music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
which mixes
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
with the instrumentation and singing styles of
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. Two countries with prominent Aboriginal rock scenes are Australia and Canada.
Australia
In Australia, Aboriginal rock mixes rock styles and instruments (e.g. electric (
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
and
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
s) with
Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
instruments such as the
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...
and
clapsticks
Clapsticks, also spelt clap sticks and also known as bilma, bimli, clappers, musicstick or just stick, are a traditional Australian Aboriginal instrument. They serve to maintain rhythm in voice chants, often as part of an Aboriginal ceremony ...
. Aboriginal rock is mostly performed by Indigenous bands, although some bands include non-Aboriginal members.
Bands include
Yothu Yindi
Yothu Yindi (Yolŋu Matha, Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced ) are an Australian musical group with Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal and ''List of English words of Malay origin#B, balanda'' (non-Aboriginal) members, formed in 1986 as ...
,
Us Mob Us Mob were an early Aboriginal reggae rock band from South Australia. The band was formed with the help of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music in Adelaide.
Overview
Us Mob appeared in the film ''Wrong Side of the Road'' with fellow CASM b ...
Mandawuy Yunupingu
Mandawuy Djarrtjuntjun Yunupingu , formerly Tom Djambayang Bakamana Yunupingu; skin name Gudjuk; also known as Dr Yunupingu (17 September 1956 – 2 June 2013) was an Australian musician and educator.
An Aboriginal, in 1989 he became assista ...
has politicised lyrics, such as 1991's "Treaty." Other songs relate more generally to Aboriginal culture. Another major band is the
Warumpi Band
Warumpi Band () were an Australian country and Aboriginal rock group which formed in the outback settlement of Papunya, Northern Territory, in 1980. The original line-up was George Burarrwanga on vocals and didgeridoo, Gordon Butcher Tjapanang ...
, which toured with
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 ...
. The Warumpi Band focuses more on the Aboriginal aspects of the music, rather than the rock sound of Yothu Yindi. In the 2000s, Aboriginal bands such as
NoKTuRNL
Nokturnl is a band formed in 1996 in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. Sometimes called rap metal; their music is hard to categorise, but their lyrics are influenced by their experience as Indigenous Australians. Nokturnl won "Band o ...
have adopted a
rap metal
Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock and alternative metal music which combines hip hop with heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, rapped vocals and sometimes turntables.
History Origins and early ...
or
nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
sound. Formal training institutions include the Government sponsored
Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts
The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) is a national Australian institution for the culturally sensitive training of Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people in the performing arts. Founded in 1997, it has been loca ...
.
Famous songs include
Treaty
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations
An international organization or international o ...
,
My Island Home
"My Island Home" is a rock song written by Neil Murray and George Burarrwanga. It was originally performed by the Warumpi Band. The song references lead singer's ( George Burarrwanga) home up at Elcho Island off the coast of Arnhem Land in th ...
, and
Blackfella/Whitefella
"Blackfella/Whitefella" is an Australian rock song written by Neil Murray and George Rrurrambu, recorded by their Aboriginal rock group, Warumpi Band, and released as the second single from their 1985 album, ''Big Name, No Blankets'' on Parole ...
.
Canada
Indigenous peoples in Canada include
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
,
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
and
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
A Tribe Called Red
The Halluci Nation, formerly known as A Tribe Called Red, is a Canadian electronic music group who blend instrumental hip hop, reggae, moombahton and dubstep-influenced dance music with elements of First Nations music, particularly vocal chant ...
,
Edward Gamblin
Edward Gamblin (1948 – 2010) was a Canadians, Canadian country rock singer and songwriter, who was one of the most influential early stars of First Nations music.George Leach, Derek Miller, Breach of Trust,
Kashtin
Kashtin were a Canadian folk rock duo in the 1980s and 1990s, one of the most commercially successful and famous musical groups in First Nations history.
Career
The band was formed in 1984 by Claude McKenzie and Florent Vollant, two Innu musicia ...
Digging Roots
Digging Roots is a Canadian musical group consisting of husband and wife duo Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish, whose musical style blends folk-rock, pop, blues, and hip hop.while Raven was awarded the Cobalt Award at the 2016 Maple Blues Awards ...
and
Burnt Project 1
Burnt Project 1 is a Canadians, Canadian First Nations in Canada, First Nations band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. An eleven-member musical collective, the band incorporates elements of rock music, blues music, blues, jazz, funk and traditional First N ...
.
Ecuador
Several mestizo-bands in Ecuador made use of indigenous musical elements in rock music since the 1990s. Rocola Bacalao integrated Andean rhythms and made in their song-texts references to emblematic indigenous towns, such as Pujilí in Cotopaxi. Sal y Mileto and Casería de Lagartos coined the genre of new Ecuadorian Rock. Nevertheless, in the 1980s and the early 1990s the rhythm of the social as expressed in Ecuadorian rock was characterized by hopelessness and resistance or even resignation against repression. With the emergence of a powerful indigenous movement the rhythm changed. The most emblematic references towards the political impact of the indigenous movement are made by the metalband Aztra and the hardcore band CURARE at the beginning of the 2000s, during the heyday of indigenous social protest against neoliberalism and for (ethnic) democratization.Olaf Kaltmeier. 2019. 7. Rockin` for Pachamama: political struggle and the narration of history in Ecuadorian rock music.” In: Sonic Politics. Ed. Olaf Kaltmeier und Wilfried Raussert. New York: Routledge 2019, pp. 179-204.
List of Indigenous Australian musicians
This is a list of Indigenous Australian musicians.
Solo artists
* Trevor Adamson – country/gospel singer
* Danzal Baker (Baker Boy) – rapper, singer
*Auriel Andrew – country musician
*Christine Anu (Torres Strait Islander) – singer-s ...
References
Further reading
;Australia
*Dunbar-Hall, Peter (1997). Music and Meaning: The Aboriginal Rock Album, ''Australian Aboriginal Studies'', 1997/1, pp. 38–47
*