Past Programs
Music - 2008
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Ngarukuruwala - 'we sing songs together'
22/11/2008
A rare music collaboration brings together a group of culturally strong women from the Tiwi Islands off Darwin and a 6-piece jazz outfit from Sydney. Ngarukuruwala means 'we sing songs together' in the Tiwi language, and in this program we present a full concert recording from the Sydney Opera House. The Wangatunga Women's Group from Bathurst Island are the heart of this collaboration, and the jazz, blues and swing band led by Genevieve Campbell its musical backbone.
Michael Franti - Stay Human
01/11/2008
Michael Franti is one of the unsung voices of his generation. A hip hop artist and lyrical beat poet, Franti was speaking out against the excesses of Western consumption and economic imperialism - what he called 'Wall Street crime' - years ago. But now what he's on about is the challenge to stay human. In this interview he talks about his personal journey through song and explains why to many indigenous people across the globe, Barack Obama represents hope for the future.
Walking With Spirits Festival
27/09/2008
People travel from around the world to an ancient place called Malkgulumbu that is surrounded by white sand, ancient paperbark trees, running freshwater, a waterfall and orange coloured cliffs to celebrate culture, alongside the local Aboriginal people from the community of Wugularr. Better known as Beswick it is located on the Central Arnhem Road south of Katherine in the Northern Territory.
Well known Aboriginal Actor Tom E Lewis is the creator and the mind behind the coming together of the modern and ancient music and stories that are told in the surrounding of this sacred site, which is opened only once every year to the public for the festival.
Also, a new theatre production about a girl called Yibiyung. Her moving story of being stolen, sent to work as a domestic and then re-united with her family is told by her grandaughter, playwright Dallas Winmar.
Aunty Sylvia Scott (Ingram)
13/09/2008
Sylvia Scott grew up on the Erambie Mission in Cowra, where the Aboriginal people had a reputation for standing up for their rights as far back as the 1940s. She remembers fondly a childhood with not much money and many mission rules and regulations but one that was full of music and fun. Her father Lochie Ingram was a shearer and good provider for their large family and her mother Louisa Ingram led protests against the mission managers, who at times denied the whole mission population their rations.
Louisa and some of her children are in the iconic photo of the 1938 Aboriginal protest that was held in Sydney while white Australia celebrated its sesquicentenary. Sylvia discusses the fact that they have never been properly identified in the various published versions of this photo. She also talks about the circumstances of her sister Janet going into the Bomaderry Children's home, not being allowed to return for many years. Sylvia tells her colourful life story to her niece Suzy Ingram, who also talks about her own memories of Erambi Mission and the Ingram family.
We also catch up with Development Officer for Indigenous Music in the Northern Territory, Heath Baxter who talks about some exciting new bands and a mentoring system betwen older and younger musicians.
View The Day of Mourning photograph and see information about the people in it. You'll also see photographs of Sylvia Scott and the Erambie Mission in the late 1930s.
<em>Pecan Summer</em>
06/09/2008
The first ever mass strike by Aboriginal people, the walk-off at Cummeragunja mission station in 1939, has inspired the soprano and librettist Deborah Cheetham to write an opera, to be performed by an Aboriginal cast. Pecan Summer might be the Aboriginal version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, which the composer stipulated should only ever be performed by classically trained African-American singers, true to the story itself.
The healing power of stories
24/05/2008
William Munget was presumed drowned when the pearling boat Enid sank off the coast of north-western Australia in 1928. Many years later and on the other side of the continent, six of the 12 children of Nugget and Mary Edwards were kidnapped by police acting on the advice of government welfare authorities. These two stories illustrate the power that memory and loss exercise over our lives, the deep love of family across the generations and the need for healing.
Heartsick for Country: Pat Dudgeon
Pat Dudgeon is from the Bardi people of the Kimberley region in north-western Australia. A psychologist who's just completed her doctoral thesis, Pat is one of the contributing writers to a new anthology about country and the spirituality of place. Her story is an evocation of the mysterious death at sea of her great-grandfather, William Munget, a pearler whose boat sank off the north-west coast in 1928. 'The sinking of the Enid' skilfully combines oral history and documentary evidence from the files of the WA Department of Native Affairs. In this program, Pat reads from her story and talks about the role of psychology in healing.
Songlines of a Mutti Mutti Man: Kutcha and Mick Edwards
Kutcha Edwards was 18 months old when he and five of his brothers and sisters were 'kidnapped' by police who were acting on the advice of government welfare authorities. As a family and as individuals, their lives were permanently fractured. Even though they were reunited years later with their mother Mary, the damage had already been done. The production Songlines of a Mutti Mutti Man is literally set around a kitchen table. Kutcha and his older brother Mick talk about the show's return season and their unbroken family songline.
