Lyrics reprinted by kind permission of Mushroom Music 24. 'From My Eyes', 1982 Lyrics reprinted by kind permission of Mushroom Music 25. 'From My Eyes', 1982 Lyrics reprinted by kind permission of Mushroom
Music 26 From Murrie Cooee, 1983, which published three each of Jones and Willoughby's lyrics This one reprinted by kind permission of Mushroom Music 27 B Willoughby, Roadrunner, 1980 28. I Cundell, Letter to G Tunstill, 4 January 1984 29 Nunga News, Adelaide, January 1980:7 30 Wrong Side of the Road, 1981 31 P Butler, Letter to C Schultz, 25 March 1984
32 Wrong Side of th,e Road 1981
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33. CASM tape No 2, 1980 34. W Bynder, 1983 See also Fiona Adolph 'Didjerock and Rollin", The West Australian, 24 May 1987, reflex:^ 35. CASM tape No 4, 17 April 1980 36. Azuar leaflet, CASM, 1988 37. On the Street, 6 July 1983:l 38. Rebel Voices, 1982 Four o f Joe's lyrics are published in Murrie Cooee, 1983, including some 'in the language' See also his LP Yil Lull, 1988 Two of his songs were published in the 1988 ABC school songbook Sing Sing Sing 39. Rebel Voices, 1982 40. R Covell, 1967, chapter 4, W Arundel Orchard, M&
in Australia, Georgian
House, Melbourne, 1952, appendices 1 and 2 41. For a presumably mild sample, see Ron Edwards, The Big Book of Australian Folk Song, Rigby, Adelaide, 1976:61,83, 92, 97-98, 128, 157,320; John Meredith, Folk Songs of Australia, Sydney, 1967 and 1973:190, 223, Ron Edwards; 'Australian Racial Ballads', Northern Folk, No 19, December 1967, Cairns 42. RM Berndt and ES Phillips (eds) 1973; CJ Ellis, and AM Ellis, Andagarinja
Children's Bullock Corroboree, Papua Pocket Poets, Port Moresby, 1970; R Moyle, Songs of the Pintupi, AIAS, 1979; Inma Nyi-nyi: The Song of the Zebra Finch, CASM, 1980; Aboriginal Music from Australia, UNESCO, Waira cassette; A Moyle (ed) Aboriginal Sound Instruments, AIAS; Songs from the Northern Territory; Wandjuk Marika in Port Moresby on Larrikin. Films: Lurugu, 1973, Lockhart Festival, 1974, A Walbiri Fire Ceremony, 1977 These are a small sample 43. I suspect that this is what actually happened in the ceremony by Molly Nungarrayi in A Shifting Dreaming, the first TV feature documentary of a land rights hearing See the review of the film in Land Rights News Central Australia, No 17, Central Land Council, 1983:16-17 44. H Groome, Essay presented to C Schultz, 23 June 1983 45. J Butcher, 'The Introduction of Multicultural Music Into the Primary School
Classroom', Mt Gravatt CAE, Brisbane 1983; Letter to G Tunstill, 29 June 1983; A Moyle, Classroom Studies in Aboriginal Music and Dance, outlined in Australian Journal of Music Education, No 29, Perth, 1981 46. 'Two Men' in Let's AllSing, 1981; according to Ted Egan, badly translated
The same tune is heard as 'Nhurra Go Nhurra' on his album Bangtail Muster and as the first song on Bob Randall, 1983, also RM Berndt e t al, 1973:242, and A Moyle, Songs From the Northern Territory, AIAS, 1967, Disc 3A, tracks 4-6
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47. 'Chu-lu-lu', in Let's All Sing, 1981, unhelpfully labelled 'Traditional', but identified by Ted Egan; "lhba Naba Norem', in Time to Sing, 1982 48. 'Arnhem Land Lullaby', Tbd Egan with Dick Mununggu, and 'The Urupunga Frog', Ted Egan, in Everybody Sing, ABC Songbook, Sydney, 1976; 'Wawirri', Ted Egan with Tess Nabaljari, and 'Say Gooday, You Aussie Kids', Tted Egan, in Sing!, 1978
49 'Sun Woman, Moon Man', Shortis, in Everybody Sing, 1976; 'Carra Barra Wirra Canna', Cogan, in Sing, Sing, Sing, 1977 and Time to Sing, 1982; 'The Bunyip', Cogan in Sing, Sing, Sing, 1977; 'Rain', Shortis, inLet's All Sing, 1981; Tiddalik', The Cat Team, in Sing Together, 1982; 'Rainbow Snake', McPherson, in Sing Along, 1983 50 H 0 Lethbridge, 1937 51. Annie Rentoul and Georgette Peterson, Australian Bush Songs, Allan and CO, Melbourne, 1936, includes, 'Oh How I Wish That I Could Be a Little Aboriginee' whose words a t least have either come from or passed into folk currency, for example in 'The Chillagoe Song' in Ron Edwards The Big Book of Australian Folk Song, 1976233, compare 157,446 The words are known by Aboriginal children in the 'bp End, Berndt, 1973:242 Anne Dreyer and Robin Wood, Aboriginal Songs For You a n d Me, D Davis and CO, 1954; by the Kindergarten of the Air personality, with patronizingly 'cute' drawings
52 Ray Rivamonte, Birth of the Sun, Image, San Francisco, 1976 Produced in California, Rivamonte being apparently the only Australian involved His 'authenticity' is over rated in N Drury, 1980:108 53. For example see Isaacs, 1979:54-55 54 The Advertiser, 14 July 1984:34
55. The Aboriginal reggae band No Fixed Address took their name from a poster of my show in 1979 56 C Schultz, No Fixed Address A musical drama, performed by South Australian Churches of Christ Youth Choir, on Good God cassette Available from composer. 57 J Murdoch, Australia's Contemporary Composers, Melbourne, Macmillan,
1972:x 58 On LP by Cathie O'Sullivan and Cleis Pearce, High Places, Larrikin, 1983
59 As taught by lan Johnson of Hard Times a t CASM, 1981 60 Ted Egan, phone conversation, 21 February 1984
61. Bangtail Muster, RCA, 1973
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62. Available from Ted Egan Enterprises, Alice Springs For Egan's background, see 'The Voice of the Outback', Australian, 26 March 1988, Magazine:5 Four of his songs are published in Dobe Newton (ed) The Second Bushwackers Australian Song Book, Anne O'Donovan Pty Ltd 1983
63 R Covell, 1967:87 64. Recorded with those artists on HMV LP S e e also Stewart Harris This Our Land, ANU Press, 1972:lll-2, which also describes a play by Winunguj 65. C Perkins, 1975:134
66. WEH Stanner, After t h e l e a m i n g , ABC, Sydney, 1969:39, reprinted in W Stanner, White Man Got No Dreaming, ANU Press, Canberra, 1979 67. Janet Hawley, 'Midnight Oil's Outback Campaign', The Advertiser 26 July 1986:23, 'Rock and the Stone Age', %Advertiser 2 August 1986:23, David Sly, 'Didjeridoo Soothes Prejudices', The Advertiser 20 March 1986:50
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beckett, J 1958 1965a 1965b 1967
Aborigines Make Music, Quadrant No 8, Spring The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards Quadrant July-August Aboriginal Balladeer The Australian, 3 July:12 The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards, Australian Tradition No 12 (V013 No 4), January
