Streit-Warburton Perfect Beat v1 n3 July 1993 ing interest in World Music. There was the cultural construction, of the white male pro­ 1988 Bicentennial event. And then there ducers who presently dominate all levels of are the Aboriginal the music industry. "'" Music Festivals: the 'Sing Loud, Play Strong' festival held annu­ ally in Darwin since I 989; and now the all­ night gig in Broome, 'Stompem Ground', With Open Eyes held for the first time in October 1992 and broadcast live to airnationally by the ABC. a. Performers SMASHING THE SILENCE Finally, the most recent festival dedicated entirely to indigenous artists was staged in It would be hard to forget Leah Purcell on A review of With Open Eyes - The First National Sydney in December 1992. Called 'With stage at Sydney's Marquee Club. She was Open Eyes', it was the first National Abo­ standing in the spotlight, waiting while the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Contemporary riginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's technical assistant searched for the right Women's Music Festival Music Festival. Notwithstanding Yothu place on her tape. On stage with her were Yindi's success, the question needs to be two young women,Janine Croft and Victo­ JILLI STREIT-WARBURTON I asked in 1993, The International Year of ria Kennedy. The three had met for the first the World's Indigenous People, what is the time during the five days of workshops J status of Aboriginal music and where are which preceded the concert. In a matter of the women? hours, they had crafted together a group Ask an Australian to name an Aboriginal tiona! society caused by colonial contact, which was to be broadcast nationwide on singer and there is a fair chance that the the expropriation of land, and the concomi­ Discussions of this kind involve analysis ABC TV and radio. They had just finished answer will be Yothu Yindi's Mandawuy tant decimation and miscegenation of the of the music industry and society in general. their first number, a funky dance song called Yunupingu. Ask again for the name of an population, threw open the locus of Abo­ Unsurprisingly, the sexism and racism Show Me Your P Ieasure, composed by Leah, Aboriginal woman singer and there is an riginal identity and musical definition. A which permeate Australian culture also when the trouble with the tape occurred. overwhelming chance that the answer will variety of experiences, from Christian permeate the industry. Diane Langman, in Leah knew instinctively that she could not be Deafening Silence. Deafening Silence evangelism to droving and inner city life her article inPerfectBeatv ln2,persuasively wait longer. With a glance at the other two, is not the name of a singer, it is the perva­ has influenced and changed the musical argues the 'case for feminist intervention' she plunged unaccompanied into a fast rock sive response to most questions about Abo­ forms. into all areas of the sector. She points out version of the Helen Reddy song I Am riginal women. It is an index of the extent that some of the major problems encoun­ Woman, providing the beat herself with to which the concerns of Aboriginal women In 1971, when ethnomusicologist Cath Ellis tered by women are intimidation and the body percussion. Few of the five hundred have been suppressed by the machinations first helped establish the Centre for Abo­ monopolisation of knowledge, which be­ or more people who packed the club that of the white supremacist hegemony which ,. riginal Studies in Music (CASM) in Ad­ comes translated into power. Aboriginal night could have doubted that Leah meant governs Australian society. elaide, the thought that just over twenty women, she says, are most notable in the it when she belted out: years later the award for Australian of the industry by their absence. As A WCM has Song, since antiquity and beyond, has been Year would go to an Aboriginal musician emphasised "not only has there never been Well I've heard it all before/ developed by Aboriginal nomadic groups, from Arnhemland must have seemed a ( a female Aboriginal artist signed to a major And f' ve been down on the floor/ both as a highly refined form of entertain­ dream. Certainly, CASM' s effort to cross­ ;.