The Aboriginal voice - the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature
17/05/2008
What defines Aboriginal literature? Is it history and politics or are black writers now free to exercise their creativity in works of the imagination?
Anita Heiss and Peter Minter have edited a new anthology which, in a chronological way, documents the Aboriginal voice - from a plaintive letter that Bennelong wrote in 1796 after his return from England to the work of more contemporary writers like Kim Scott and Alexis Wright.
In conversation with Troy Cassar-Daley (repeat)
26/04/2008
He's probably Australia's most successful Aboriginal country singer but deep down, he's a true blue Bundjalung boy.
Country star Troy Cassar-Daley talks with Rhoda Roberts about growing up on the trains which ran up and down the north coast of New South Wales, his mother's strong influence on his attitude to work and life, and the loyalty of his home town, Grafton.
And he plays three songs live, including the first song he ever wrote.
Please note that due to copyright restrictions this program is not available for download.
This program was first broadcast on July 23 2004.
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
12/04/2008
His debut solo album has recently been described as the most beautiful recording ever made by an Aboriginal musician. Intensely shy and blind since birth, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an extraordinary talent who speaks through his music.
In this program, Gurrumul performs two songs in his Yolgnu Matha language.
You'll also hear tracks recorded live during one of Gurrumul's first concerts as a solo artist.
Please note that due to copyright restrictions this program is not available as a podcast.
Download Video of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu performing
<em>Kalkadungu</em>
29/03/2008
A 23-minute piece scored for orchestra, electric guitar, solo voice and didjeridu, Kalkadungu is based on a song which the master didjeridu player William Barton wrote in his language when he was 15.
The song was inspired by his Kalkadungu country in north-western Queensland.
William Barton says the song itself is about the passing of Kalkadungu culture from one generation to the next.
He joins us to talk about the new composition, co-written with composer Matthew Hindson, which is being performed for the first time by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra next week.
Also we hear Also, the poet Yvette Holt reads from her newly-published anthology 'Anonymous Premonition'. And curator Djon Mundine ruminates out loud on the significance of water and waterways in contemporary Indigenous art.
Please note that due to copyright restrictions this program is not available as a downloadable MP3.
Home Sweet Home
22/03/2008
The small town of Fitzroy Crossing sits on the banks of the mighty Fitzroy River in the heart of the Kimberley.
Fitzroy Crossing is a service town to dozens of Aboriginal communities and home to the Gooniyandi, Walmatjarri, Wangkatjungka and Bunuba people.
Language, ceremony, art and Aboriginal law are still very strong in the Fitzroy Valley.
So, too, is music - especially country rock.
The most popular band in the region is Fitzroy Xpress.
This is the story of their third album, 'Home Sweet Home', which won the 2005 Deadly Award for album of the year.
<em>The Loner</em> revisited
23/02/2008
Vic Simms has been out of jail for a very long time - but until now, he's hardly ever revisited the songs he wrote as an inmate in the notoriously tough Bathurst jail.
We hear about a new season of the Deadly Award-winning theatre production 'The Dirty Mile', which explores the Aboriginal history of the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.
And we sit down with a highly-respected clan leader from Arnhem Land as she dyes and weaves pandanus to make baskets and dilly bags.
Rivers, lakes and plains
09/02/2008
This week, we travel to the Narran Lakes in north-western New South Wales, one of Australia's most threatened freshwater wetlands.
Nick McClean has been working with the traditional owners of the area since 2005, and today we join him for a journey to the Lakes, and a journey through the lives of the Murris who call it home.
And the irrepressible Lou Bennett talks about 'Show Us Ya Tiddas', a theatrical version of her life story.
Auriel Andrew live at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
02/02/2008
Auriel Andrew has been described as "the sex kitten of Aboriginal country music". She even once performed for the Pope. Auriel talks about her early life spent in the outback to becoming the first Aboriginal woman to sing live on television.
We also hear about 'Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word', her unlikely collaboration with country and western cabaret performer Tina C, who Auriel describes as a cross between Dame Edna Everage and Mary G.
Archie's journey
26/01/2008
Archie Roach talks about his creative and personal journey.
A singer-songwriter of rare quality, Archie has been described as the voice of Aboriginal Australia.
His songs speak to the nation's conscience.
From the despair and hope of 'Took the Children Away', which earned him a Human Rights Award, to the gut-wrenching honesty of 'Walking into Doors' and the feelgood 'Mission Ration Blues', his music always celebrates life.
His latest album, Journey, is no exception.
In this program, Archie and his band - Shane Howard, Dave Arden and Amos Roach - perform four new songs.
This program was first broadcast on November 3 2007
For copyright reasons this program is not available as downloadable audio