Berndt, R M and Phillips, E S (eds) The Australian Aboriginal Heritage: A n Introduction Through the Arts, 1973 Australian Society for Education through the Arts and Ure Smith, Sydney Now available only as cassette and slides with notes Blainey, G Triumph of the Nomads, Macmillan, Melbourne 1975 Brunton, M 1980 The Songs of Detribalised Aboriginal Country and Fringe Dwellers Tjungaringanyi Vol 6, No 2, CASM, Adelaide Western Impact on Aboriginal Music Media Development, Vol29, (No 1of 1982), 1982 London Butcher, J 1983 The Introduction of Multicultural Music into the Primary Classroom, Mt Gravatt CAE, Brisbane Carne, D 1980 Land Rights A Christian Perspective Alternative Publishing Co-operative, Sydney Chesson, K The Problem of Non-Standard English Aboriginal and Islander Identity Vol3, 1978 No 4 , Perth Chi, J Manolis, M and Harper, R 1985 B r o o m Song Writers, Hodja Educational Resources Coop, Richmond, Victoria With cassette Clark, M T 1972 Pastor Doug: The Story of a n Aboriginal Leader (revised edition), Rigby, Melbourne Clunies Ross, M , Donaldson, T , and Wild, S (eds) 1987 Songs of Aboriginal Australia Oceania Monograph No 32 With cassette Coombs, H C 1978 Kulinma Listening to Aboriginal Australians, Australian National University Press, Canberra Covell, R 1967 Australia's Music, Sun Books, Melbourne Dampier, W 1968 A New Voyage Around the World, 1697, Dover, Melbourne
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Donaldson, T Kids That Got Lost, in Kassler, J and Stubington, J Problems a n d Solutions: 1984 Occasional Essays in Musicology Presented to Alice M Moyle, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney Drury, N Music and Musicians, Nelson, Melbourne 1980 Dusty, S and Lapsley, J Walk A Country Mile, Rigby, Sydney 1979 Edwards, R Australian Racial Ballads, Northern Folk, No 19, December, Cairns 1967 Australian Folk Songs, Rams Skull Press, Queensland 1972 The Big Book of Australian Folk Songs, Rigby, Adelaide 1976 Edwards, W H The Australian Aborigines and the Gospel, St Marks Review No 68, May, Canberra Field Notes o n Recordings of Australian Aboriginal songs, 1962-63, Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide Folk Songs Among the Fringe Dwellers, Australian Tradition, Vol 1, No 5 , 1 November. Aboriginal Music Making: A study of Central Australian Music, Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide Integration and Disintegration, Australian Societyfor Education Through the Arts Bulletin, Vol 3, No 5, May Structure and Significance in Aboriginal Song, Mankind 7 Non-specialist Music Teaching in Aboriginal Schools, South Australian Education News No 3 Aboriginal Music and the Specialist Music Teacher, Australian Journal of Music Education No 5, Perth Present-day Music of the Aboriginal Student, Australian Journal of Music Education No 25, October, Perth Aboriginal Muse Educationfor Living: Cross Cultural Experiencesfrom South Australia, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane Ellis, C J , Brunton, M and Barwick, L M 'From Dreaming Rock to Reggae Rock', in McCredie, A D (ed),From Colonel 1988 Light Into the Footlights: The Performing Arts in South Australia from 1836 to the Present, Page1 Books, Adelaide Ellis, C J and Ellis, A M Andugarinja Children's Bullock Corroboree, Papua Pocket Poets, Institute of 1970 Papua New Guinea Studies, Port Moresby Ely, B 1981
Murray/Murundi, Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide
Evans, E C 1964
Aboriginal Theatre Australian Territories, Vol4, No 4
BIBLIOGRAPHY
151
Gray, A and Smith, L R The Size o f the Aboriginal Population, Australian Aboriginal Studies Vol 1, 1983 Australian Institute o f Aboriginal Studies, Canberra Grove, Sir G Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Macmillan, London, 6th ed 1980 Hansen, L E Pintupi/Luritja Dictionary, Second Edition, Institute o f Aboriginal 1977 Development, Alice Springs Harris, S This Our Land, Australian National University Press, Canberra 1972 Harrison, K Dark Man, White World A Portrait of the Tenor Harold Blair, Novalit Australia 1975 Ltd Melbourne Hawley, J 1986(a) 'Midnight Oil's Outback Campaign', Advertiser July 26:23 1986(b) 'Rock and t h e Stone Age', Advertiser August 2:23 Herbert, X Capricornia, Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1938 Isaacs, J (ed) Australian Aboriginal Music, Aboriginal Artists Agency, Sydney 1979 Jackomos, A {Â¥ Gumleaf Bands, Aboriginal and Islander Identity Vol 1,No 1, July, A b o r i a a l 1971 Publications Foundation, Perth Jenkin, G Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri, Rigby, Melbourne 1979 Jopson, D \yf The Dreaming Comes t o New York, The National Times 16-22 August 1981 &
E,
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Meredith, J and Anderson, H 1973 Folk Songs of Australia and the Men and Women Who Sang Them, Ure Smith, Sydney Mildon, Pastor K fed) 1974 Gospel Favourites Along the Murray, Mission Publications of Australia, New South Wales Morley, W A Darwin Is Proud of the Mills Sisters, Country Music News Vol 1, No 3 1984 Moyle, A Aboriginal Sound Instruments, AIAS, Canberra (Cassette AIAS/14, 1981) 1978 Aboriginal Music and Dance in Northern Australia in GrovesDictwnary of Music 1980 and Musicians, Macmillan, London, 1980 Classroom Studies in Aboriginal Music and Dance, Australian Journal of Music 1981 Education No 29, Perth Moyle, R Songs of the Pintupi, AIAS, Canberra 1979 Murdoch, J Australia's Contemporary Composers, Macmillan, Melbourne 1972 Murray, N Turning the Stars up Full Blast-Touring the Outback With an Aboriginal Rock 1984 Band, Australian Playboy, January Newton, D (ed) The Second Bushwackers Australian Song Book, Anne O'Donovan Pty Ltd 1983 Orchard, W A Music in Australia, Georgian House, Melbourne 1952 Perkins, C A Bastard Like Me, Ure Smith, Sydney 1975 Reeve, G Music, Life, History and Meaning: A n essay on country music and Aboriginal 1985 identity, Thesis, University of Western Australia, Perth Rentoul, A and Peterson, G Australian Bush Songs, Allan and CO, Melbourne 1936 Rowley, C D Outcasts in White Australia, Penguin Books Australia, Melbourne 1972a The Destruction of Aboriginal Society, Penguin Books Australia, Melbourne 1972b Sansom, B Contemporary Issues, in Black Australia, AIAS, Canberra 1978 Schultz, C Project on Aboriginal Music, Barr Smith Library, Adelaide With cassette 1975 Stanner, W E H After the Dreaming, Boyer Lectures, ABC, Sydney 1969 White Man Got No Dreaming, Australian National University Press, Canberra 1979 Strehlow, T G H Songs of Central Australia, Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1971 Central Australian Man-Making Ceremonies, The Lutheran 10 April 1978a
