Australia is my country. I was born here; it made me; I make it. We all do.
Our potential is being undermined. Our government and their puppet masters, the commercial vested mining interests, would have us divided. To put it most bluntly, here we live in an effective apartheid society with increasingly cruel policies against refugee arrivals. Both inwardly and outwardly, this country is controlled by bigotry.
But music, art, culture and poetry are the threads that connect us, and connection is our weapon to fight for the country we know can, should be. To commune with our art, is the way.
I make a monthly podcast for Radio Groovalizacion, multilingual spoken word and music from across the globe. This month, I turn the focus back into my birthplace. It’s an exciting time for music, poetry and hip hop in Australia. Despite the one-eyedness of the neo-con government, despite their seeming purpose in destroying cross-cultural unity and connection, cross-cultural unity and connection is happening.
So, this dance poetic is given over to passionate voices from only some of the many cultures, languages, religions, rhythms, that make up the continent and the neighbouring islands of the oceans of Australia.
This is a rich tapestry of a place. Enjoy some of the threads.
You can stream or download the podcast from Groovalizacion web radio (click on the image) >
Or listen via Mixcloud:
La Danza Poetica 021 My Island Home by La Danza Poetica on Mixcloud
Over at my blog lapkat.com I write about all of the artists in this podcast. For my friends here at TGBE I’d like to just write about the song that is the spirit of the podcast.
My Island Home was written by Neil Murray of the Warumpi Band. It’s about Elcho Island, off the coast of Arnhem Land, the northern tip of Australia.
The Warumpi Band originated in the Aboriginal settlement of Papunya in the central desert region of the Northern Territory in the early ’80s. The band’s name derives from the honey-ant dreaming site located near the settlement of Papunya which is 260ks west of Alice Springs. Original founding members were Sammy and Gordon Butcher, Neil Murray, and George Rrurrambu. Warumpi Band is a seminal band in the history of Australian rock music. They released the first rock song in an Aboriginal language Jailanguru Pakarnu (Out From Jail) in 1983. (There is a great ABC documentary about George Rrurrambu if you want to find out more about this Australian rock legend, the front man of the Warumpi Band: Big Name No Blanket.)
Here is the original clip for My Island Home:
Recorded many times since, notably by Christine Anu in ’95, My Island Home has recently been resampled by Torres Strait Island rapper Mau Power. In his soulful hip hop remake Mau Power uses the first verse to pay homage to the Torres Strait Islands while the second verse is an ode to Australia, the great Island Home. The video, shot on location in The Torres Strait Islands:
Mau Power is one of a number of powerful voices emerging from this part of the world, speaking direct from their roots, whether they be Indigenous, immigrant, both. Other poet/artists featured in this podcast, like Radical Son, L-Fresh the Lion, Luka Lesson, Alia Gabres, Candy Royalle, Larry T Hill … and many more … voice the reality of Australia’s ‘melting pot’ of culture, perspective, language – and the essential absurdity of the prevailing English culture’s ingrained racism within the context of a mere 250+ years of “occupation”.
I felt really energised by making this edition of LDP. I have felt disconnected from my country for some time, angry and disturbed by the politics and frustrated by the apathy of the people, and just wanting to leave it behind. But lately I’ve felt more hopeful and more positive, and it’s been through engaging with the music and poetry that is happening here, the empowering and beautiful connections being made between the many cultures, languages and spirits inhabiting this place, the many amazing artists working hard to make a change. So I hope that this mix of music and poetry inspires a little of that sense of positivity and possibility in whoever listens to it, too. I’m feeling like my journeying in my birthplace is only just beginning, again.
…And the learning continues.
The last track of the dance, that I’d like to mention here, is the gorgeous Gathu Mawula. From a few years ago, but still high rotation on my personal playlist.
Two deep souls of Australia, Gurrumul Yunupingu and Natalie Pa’apa’a of Blue King Brown came together in a very natural and very spirited collaboration to record this. The song originally appeared on Gurrumul’s eponymous debut album where he sung it completely in the Yolgnu language. “It’s a song about family, about the land and about our essential connection to it.” :
Taking us full circle – Gurrumul is also from Elcho Island.
Please read more about the artists in this podcast at http://lapkat.com/2014/06/04/la-danza-poetica-021-my-island-home/ and listen at the links
pace e bene, from LAPKAT!