Have memory of pre colonial past in a context when

•
Have memory of pre-colonial past in a context when
political consciousness of plight of indigenous people,
have kept cultural traditions alive, not assimilated as
much
•
Fathers of performers protested against Australian
government--mining rights to aboriginal land
•
Sons and songs pick up the cause

Yothu Yindi
•
TREATY about the issues of land ownership and
appropriation--see song text
•
1992 landmark case Australian high court reversed a
previous doctrine that Australian land was not owned
when Europeans arrived. Several new laws passed:
Native Title in Common Law (1992) and Native Title
Act (1993)
•
Leader of YY has won “Australian of the Year” award,
high profile AA fighting for aboriginal rights

Text to Treaty

Audio Example
•
READ MAGOWAN HERE to FILL IN
•
Examine the CD as a whole
•
The structure of the tracks--trad. Pop. Trad
•
Alternation of aboriginal language and English
•
Song texts about politics and natural world
•
Variable use of dijeridoo
•
Relationship between voice, dij and sticks
•
Sometimes two dij playing

YY Liner Notes: AA and European
Australians together
Dijeridoo and body painting

The full program with AA fully
technologized

Treaty 1 and 2
Debates
Beyond the Aboriginal Community, a debate about the
value of the two versions of Treaty
Three large themes emerge in this debate
•
Political vs. Commercial interests
•
Political vs. Artistic interests
•
Political vs. [apolitical] popular culture interests
Examine the two versions of TREATY closely

Treaty Debated
•
TREATY 1 (released 1991)
•
Song addresses unfulfilled promises between
Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Northern
Lands Council Chairman Galarrwuy
Yunupingu (process begun in 1960s)
•
What kinds of musical, textual, and visual
images dominate this version of Treaty?

Treaty Debated
•
Treaty 2 is the controversial version because
it seems to back out of the political message
completely
•
Dance remix also released in 1991
•
Begins with female voice “clap your hands
and dance” and a 1960s organ riff, hardly the
sound of a political rally!
•
The aboriginal lyrics are retained, but global
audiences don’t understand so why?

Treaty Debated
•
So too with yidaki and bilma (woodblocks)
•
Added synthesizer, drum machine, and sound
samples
•
Tourism, escapism vs. political conscientizing?
•
Do Aboriginal Australians have the right to capitalize
on their political struggle? Not a question unique to
this example.

Treaty Debated
•
Filmmaker: first time he heard the example, he
thought color, movement, dance, chaos, kids,
--nothing political needed to be portrayed
•
Multiple images, multiple message, many
interpreations of same images.
•
For whom is there a “problem” with authenticity, who
is most invested in the authentic here? Whose
authenticity?
•
Can the sacred be commodified--underlying theme?