153
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Taylor, P A Christian Corroboree, United Aborigines Mission Messenger, July-August 1978 Thaiday, W Under the Act, North Queensland Black Publishing Company, Townsville 1981 Tunstill, G 1979 The Music Making of the Adelaide Aboriginal Orchestra During its First Seven Years, 1971-77, CASM, Adelaide van Oudtshoorn, N 1979 Its Back t o Her Land for Essie, Woman's Day 24 December. Ward, P 1984 Black Power Seeks a Political Way in Southernmost City, The Australian, 20-21 October, Magazine53 Walker, R Up, Not Down, Mate, Catholic Chaplaincy t o Aborigines, Adelaide 19811 1987 Watson, E 1973 Country Music in Australia Vol2, Cornstalk via Angus and Robertson
OTHER SOURCES ABC SONGBOOKS: Everybody Sing Sing, Sing, Sing Sing! Lets All Sing Time 'h Sing Sing Together Sing Along Sing Sing Sing
Investigating Music-ABC, Hodder and Stoughton, Sydney, 1978 Racism in Tasmania (Broadsheet), Australian Union o f Students, 1978 DOCUMENTARY FILMS Lousy Little Sixpence Sixpence Productions, 1983 Malbangka Country AIAS 1975 Oranges and Lemons Swinburne, 1978 Sister I f You Only Knew Film Australia, 1975 S i x Australians ABC Documentary Series, 1984
DISCOGRAPHY
AVAILABLERECORDSAND TAPES OF ABORIGINAL MUSIC AND WHERE TO GET THEM Items are listed once only, but may be available from other marketers Out-ofprint items are omitted
Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies GPO Box 553 Canberra City, ACT 2601 Ttel: (062) 46 1111 Songs from the Northern Territory (Five cassettes) Ask for handbook, extra charge Songs from A m h e m Land (Cassette) 1966 Includes booklet Songs from Yarrabah (Cassette) (Qld) Includes booklet Traditional Music of k e s Strait (Cassette) Includes booklet Songs from Northern Queensland (Cassette) Includes booklet Songs from the Kimberleys, WA (Cassette) Includes booklet Aboriginal Sound Instruments (Cassette) Ask for accompanying booklet Good general introduction to Aboriginal music, including singing Modern Music of Torres Strait (Cassette) Ask for booklet Includes island style singing of tribal people-hymns, laments, wedding chants Djambidj A n Aboriginal Song Series from Northern Australia (Cassette) Singing and didjeridu Ask for accompanying booklet Songs of Aboriginal Australia (Cassette) Accompanies Oceania Monograph No 32 with the same title Goyulan The Morning Star Aboriginal clan song series from north central Arnhem Land Includes handbook with song texts and photographs Richard Moyle, Alyawarra Music Songs and Society in a Central Australian Community (1986) Large book with record
Aboriginal Artists Agency 12 McLaren Street North Sydney, NSW 2060 E l : (02) 923 2366 AAA-01 AAA-02 AAA-03
Songs of Bamyili (Single or cassette) Didjeridu and singing from the Northern Tterritory, with David Blanasi and Djoli Liawanga Songs of the Tiwi (Single or cassette) Singing from Bathurst Island, Melville Island, NT Songs of Torres Strait (LP or cassette) Songs from the eastern Torres Strait Islands
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AAA-04
NGATI-84
The First Australians (LP or cassette) Cross-section of many tribal and non-tribal musics: Tiwi, Tbrres Strait, Walbiri, didjeridu, Bamyili, Harry and Wilga Williams, Lionel Rose, Harold Blair, Bob Randall, Cherie Watkins, Jimmy Little Eric Maddern with Callum McColl Ngatijirri: Songrise (LP) Songs for all ages about black Australia Released in England, 1985 Includes songs by Bob Randall, Bart Willoughby, etc
EM1 Australia (or via local record shops) 301 Castlereagh Street Sydney, NSW 2000 Tfel: (02) 217 7711 Amhem Land, V011 (HMV-OALP 7504) AP Elkin's collection Singing and didjeridu Arnhem Land, V012 (HMV-OALP 7505) AP Elkin's collection Singing and didjeridu Arnhem Land, V013 (HMV-OALP 7516) AP Elkin's collection Singing and didjeridu George Dreyfus, Sextet for Didjeridu and Wind Quintet (HMV-OASD 7565) With George Winunguj, didjeridu Wrong Side of the Road No Fixed Address (reggae) and Us Mob (rock); 1981 film soundtrack Black Australia Records YPRX-1905 Ernie Bridge Sings it Australian (Cassette) Country music by 'the singing politician'
Larrikin Records 282 Oxford Street Paddington, NSW 2021 %l: (02) 332 1944
* Wandjuk Marika in Port Moresby (Larrikin single, LRE-014) Didjeridu * Bamyili Corroboree: Songs of Djoli Laiwanga (Grevillea GRV 1030) Didjeridu and singing
* Songs of the Aborigines, Australia (Lyrichord/Albatross LLST-7331) Songs from Cape York, Elcho Island and Arnhem Land, with booklet
Folkways Records (USA) via Cec Barlow, cl- Carinia Records 6 Artarmon Rd Willoughby, NSW 2068 Tel: (02) 95 2005
* Songs of Aboriginal Australia and Tbrres Strait (Ethnic Folkways *
FE-4102) Traditional Songs of the Western Torres Straits (Ethnic Folkways FE-4025)
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* Songs of the Western Australian Desert Aborigines ASCH Mankind Series *
*
(Ethnic Folkways AHM-4210) Ngatatjara songs The Bora of the Pascoe River, Cape York Peninsula, Northeast Australia (Ethnic Folkways LP FE-4211) Tribal Music of Australia (Ethnic Folkways LP FE-4439) Chants and didjeridu from Yirrkala, Arnhem Land
Kiwi Records PO Box 6002 Wellington, NZ (or via Larrikin Records)
* Aboriginal Theatre Foundation Music of Aboriginal Australia (Hibiscus LP HLX-48) From South Pacific Festival of Arts, 1972-Arnhem Land, Cape York, etc
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery 5 Argyle St Hobart, Tims 7000 Tel: (002) 23 1422 Fanny Cochrane Smith Songs and Speech from Original Cylinder Recordings a t Hobart in 1899 a n d 1903 (Cassette with booklet) Last remnant of tribal Tasmanian music
TRS-1683
Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) University of Adelaide GPO Box 498 Adelaide, SA 5001 (77 Finniss St, North Adelaide) Tel: (08) 228 5705
* Inma Nyi-Nyi The Song of the Zebra Finch (Cassette and booklet) Songseries from Indulkana (Pitjantjatjara group singing).