- label, but there is no record of any Austral­ Ain't nobody goin' to keep me down ment and a sophisticated means of cultural fertilise the musics of urban and tribal ian music company ever employing an Abo­ again ... reproduction. Not only is it unsurpassed in musicians was a catalyst in the dynamic ! riginal woman in any capacity on a con­ its portability, its endless flexibility makes trends which rocked Aboriginal musical tinuing basis" (cited in Langman p90). But perhaps the most moving moments of it an ideal conduit for the transmission of expression during the 1970s, 1980s and Possibly one of the most alarming conse­ her set were during her last song,Run, Daisy experience and knowledge. Songs are the early 1990s. There were other factors too. quences of the racist and sexist nature of Run. A narrative usually accompanied by matrices which traditionally represent the I didjeridu, The fizzling out of the 'colonial cultural the structural exclusion of Aboriginal it tells of the state abduction of spatial, social and spiritual territory of the cringe', for example, which cleared the ,, women from the industry is that decisions Leah's mother as a child. Leah was not the 'tribe'. They reconcile the natural and way for the birth of home grown independ­ regarding their inclusion particularly in only singer to deal with this theme- earlier cultural environments, and in this sense, ent record companies like Mushroom. The video clips, remain outside their control. in the evening Auriel Andrew sang Bob traditional Aboriginal music is located in 1979 visit of Bob Marley. The 1980 found­ f This means that the representation of black Randall's country style song Brownskin 'place' and defines that to which it gives ing of CAAMA in Alice Springs. The es­ women is constantly subject to the fanta­ Baby. This very sad lament, part of which meaning. The profound disruption oftradi- tablishment ofWOMAD and the burgeon- sies and fetishes, to the modelling and the says: Perfect Beat lmJ v1 n3 July 1993 I Perfect Beat liJ v.1 n3 July 1993 I" With Open Eyes Perfect Beat v1 n3 July 1993 deal with issues surrounding' Aboriginality' under all conditions. This included step­ and/or women (Koori Woman, Spirit of the by-step hands-on instruction about the kind Winter Tree and Happy Earth) -as well as of equipment musicians are likely to need themes such as deaths in custody- the Tiddas on stage, sound mixing desks, what all this reject the stereotypes and inferences which hardware does and how to make it do it so often accompany designations such as best. The bottom line was taking respon­ 'Feminist music' or 'Aboriginal songs'. sibility for the technical production of your "We're not running a campaign", they say, own sound. r "our songs come from the heart". L Vicki Gordon took the sessions on publicity, KIWI MYTHS AND LEGENDS b. Training promotion and artist management. She l looked at what managing involves, the managers Vicki Gordon contends that the artists who benefits and pitf~IJs, and what New Zealand. Rock 'n' Ro/11955-1988, Wellington: were showcased at the concert are just a and artists can/should do for each other. JohnDix (1988)StrandedinParadise: fraction of the talent which exists but is not She discussed protection for both parties Paradise Publications. 1' recognised - the tip of an iceberg. She under Jaw; she talked about ways of devel­ ,, Mik.eChunn(l992),StrangerthanFiction:TheLifeandTimesofSplitEnz,Wellington:GP described the five days of workshops which oping talent, about image marketing and Publications. preceded the concert as being an efforno how to initiate and negotiate contracts. develop the craft and business of music­ Video produce1· Rosemary Blight explored ·:f making. The program included seminars a range of aspects concerned with making videos. She illustrated that video clips, a on practical and facilitative aspects of the ;,((. TONY MITCHELL industry as well as training sessions in valuable part of the promotional toolkit, .; need not be publication remotely rivalling it (Roger voice and percussion. In the performance can be simple and effective and In New Zealand, 1992 was the best year on She suggested Watkins' survey of the 1960s Wellington development workshops participants shared prohibitively expensive. record for the local popular music industry, of 'Beat Boom', When Rock Got Rolling, pub­ skills as well as getting specialised instruc­ alternative avenues for the production '.( with 48 singles by Kiwi artists reaching the lished by Hazard Press in 1989, is the only tion from experienced performers such as affordably priced videos - clearly an impor­ charts, and a number of popular reissues of starting their other contender) it has become an encyclo­ Robyn Green, Lindy Morrison and The tant consideration for artists J albums by groups and artists from the 1960s that by default. Mills Sisters. careers. She mentioned, for example, and early 1980s, the two other boom peri­ pedia schools students at film and television ods in Kiwi musical history. Local self­ to While enough has happened in New Zea­ But perhaps the most important sessions around the country might be willing esteem was further consolidated by the as an assessment I. land music since 1988 to warrant another were the ones which addressed other areas make a music video reissue of what has become a Kiwi pop during her book, many of the seeds of the recent boom of the profession - areas which so often project, as she herself had done I bible, John Dix 's survey of three and a half in indigenous Kiwi music can be found in impinge on an artist's success and which training.