Australian Aboriginal Rock

Apaak Jupurrala (singer/songwriter) said,

"Music is perhaps one of the few positive ways to communicate a message to the wider community. Take, for example, politicians. They address an issue but people will only listen if they share those particular political views. Music has universal appeal. Even if you have your critics, people will still give you a hearing" (in Gibson & Dunbar-Hall, 2000, p. 44).

Aboriginal Rock music is, of course, important to Aboriginal People. It is an "accessible tool of education, communication and identity construction" (Gibson & Dunbar-Hall, 2000, p. 40). But as Jupurrala suggests, it can go way beyond the Aboriginal community and into the lives of mainstream Australia, and it is here that its message can be heard outside of the political arena. Through music, Indigenous Australia can leave its impression on the "popular cultural landscape", they can introduce issues largely ignored or unheard by mainstream Australia, and most refreshingly, the music offers an Indigenous perspective on the issues relating to them - it comes straight from the horses mouth, so to speak (Gibson & Dunbar-Hall, 2000).

A common aesthetic feature found in many Aboriginal Rock music is the use of traditional Rock instruments - the guitar, bass guitar and drums - fused with Indigenous instruments, often the didgeridoo and the tapping sticks. In many cases the songs are multilingual, incorporating the bands traditional language with English. The use of traditional languages is very important in maintaining an almost lost dialect, creating a strong sense of identity, and reminding mainstream Australians that there is more than one language alive in this country (a fact too easily forgotten).

Possibly the most famous example of Australian Aboriginal Rock reaching mainstream popularity and introducing an Indigenous perspective on political issues would be Yothu Yindi. In 1991, Yothu Yindi had enormous commercial success with "Treaty", a song about our nations past of taking land from Indigenous Peoples, and a song offering hope for a better way forward. Other bands include No Fixed Address, The Warumpi Band, Amunda, and Coloured Stone.

Australian Aboriginal Rock is a powerful genre of music. It creates an identity, it educates, it empowers, it offers little heard perspectives and it does all this free of the political arena.

Sarah Gillam

References

Dunbar-Hall, Peter & Gibson, Chris 2000, 'Nitmiluk: Place and Empowerment in Australian Aboriginal Popular Music', Ethnomusicology, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 39-64