* Kuckles, 'Fishing'J'Traffic Lights' (Single) Light reggae-rock band from * *
Broome The Indulkana Suite (Cassette) Evocative rock music by CASM students, with Leila Rankine's poetry-the Aboriginal past, present and future Urban Corroboree (1987) Jazz-rock suite including Zebra-finch verses by Pitjantjatjara elders
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association PO Box 3669 Alice Springs, NT 0871 Tel: (089) 52 5943 (shop) Ask for the publicity leaflets which go with most CAAMA cassettes, they usually contain more information than the covers
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Rebel Voices from Black Australia (Cassette) CAAMA 1982 Les Collins, Buna Lawrie, Ernabella Choir, Bob Randall, Joe Geia, Wally Morris and Warumpi Band Desert Songs 1 (Cassette) CAAMA 1982 Isaac Yama, Colin Pound, Bob Randall, Dickie Skinner, Jim Bindarri, Herb Laughton, Frankie Byrne, Trevor Adamson, Ernabella Choir and Wingelina Choir. Desert Songs 2 (Cassette) CAAMA 1983 Isaac Yama, Ray Forrester, Wingelina Choir, Herb Laughton, Wally Morris, Don Harrison and Johnston Roberts Ballads by Bob Randall CAAMA 1983 Country ballads by Darwin songwriter, in English
Isam Y a m and the Pitjantjatjara Country Band (Cassette) CAAMA 1983 Original folklcountry music in Pitjantjatjara Herbie Laughton (Cassette) CAAMA 1983 Alice Springs country musician, in English Warumpi Band (Good quality cassette) CAAMA 1983 Papunya rock band, in English and Pintupi-Luritja Coloured Stone (Good quality cassette) CAAMA 1984 Country rock and reggae-rock band, in English Warumpi Band, Jailanguru Pcikarnu/Kintorelakutu (Single) Hot Records, in Pintupi-Luritja Coloured Stone, Black Boy/Kapi Pulka, (Single) Imparja In English Coloured Stone, Koonibba Rock, (LP and cassette) Irnparja 1985 Coloured Stone, Island of Greed (LP or cassette) Imparja 1985 Rkari Maru (Cassette) Imparja Records 1984 Arnata country-rock band in English and Pitjantjatjara Aroona (Cassette) CAAMA 1985 Rock-reggae from Adelaide, in English Kuckles, Milliya Rumurra: Brand New Day (Cassette) Imparja 1981: 1985 Broome reggae-rock, mostly i n English Auriel Andrew, Mbitjano (Cassette) Imparja 1985 Country and western, including Aboriginal-written songs Choirs of Central Australia (Cassette) Imparja 1985 Gospel and country music in English and Aboriginal languages, from Fregon, Ernabella, Lajamanu, Kintore and Alice Springs Hermannsburg Ladies Choir (Cassette) Imparja 1985 Hymns with organ, in Aranda Trevor Adamson, k in Pitjantjatjara
t i n the Lord (Cassette) Imparja 1985 Gospel music
Soft Sands (Cassette) Imparja 1985 Country gospel music in Gupapuyungu and English, by an Elcho Island band Mick Thaiday, Two Sides of Me (Cassette) Imparja 1985 Freedom Road Country Band, lbwnsville; country and gospel in English; some original
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Ilkari Maru, Wangangarangku Rungkanu ('Lightning Strikes') 1988 Wedgetail Eagle Band, Wedgetail Eagle 1988, Fregon (Pitjantjatjara) band Isaac Yama and the Pitjantjatjara Country Band No 2, 1988 Areyonga Desert Tigers, Light On 1988 Rock'n'roll and gospel Western Desert Gospel 1988, Kintore Gospel Band, in Pintupi Papal Concert, Alice Springs (2 Cassettes) 1988 Ilkari Maru, Isaac Yama, Auriel Andrew, Jimmy Little, Mick Thaiday, Mills Sisters, Areyonga Desert Tigers, Friends in Harmony, Country Ramblers, Trevor Adamson, Alan Harrison, Shareen Malamoo, Gus Williams, Herbie Laughton and Pope's speech Hermannsburg Ladies' Choir, Arrente Christmas Carols 1988 Robyn Green V012 Good News, gospel Casso and the Axons, Australia For Sale 1987 Darwin songwriter Greg Castilion VIDEOS
Settle Down Country Kintore, Isaac Yama, Warumpi Band, Kintore Band Video Newsletter No 1 Includes Coloured Stone, Kevin Gunn, Isaac Yama Video Newsletter No 2 Includes Herb Laughton, Warumpi Band, Isaac Yama, Ilkari Maru Video Newsletter No 3 Includes Auriel Andrew, No Fixed Address, Mills Sisters Video Newsletter No 4 Includes Hermannsburg Country and Western Festival, No Fixed Address, Kuckles Ernabella Choir. Hermannsburg Country and Western Music Festival Nganarnpa Tjukurpa Kaninyi: Keeping Our Story-Ernabella community TV station as an alternative to cultural invasion by TV
RCA Ltd (or via local record shops) Strathfield Plaza The Boulevard Stratfield, NSW 2135 Tel: (02) 764 3888
* Harry Williams a n d the Country Outcasts (LP) RCA 1979 Experienced * *
*
country and western band with some original songs My Home-made Didjeridu (Single, RCA) Harry Williams (Possibly out of print) Warumpi Band, Big Name, No Blankets (LP and cassette, Powderworks1 Yinura, 1985) In English and Luritja Warumpi Band, 'BreadlineYWiima Tjuta' (Single, Powderworks/Yinura, 1985) From the LP, in English and Pintupi-Luritja
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Polygram Records (or via local record shops), PO Box 112 Alexandria, NSW, 2015 Tel: (02) 699 1399
*
No Fixed Address From My Eyes (LP or cassette, Rough Diamond Records)
Country Music Centre of WA 12 Stafford St Midland, WA 6056 Tel: (09) 274 4983 Josie Boyle, Warburton Mountains (Cassette, Planet Studios) Old pop and gospel songs in Wongi, a Pitjantjatjara dialect Josie Boyle, Dinky-Di Aussie (Cassette) Pop a n d gospel in Wongi Kevin Gunn, Country Variety (Matilda) Country music in English Kevin Gunn, Travellin' Man (LP) (Matilda) Country and gospel music in English (mainly original) Ernie Bridge Sings Kimberley Favourites (LP EMI) Country music, mainly original, by state member for Kimberley Ernie Bridge-Helicopter Ringer (LP EMI) and single of title song Ernie Bridge Live at the Concert Hall (LP EMI) Country music, mainly original, by state member for Kimberley Ernie Bridge Sings i t Australian (LP EMI) Country music, mainly original, by state member for Kimberley
Festival Records (or via local shops) Unit 4, Marker Ave Marlston, SA, 5033 Tel: (08) 297 8744
*
*
* * * *
Jimmy Little: Country Sounds (Two LPs); All for Love (LP or cassette); Twenty Golden Country Greats (LP or cassette); "Baby Blue'V'Australia Down Under" (original) (single) J i m m y Little: The Country and Western Greats (Cassette) The Best of Jimmy Little (LP or cassette) A n Evening with Jimmy Little Live at the Sydney Opera House (Two LPs or cassette) Warumpi Band, Go Bush! (LP) (Parole 1987) Rock in English and Luritja Warumpi Band, 'My Island Home'I'Didjeridoo Blue' (Single, Parole) 1987 From Go Bush!
