James Ronald Chi (1948 – 26 June 2017) was an Australian composer, musician and playwright. His best known work is the 1990 musical ''

Bran Nue Dae __NOTOC__ ''Bran Nue Dae'' is a 1990 musical set in Broome, Western Australia, that tells stories and of issues relating to Indigenous Australians. It was written by Jimmy Chi and his band Kuckles and friends, and was the first Aboriginal Aust ...

'' which was adapted for film in 2009.

Early life

Chi was born in

Broome, Western Australia Broome, also known as Rubibi by the Yawuru people, is a coastal pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. In the the population was recorded as 14,660. It is the largest town in the Kimberley reg ...

in 1948 to a father of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

descent and a mother of Scottish, Bardi and Nyulnyul descent.

Career

From 1981 to 1982 Chi was the lead singer of the band

Kuckles Kuckles ( Broome kriol for '' cockles'') was an Australian band. They formed in 1981 by students from Broome, Western Australia studying at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music in Adelaide. Their music moved from acoustic calypso toward a ...

, before they disbanded. Chi's most acclaimed work is ''

'', written in collaboration with his band

Scrap Metal Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

, the Pigram brothers and friends. ''Bran Nue Dae'', is a partly autobiographical work which took Jimmy many years to write. It celebrates family, forgiveness and

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Sculpture * ''Reconciliation'' (Josefina de Vasconcellos sculpture), a sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos in Coventry Cathedra ...

and was a hit at the

Festival of Perth Perth Festival, named Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) between 2000 and 2017, and sometimes referred to as the Festival of Perth, is Australia's longest-running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia. The program features ...

in 1990 where it was performed by the Black Swan Theatre. It went on to tour Australia extensively and it was Australia's most successful musical play of the early 1990s. One of the famous verses from a song in the musical sums up Chi's dry humour and sharp political approach:

There's nothing I would rather be
Than to be an Aborigine
and watch you take my precious land away.
For nothing gives me greater joy
than to watch you fill each girl and boy
with superficial existential shit.

The musical won the prestigious

Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards were created in 1984 by the trustees of the Sidney Myer Fund to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Sidney Myer Sidney Myer (born Simcha Myer Baevski (); 8 February 18785 September 1934) was a Ru ...

in 1990. The following year the published script and score won the Special Award in the

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Wes ...

. It brought acclaim for many Aboriginal artists including Ernie Dingo, Josie Ningali Lawford and

Leah Purcell Leah Maree Purcell (born 14 August 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's ''Somewhere in the Darkness'', which led to role ...

. The musical's success was also instrumental in the formation of the

Black Swan Theatre Company Black Swan State Theatre Company (formerly The Black Swan Theatre Company) is Western Australia's state theatre company. It runs an annual subscription season in Perth at the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, tours its productions reg ...

. Chi also wrote the musical ''

Corrugation Road ''Corrugation Road'' is an Australian musical set in a mental hospital, about an Aboriginal schizophrenic patient. It was written by Jimmy Chi, his band Kuckles and friends, the creators of ''Bran Nue Dae''. It is based on Chi's own experien ...

'', which was first performed by the Black Swan Theatre at the

Fairfax Studio Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central ...

in Melbourne in 1996 before an Australian national tour. ''Corrugation Road'' concerns mental health, abuse, sexuality and religion, treated with humor and optimism. Both musicals played a significant role in the development and direction of Indigenous performance. Chi's songs have been covered by such artists as the Irish singer

Mary Black Mary Black (born 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both traditional folk and modern material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland. Background Mary Black was born into a m ...

, and Aboriginal singer

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalu ...

. Chi's music has come to represent the colour of Broome. Broome's Opera Under the Stars festival has featured Chi's "Child of Glory", from ''Bran Nue Dae'', at every festival since 1993. His hymns are regularly sung at Aboriginal funerals in Broome.

Discography

Soundtrack albums

Awards and honours

In 1991, Chi was awarded the

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but oper ...

Drama Award for ''Bran Nue Dae'', for the ''musical about a young Aborigine's journey to consciousness''.

Australia Council for the Arts

The

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

is the arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a

Red Ochre Award The Red Ochre Award is an annual art award for Indigenous Australian artists. Background and description The Red Ochre Award was established in 1993 by the Australia Council for the Arts. It is awarded annually to an outstanding Indigenous Au ...

. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement. , - ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, himself , Red Ochre Award , , -

Deadly Awards

The

Deadly Awards The Deadly Awards, commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. The event was held from 1995 to 2013. Description T ...

were an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. They ran from 1995 to 2013. (wins only) , - , rowspan="2", 1998 , ''Corrugation Road'' (with Kuckles and The Pigram Brothers) , Excellence in Film or Theatrical Score , , - In 2004 he was acknowledged by the WA Government as a State Living Treasure.

Later life and death

Chi spent most of his later life at home in Broome with his family and friends. He died in Broome Hospital on 26 June 2017.

Works

* ''Broome songwriters'' with Michael Manolis and Ron Harper (Hodja Educational Resources, 1985) *'' Bran Nue Dae'' (Currency Press, 1991) * ''Corrugation Road'' (sound recording – Angoorrabin Records, p1996)

References

''Aboriginality in Recent Australian Drama''
Katharine Brisbane. * * from ''Arts in Australia'' * from ''Cultural Dissent, Green Left Weekly'' issue No. 27
Jimmy Chi
AustLit Agent (Retrieved 27 February 2016)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chi, Jimmy 1948 births 2017 deaths Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian people of Chinese descent Australian people of Japanese descent Australian people of Scottish descent Indigenous Australian musicians Indigenous Australian writers Indigenous Australians from Western Australia People from Broome, Western Australia Musicians from Western Australia Australian musical theatre composers People with bipolar disorder