"First Nation" is a song by Australian rock band

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by ...

featuring

Jessica Mauboy Jessica Hilda Mauboy (born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and subseq ...

and

Tasman Keith Tasman Keith is an Australian rapper and singer-songwriter. Early life Tasman Keith is a Gumbaynggirr man from Bowraville, New South Wales. At age seven, Tasman and his family moved from Bowraville to Sydney for his father's music. His dad wa ...

. The song was released on 25 September 2020 as the second single from the band's twelfth studio album '' The Makarrata Project''; a themed mini-album of collaborations with

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

artists. At the

2021 ARIA Music Awards The 2021 ARIA Music Awards are the 35th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) and consist of a series of awards, including the 2021 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA H ...

, the

Robert Hambling Robert Hambling is an Australian film director/ editor, currently based in Sydney. Having left school Hambling worked at the editing house, Roger Cherrills in Soho London. After a couple of years and gaining his union card he moved into music ...

directed video was nominated for Best Video. At the

APRA Music Awards of 2022 The APRA Music Awards of 2022 are the 40th annual series, known as the APRA Awards. The awards are given in a series of categories in three divisions and in separate ceremonies throughout the year: the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards and Sc ...

, the song was nominated for Song of the Year.

Background and recording

said Midnight Oil contacted him and asking to contribute to the album, which Keith described as "a surreal moment". Keith said "the first song they had in mind for me, I wasn't sure about it, I couldn't see myself adding to it, so they played me a few other songs, when I heard 'First Nation', I knew it was the one." Keith felt connected to the song and wrote his own verse, putting his own touch on the tune, which made the final version. Keith said it was only once he was in the studio that someone told him that Jessica Mauboy was also contributing vocals to the song as well with Keith confessing "It was a while before I processed it all, I was too busy working to get star struck, but a few weeks later, it hit me, I have a song with Jess Mauboy and Midnight Oil."

told National Indigenous Times she was "pinching herself the entire time they were recording", and she felt "a deep connection to the track". Mauboy said "This is such a signature for Midnight Oil. This is their identity. The lyrics are so proper true, tears started rolling out my eyes when I heard it and I looked at Peter and he started crying. It was the first time falling in love with it … when I got an MP3 file I was playing it non-stop."

Live performances

The group performed the song on '' The Sound'' on 1 November 2020.

Critical reception

In an album review, Bernard Zuel from ''The Guardian'' described the song as having "tense-but-rhythmic groove" and believed it echoed their 1987 single " Put Down That Weapon". Also in an album review, Timothy Monger from ''AllMusic'' said "The powerful opener (First Nation) weaves its collaborators seamlessly into Midnight Oil's wiry guitar attack with pop singer Jessica Mauboy and rapper Tasman Keith adding some youthful fire into the mix."

References

{{authority control 2020 songs 2020 singles Sony Music Australia singles Midnight Oil songs Jessica Mauboy songs Tasman Keith songs Songs about Australia Songs against racism and xenophobia Songs written by Rob Hirst