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Blackbooks 13 Mansfield St Glebe, NSW 2037 Tel: (02) 660 0120 or 660 2396 The Country Shades, Shades of Country (Cassette) Kevin Gunn, The Best of Kevin Gunn (Cassette) Brian Young, Big Fella Wudumba (Cassette) Bob Maza, Music of My People Australian Aboriginal Music (Cassette, Twintrack Productions) Djoli Laiwanga, Ibm Yorkdjanki, Wandjuk Marika, David Blanatji, Aloysius Puantalura, Kalumburu community, Bathurst Island community, Mornington Island Dancers Arnold Smith (Pudding), Stop Ringing the Submission Bells (Cassette, 1984) Songwriter from Broome Labamu and Goobalathaldin (Dick Koughsey), Twrkey and The E m u (Book and tape) Story and songs from Queensland Narritjin Maymura, The Milky Way (Cassette) Story and songs The Australian Aboriginal Heritage, Part B (Filmstrip, cassette) RM Berndt Jimmy Chi, Michael Manolis and Ron Harper, Broome song writers, Childrens book and cassette, 1985 Maureen Watson, From Dreamtime to Spaceships 1984 Stories Music by Michael Watson Last two items also available from: Hodja Educational Resources Cooperative 135 Church Street Richmond, Vic 3121
Opal Records PO Box W41 West Tamworth, NSW 2340 Tel: (067) 65 9290
* * *
*
Col Hardy, Black Gold, Opal OLLP-501 Col Hardy, Hardy Country, Opal OLLP-505 Col Hardy, Black and White Tangle, Opal OLLP-523 (1982-83) Auriel Andrew, Chocolate Princess, Opal OLLP-522 (1981-82)
Enrec Studios 'famworth, NSW 2340 %l: (067) 66 3566
* *
Roger Knox, Give It a Go 1983 'famworth Aboriginal country band; country music including Aboriginal-written songs Roger Knox, Koori Classic, V011 Includes Mop and the Dropouts, Angus Babbitt, Serina Andrew, Dennis Conlan, Manny West and Ian Atkinson
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* * * * *
* *
Roger Knox, Koori Classic, V012 Includes Vie Simms, Sharon Mann Roger Knox, Koori Classic, V013 The Girls Includes Serina Andrew, Kathy Kelly, Sharon Mann, Judy Quinlan and Tracy Lee Gray Roger Knox, Koori Classic, V014 includes Mac Silva, Vic Simms (Aboriginal Prison Song Collection) Roger Knox, The Gospel Album 1986 Bobby McLeod, Culture Up Front 1987, Sydney country-folk Bill Wellington, The Night Owl 1985 (45EP) Alice Springs songwriter. David Hudson (Dwura), From Campfire to Stagelight 1985 Didjeridu and country music, by Guguyelangi musician from Queensland
Josie Boyle Productions Perth R l : (09) 279 8973
* Josie Boyle, Variety of Aboriginal Culture Includes David Hudson,
*
corroboree singing by Walmatjeri and others, stories in Enghsh, country music in Wongi Fifteen Australian Greats: 15 originals by various artists-Josie Boyle, David Skewes, Kevin Gunn, Sandy Atkins, Bill Britten, Michael Clanton, Anne Leuba, Lois Olney, Donna Atkins
UAM Recordings Box 926 Geraldton, WA 6530 Tel: (099) 214 996 G69
Z 100
Wangkayi Songs: Warburton Jubilee Convention 1983 'In the Wangkayi language from Cosmo, Warburton, Blackstone, Jamieson and area right through to Amata and Ernabella This is a real bushman's tape with very little English, all sung' Emabella Songs Only Pitjantjatjara songs Hundreds of other tapes available; send for full lists (Gospel music)
Torres Strait Islanders Media Association Inc PO Box 385 Thursday Island, Qld 4875 Tel: (070) 69 1524
* Geomulgal-Badulgal (Cassette)-Badu dancing; Badu Island songs and songs by Job Essell
Australian Music Centre PO Box 49 Broadway, NSW 2007 Tel: (02) 212 1611
*
Soundworks Performance, Two cassette set, mainly of white composers, but including Aboriginal Song and Dance Troupe from Ramingining
Blue Wren Recording 5 Wiangarie St Casino, NSW 2470
*
Leon 'Tex' Kincaid, "The Sounds of Judah' Gospel Singers, (Single, 1986) Gospel songwriter from NSW
Melbourne Aboriginal Radio Association (Koori Radio) Tel: (03) 419 9250
*
Rock Against Racism, Vol. 1 Cassette of concert, 1985 Includes Mop and the Dropouts, Black Lace, Rough and Ready, Hard Times, Bart Willoughby, Ilkari Maru and Peter Rotumah
Aboriginal and Islander Media Service (AIMS) Aboriginal Community College PO Box 409 Port Adelaide, SA 5015 E l : (08) 47 1856
*
The Artoowarapana Band, Artoowarapana Country (Cassette) 1987 Buck MacKenzie: Flinders Ranges country music
Aboriginal lhpe Exchange PO Box 27 Fitzroy, Vic, 3065 ?l: (03) 419 9608
* Black Magic Radio Cassettes of weekly half hour radio program produced
*
by AIMS Many programs include their own field tapes of Aboriginal musicians Over 150 programs available by mid-1988, for sale t o educational institutions and broadcasters Harold Blair, Aboriginal Songs (1956) and three sacred songs
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Educational Production Services 30 Banksia Ave Seacomb Gardens, SA, 5047 Tel: (08) 377 0399 School series produced by the ABC (possibly available in other states too) Aboriginal Music Series, Term 1, 1982, includes music of the Central Desert, the North, and urban Aboriginal music, and an overview
Abmusic 295 Manning Road Bentley, WA 6102 Tel: (09) 458 9077 Subway, What Does It Mean Narrogin band with one Aboriginal member. Lucy Cox, Kimberley Legend Country music written by Mark Bin Bakar. Steve Yarran, Hold His Healing Hand Gospel from Kellerberrin Noonkanbah, Corroboree Richard Walley, Thles of Didjeridoo Carnarvon musician, now in Perth Wild Pumpkins At Midnight, Scenesville. Donna Atkins Country music originals by herself, Josie Boyle and Mark Bin Bakar. Hired Hands, Anniversary Party '82 Hired Hands, Anniversary Party '87 Donna and Sandy Atkins (single) Perth country music singers Wild Pumpkins At Midnight, The Birth of a Nation (single) Modern Tribe, Make '88 the Start Perth rock band Robyn Green, He Is the Answer. Gospel VIDEO: Kuckles, What Time Low Tide. (Ask for catalogue)
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ASSORTED ITEMS Aboriginal Values in White Society (Bob Randall speaking)-reverse side: Rev Jack Goodluck on 'Aboriginal attitudes to Land Rights' (from MOVE Records, 10 Glen Drive, Eaglemont, Vic 3084 %l: (03) 497 3105) (or via Larrikin) Cassette Harry and Wilga Williams and the Country Outcasts (LP or cassette, Hadley HLP-1259, 1981) From Hadleys Records, Egret Place, Calala, NSW 2340 Tel: (067) 657 813 Some original songs Trevor Adamson and the Ernabella Children, Godaku Walytja-Piti God's Family (Good-God cassette, via Sonorex, 58 Second Ave , Sefton Park SA 5083 Tel: (08) 44 3279) Gospel music in Pitjantjatjara
Music, Music, Music Radio 5UV, University of Adelaide, 1978 Four cassettes of eight radio programs on Adelaide's ethnic music, with booklet; programs 1 and 7 relate to non-tribal Aboriginal music (Leila Rankine, CASM etc ), program 6 to Pitjantjatjara music Tel: (08) 228 5173 S l i m Connor with the Aldoradoes: Country Music (Cassette) Pioneer Country Sounds Studio, Ford St , Swan Hill, Vie 3585-features the Kirby Brothers (Aboriginal musicians from Riverland), but S Connor is white Vi Chitty, 'Awakening'; Merv Graham, '150 O n Down the Line', Perth musicians-folklpop (Single) From Aboriginal Radio, cl- Radio 6NR, WA Institute of Technology, Kent Street, Bentley, WA 6102 Tel: (09) 350 7626 Vi Chitty, Ibll Trees (Cassette HGC-03) Original folklcountrylgospel, by ex-Perth singer. (From Homegrown Productions, Perth; or from Vi Chitty, PO Box 1945, Cairns, Qld 4870)
4th National Aboriginal Country Music Festival (Cassette with illustrated booklet) (held in 1979 a t lhperoo, Adelaide) Feather Chester, Herb Laughton, Herb Patten, Kunanurra tribal dancers, Wandjuk Marika, No Fixed Address, Doreen Franey, Sheena D'Angelo, Alex Wyniard, Norma Stanley, Debbie Williams, Steve and Carol and Glenys Yarran, Albert Denison, Bidgee Wonders, Margaret Stewart Backed by Country Outcasts (From Community Media Association, 4 Junction Lane, Mile End SA 5031 E l : (08) 352 7150 King Wally of the Oombulgurri (Cassette) Traditional singing and didjeridu, with King Wally's explanations and stories in English From Wombat Publications, Box 1652, Hay St East, Perth WA 6000 Les Sumner, Self-portrait (Cassette) 1986 Original country and western in English (From Les Sumner, 19 Gurney R e , Enfield SA 5085 %l: (08) 262 6210)
Les Aborigenes: Chants et Dames de LAustralie d u word, Series Festival des Arts Traditionnels, 1980, Arion ARN 33553 Djoli Laiwanga, David Blanasi and David Gulpilil in France Singing and didjeridu
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Mills Sisters, The Arafura Pearls (Cassette) 1987 Darwin country and western Gwen Hunt, You Belong lb Me (Cassette) Ken McKenzie, The Christian Bushman, 1984 Available from Windwood Studios, 83 Queens Rd, Lawson, NSW 2783 El: (047) 592 191 Kathleen Cox, Through My Eyes 1985 WA songwriters, including Kathleen Cox, Jim Cheney, Mark Bin Bakar and Lucy Cox Available from Northlake Productions, 95 Northlake Rd, Myaree, WA 6154 Joe Geia, Yil Lull, (LP Dex 162E, Cassette D e x 3728 or 3695), 1988 Queensland songwriter. Geoff Hunt, Geoff sings Elvis (Cassette) Midnight Oil, The Dead Heart; Warumpi Band, Blackfella Whitefella; Coloured Stone, This Land, (CBS 12-inch 45, 1986) Barry Cedric, I'm a n Aborigine (Single) Huge Production 1987 Queensland songwriter. Aboriginal Music from Australia, A Moyle (ed) (Waira cassette, SM 034) Unesco Collection 'Musical Sources' Good introduction to Aboriginal music Sing to the Lord (Cassette from B Borneman and C Street, c/- Summer Institute of Linguistics, Berrimah, NT 5788) Gospel music of songwriters from Arnhem Land, Kimberleys, Bathurst Island, Tbrres Strait and Ernabella
Artoowarapana Band Adnyamathanha Way (Cassette Dex 3567, 1988) Flinders Ranges country music, mostly written by Buck McKenzie John Crawford and Mike Ladd fed), Music of the Pitja-ntjatjara People (ABC FM broadcast, 7 September 1988) Several corroborees recorded at Ernabella Subject to copyright, available from ABC Tape Service, PO Box 8213, Stirling St. Perth, WA 6000 E l : (09) 328 2266 Easter Purlapa and 'One Family' Purlapa Warlpiri Christian corroborees From Lloyd Ollernshaw, c/- Baptist Church, Yuendumu, via Alice Springs
Scrapmetal, Just Looking (Cassette) 1987 Broome band
INDEX
Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre 71, 79, 112, 126, 137 Aboriginal and Islander Media Service (AIMS) 117, 162 Aboriginal Artists Agency (AAA) 79, 81, 104, 110, 136, 155-56 Aboriginal Arts Board 28, 83, 104, 107, 110 Aboriginal Cultural Foundation 111 Aboriginal Film Unit 141 'Aboriginal nation' 104, 111, 124, 132 Aboriginal Publications Foundation 104 Aborigines Friends Association (AFA) 31,35 Adamson, Trevor 58, 158-59, 165 additive rhythm 7, 91 Adelaide Aboriginal Community Centre 111 Adelaide Aboriginal Orchestra (AAO) 20-21 (Plate 4), 67, 70, 114, 144 n 11 Alcheringa Stone, The 134 All-States 127-28 Andrew, Auriel 60, 158-59, 161 Ansell, Eonnie see Us Mob Aranda 18, 58, 62, 117, 134, 137,158-59 Aroona 127, 158 assimilation 31, 103 Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) 49, 91, 103, 134, 155 Bann, Getano 77, 127 Bapu Mamoos 128-29 Barker, Allan 125-26 (Plate 22) Beatles, The 7, 76 Berry, Chuck 60 Bingapore, John 34, 71, 120, 131 Black Lace 80-82, 107-8, 163 Black Opal 88 Black Theatre and Arts Centre 111 Blair, Harold 88, 107-8, 118-20 (Plate IQ), 136, 141, 156, 163 Bonner, Neville 103 Bowie, David 137 Boyle, Josie 63, 65, 160, 162, 164
Brady, Pastor Don 77, 129 Budge, Ernie 54, 156, 160 Bright, Colin 137 Broome 54-57, 161 Brown Brothers (Bsmania) 89 Buckskin, Ken and Fred 67 Bush Ballads see also folksong 20-22,28, 133 Butler, Peter 'Pedro' see Us Mob
Campaign Against Racial Exploitation (CARE) 109 Cape Barren Island 89, 94 n 13 Caruso, Enrico 20, 33 Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) 58, 105-6, 117, 157-59 Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) 5, 14, 20-21 (Plate 4), 28, 35-36, 38, 54-55, 67, 70-72, 78-79, 82,85-86 (Plate 14),89, 104, 112 (Plate 15), 113-15 (Plates 16-18), 126-29 (Plate 24), 136, 157, 165 Chi, Jim Iiseelr Kuckles Chitty, Vi 63-64, 81, 91, 130, 165 choirs 16 (Plate 2), 21 (Plate 4), 31, 36, 58, 67, 114 (Plate 16), 158-59 Christian corroborees 18-19 (Plate 3), 166 classical music 20, 33, 118-20, 137-38, 140 Coffey, Essie 70, 74-75, 125 Collins, Les 76-78, 158 Coloured Stone 65-66, 92, 108, 130, 136-37, 158-59, 166 communal 8, 93, 106-7 'community professional' 30 Conlon, Dennis 78-79, 161 'contact songs' 136, 138-39 'coon' 26 Corroboree (Antill) 134 country music 28-30, 91, 106, 112-13, 122, 144
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Country Outcasts see also Williams, Harry 82-85 (Plate 13), 95 n 29, 99 n 100, 108, 112, 159, 165
Crooks, Richard 20, 118 Cummins family 77-78, 81, 128 Dampier, William 11 Davies, Peter Maxwell 138 Davis, Jack 3, 104, 138 Day, Wes and Barbara 73 diaeridu 6, 11-12,65,75,79, 81,92,110,120,
Geia, Joe 77, 120-21 (Plate 20), 129, 158, 166 Glyn, Freda 105 Goanna (band) 120 Gondwanaland 142-43 Goodluck, Jack 19, 49-50, 144 n 1, 165 Gospel Favourites Along the Murray 17, 25 Graham, Les see No Fixed Address Groome, Howard 60, 135 Gulpilil, David 110, 120, 165 gumleaves 7, 22-23 (Plate 5), 32, 130 Gurindji 103, 139-40
140, 142-43, 155-57, 162, 164-65
Dollar Brand 137 Donnelly, Andrew 79-80, 107-8, 127-28 Doolan family 77, 81 Douglas, Wilf 19, 58 'Dreaming' 8 Dreyfus, George 140, 156 Dugites 124 Dunstan, Don 32 Dusty, Slim 29-30, 79, 91 Dylan, Bob 72, 127 Edwards, Bill 19 Egan, Tfed 29-30, 50, 63, 120, 136-40 Elizabethan Theatre Trust 109 Elkin, AP 134, 137, 156 Ellis, Catherine 9,25-26,28,70, 113, 134, 138 Ellis, Max 9, 26, 70, 114 Ernabella 16-17 (Plate 2), 58, 158-59, 162, 165-66
Hard Times 64, 85-87 (Plate 14), 108, 115 (Plate 18), 163 Harris, Rolf 134 Hendrix, Jimi 124 Hot Records 61, 116, 158 'household ballads' 16, 22-25, 32 Hunter, Dora 34, 67-69 (Plate 10), 141 Hunter, Harry 34 Hunter, Isaac 24, 27, 34 'hunterphone' 34 Hunters and Collectors 142 hymns 15-17,20,30,35-36,39, 58,63, 118, 158-60, 162
Imparja xi, 66, 117 Indulkana 10, 128, 132, 157 'Indulkana Suite' 128, 157 'island style' songs 13, 49, 91 isorhythm 7
Everett, Jim 89-90 Fisher, Betty 80 Fisher, George 80, 107 Flinders Island 89 folksong see also bush ballads 20-22,24-28, 32, 38, 133, 141, 147 n 51 Foster, Stephen 23-24, 32, 138 From My Eyes 122, 129, 160 'fun songs' 9-10, 139
jazz 7, 65, 80-81, 90, 109, 126, 128 Johnson, Ian see also Hard Times 82, 85-86 (Plate 14), 113, 115 (Plate 18) Johnson, Joyce 69, 82-87 (Plate 13), 107 Jones, Chris see No Fixed Address Jones, Trevor 41 n 6, 134 Karpany, Carroll see Us Mob Kintore 61-62, 142-43, 158-59
INDEX
169
Kirby brothers 73 Kiwat, Jardine Andrew 77, 127-28 Knox, Roger 79, 161-62 Koolmateri, Annie 17, 25-26, 34, 43 n 40 Koori Kollij 111 Kristofferson, Kris 29, 39 Kuckles 55-57 (Plate 7), 115-16 (Plate 18), 120, 157-59, 161, 164
Mornington Island 112, 126, 135, 161 Moyle, Alice 134, 166 Mungie, Billy 10, 129 (Plate 24) Mununggu, Dick 50, 139 Murray, Neil see also Warumpi Band 61, 107 Murri Jama Production Company 79, 114, 128-29 Mystics, The 50
land rights 17, 59, 103-4, 110, 165 Last Wave, The 109 Laughton, Herb 62-63, 92, 158-59, 165 Lawrie, Rupert 'Buna' see Coloured Stone Lethbridge, H0 118, 136 Little, Jimmy (junior) 79-80, 120, 156, 159-60 Little, Jimmy (senior) 25, 73-74, 80 Lobl, Phyl 109, 137 Lousy Little Sixpence 135 Lovett, Claude 88-89 Lovett, Monty 88-89, 127-28 Lyons, Ibm 25-28, 92
Nashville 29, 93, 113 National Aboriginal a n d Islander Broadcasting Association 117 National Aboriginal Conference 104 National Aboriginal Country Music Festival 63, 83, 112-14 (Plate 16), 165 Nicholls, Doug 22, 103, 111 Nicholls, Ron 128-29 (Plate 24) No Fixed Address (band) 28,57, 75, 103, 109, 112, 120-24 (Plate 20), 126-27 (Plate 23), 129-31, 136, 142, 156, 159-60, 163, 165 No Fixed Address (show) 137-38 Nyoongah Community Centre 63, 111
McArthur, Wally see Us Mob McKenzie, Buck 67 McLeod, Bobby 81, 162 McMahon, Charlie 142-43 Macassans 9, 11, 13 Magpies, The 78 Manolis, Michael see Kuckles Mantaka 75-76 (Plate 12), 120, 124 Marika, Wandjuk 55, 110, 112, 120, 156, 161, 165 Marley, Bob 121 Massacre, Coniston 19, 52 Meagher, Felix 137 Midnight Oil xi, 137, 142-43, 166 Miller, John-John see No Fixed Address Mills Sisters 50, 159, 166 'minstrel' 30 missionaries 12, 15-20,31-36, 58,63, 132-33 'rnoornba' 111
Pacific Islands 7, 10, 91, 110 Patten, Herb 87-88, 92, 165 Penberthy, James 119, 137, 140 Perkins, Charles 82, 103, 140 Pigram, Steve see Kuckles, Scrapmetal Pitjantjatjara 9-10,16-17 (Plate 2), 54,58-60 (Plate 8), 62-63,85, 113, 115 (Plate 17), 128-29 (Plate 24), 132, 138, 157-59, 162, 165-66 plantation songs 24, 26, 28 Point McLeay 16, 20, 24, 31-36, 53, 67-71, 123, 127 Portland 89 Presley, Elvis 29, 72 Pride, Charley 29-30, 73, 85 Public Broadcasting Association of Australia (PBAA) 117
170
radio, Aboriginal see also CAAMA, AIMS, NAIBA, Wayee 63, 79, 81, 117, 157, 163, 165 Randall, Bob 42 n 22, 51-54 (Plate 6), 126, 156, 158, 165 Rankine, Leila 3-4, 10-11, 16-17,24-25,28, 31-36, 53, 67-68 (Plate 9), 71, 93, 97 n 59, 103-4, 106-7, 110, 113-14 (Plate 16), 128,130-36,141,143-4,157,165 Rankine, Veronica 67 (Plate g), 71, 114 (Plate 16), 128 Redgum 75 Rivamonte, Ray 137, 140 Rock Against Racism 75, 109, 124, 142, 163 Rodgers, Jimmy 29, 79-80 Rose, Lionel 88, 120, 156 Rotumah, Peter see Hard Times Saunders, Alan 79, 120 Schultz, Chester (as composer) 137-38, 140 Scrapmetal xi, 67, 166 Sculthorpe, Peter 137 Shearston, Gary 45 n 60, 137 Shegog, Kevin 88, 90 Smith, Arnold 67, 161 Soft Sands 50, 131, 158 songs: Brownskin Baby 53-54, 60, 133 Bush Queen 74-75 Carrington Hotel 70-71 Coon Song, The 26-27, 133 Cut A Rug 39 Docker River Song 59 Genocide 124 Ghan To The Alice 62 God Be With You Till We Meet Again 17, 36 Jacky-Jacky 27-28, 85 Land Where The Crow Flies Backwards, The 40 Little Alabama Coon 26, 33
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Numerella Pines 88, 92 0 Land Of Mine 119-20 Old Bullock Dray 21-22 Streets of Old Fitzroy 84 Three Little Mice 32 We Have Survived 121-22, 130 Stanner, WEH 142 Strehlow, TGH 18, 134, 137 Sutherland, Margaret 119, 137 'failem Bend 33, 35-36 %worth 29, 64, 78-79, 113, 161 television xi, 30, 64, 80-81, 105-7, 110, 134-35, 159 Ttent Embassy 81, 103 Thaiday, Mick 77, 158-59 Thornton, Freda 105 Thorpe, Henry see Hard Times Tbrres Strait Islanders see also Bingapore, Barm, Kiwat 6-7 (Plate l), 13,42 n 22, 49, 77, 112, 127-28, 136, 139, 155-56, 162, 166 Tur, Mona 10 Tyers, Lake 22-23 (Plate 5) Uluru (band) 78, 127 Unaipon, David 20, 31, 118 'Urban Corroboree' 128-29 (Plate 24), 157 Us Mob 12,71, 114,123-25 (Plate 21), 130-32, 136, 156 Walkabout (film) 109 Walker, Robbie 72 Wallis, Anthony 110 Warlpiri 18-19 (Plate 3), 63, 138, 146 n 42, 156, 166 Warumpi Band 60-61,120, 130-31, 137,143, 158-60, 166 Watkins, Cherie 70-71, 156 Wayee Radio 90, 117 Whitlam, EG 103
INDEX
Widjarookie Players 69, 109 Wilcannia 14, 37-41, 74, 109 Williams, Angus 'Hank' 88 Williams, Buddy 29, 62-63, 80, 91 Williams, Gus 60, 62-63, 159 Williams, Harry and Wilga 79-85 (Plate 13), 87, 113, 156, 159, 165 Willoughby, Bart see No Fixed Address Wilson, Noel 21 (Plate 4), 35-36, 71, 114 (Plate 16) Winunguj, George 19, 50, 140, 156 Women of the S u n 135 Wrong Side of the Road (film and LP) 67 (Plate 9) 108, 114, 121, 124, 156 Yaluriti, Tbny 138 Yama, Isaac 54, 58-60 (Plate 8), 92, 139, 158-59 Yirrkala 103, 110, 157 Young, Dougie 39-41, 65, 74, 92 Young, Johnny 65, 88 Young, Robert 74 Yuendumu 18-19, 63, 111, 166 Yununpingu, Galarrwuy 50, 94 n 2
171
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For more about Australian popular music:
MISSING IN ACTION: Australian Popular Music in Perspective Volume I Edited by Marcus Breen Published by Verbal Graphics Pty Ltd, Kensington, Victoria, 1987.
