Cultural Information and History
Australia is the sixth-largest country in the world, and the only country to occupy an entire continent. Approximately a third of its land area is desert and another third is poor-quality land, causing much of the population to be concentrated along the temperate south coast. The remote, undeveloped interior of the country is known as the Outback.
The indigenous inhabitants of Australia, known as Aborigines, were largely nomadic until the arrival of British colonizers in the eighteenth century. Under British rule, the Aborigines had few rights. Many were driven from their native territories by British settlers, and many more had much of their cultural identity erased through English-language schooling, Christian missionary work, and other attempts to spread European culture. Beginning in the 1960s, the Australian government ended many of its discriminatory policies against Aborigines. In 1962, they were granted the right to vote, and in 1970 the policy of removing Aboriginal children from their parents in order to assimilate them was ended. In 1992, the Australian High Court acknowledged that Aborigines had inhabited Australia prior to the arrival of British colonizers, allowing for legislation permitting Aborigines to press land claims. Aboriginal culture is increasingly seen as an asset to Australia’s national heritage, in contrast to previous attempts to suppress it. Nevertheless, Aborigines have double the infant mortality of the overall population and their life expectancy is twenty years lower. This may be due in part to the limited availability of Western medical care in more remote areas, since many tribes have gradually lost their knowledge of traditional medicine under the influence of European efforts to assimilate them. They also face discrimination in the job market and are often hard-pressed to find gainful employment.
Aboriginal folklore is a significant aspect of their culture, forming the basis of their religion and much of their artwork. This folklore is based on the concept of a Dreamtime, during which the world was created by the Aborigines' ancestors, and is regarded as absolute truth. Totems, symbols from the natural world, are used to represent the personalities of clans and individuals as well as the relationships between them. Ghosts of the dead and other spirits have a significant role in Aboriginal religious life, and are the subjects of many rituals to placate them and keep the natural world in order. Many Aborigines have converted to Christianity, some by choice and others under the influence of mission work conducted by Europeans.
Relationships in Aboriginal culture are defined by family roles. Aborigines are expected to avoid certain relatives or only communicate with them in a designated language. Furthermore, they have obligations to their relatives which they are expected to fulfill (the sharing of food, for example) without expecting gratitude in response. Marriages are often arranged, and the females are typically much younger than the males, although customs vary from tribe to tribe.
Aborigines are a rarity among indigenous peoples in that they traditionally wore no clothing, although modern Aborigines generally dress like other Australians. Due to their nomadic hunter-gatherer roots, their cuisine is relatively basic and requires little preparation. They are largely unattached to material possessions, with the exceptions of a few musical instruments (see the section devoted to these) and traditional crafts such as boomerangs, which are popular among tourists.
Evolution of Musical Instruments
Australia's Aborigines, traditionally hunter-gatherers, developed instruments such as didgeridoos, gum-leaves, and bull-roarers for use with traditional dances. Due to the isolation of Aborigines from the rest of the world until the eighteenth century, these instruments developed completely independently of those of other cultures and are therefore highly unique.
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo (also spelled dijeridu or dijeridoo and known as a yidaki or yiraki in the indigenous language of the region where it originated) is the best-known of the Aboriginal instruments, having gained widespread popularity in contemporary world music. It originated in Arnhem Land on Australia's northern coast, and consists of a wooden tube flared at one end. It is unique in that it is hollowed out by termites and then cleaned with a stick rather than carved, and is typically around 1.5 meters in length. The rim of the mouthpiece is coated with beeswax to smooth it, and the outside is scraped and then painted with traditional designs. The didgeridoo's primary sound is a low-pitched drone, but different breathing techniques can be used to produce a variety of pitches, sometimes simultaneously. Didgeridoo players can produce a continuous sound using "circular breathing," in which they simultaneously take in air through the nose while blowing into the instrument. Traditional applications of the didgeridoo include accompaniment for songs and illustration of folk tales, often accompanied by clap-sticks (two carved sticks or boomerangs struck against each other near their midpoints to produce a high-frequency, percussive sound) for emphasis.
Bull-roarer
Bull-roarers, while not unique to Australia (similar instruments evolved separately in a wide variety of cultures), are an integral part of many Aboriginal religious ceremonies. Consisting of a wooden slat whirled in a circle at the end of a cord, the aerodynamic effect of the air rushing around the wood creating a pulsating, unearthly sound. In traditional Aboriginal culture, bull-roarers are used to cleanse the area where a ritual is to be performed and to warn the uninitiated to keep away from the area. Interestingly, the name "bull-roarer" is a misnomer, as there are no bull-like animals native to Australia. The name used by Aborigines is considered sacred and cannot be shared with outsiders.
Gum-leaf
The gum-leaf, as implied by the name, is more primitive than many other Aboriginal instruments in that it consists only of a eucalyptus leaf and requires no adaptation to create a musical instrument. The leaf is stretched tightly between the player's hands and pressed against the lower lip so that it bends slightly inward, with the top edge touching the upper lip. When the player blows on the leaf, the stream of air travels over the upper edge of the leaf, causing it to vibrate. An experienced player can play a relatively wide range of notes, spanning more than an octave. An alternative method of playing the gum-leaf involves placing it horizontally between the player's lips, creating a rough and somewhat chaotic sound which is used primarily for imitating animal sounds and other special effects.
Images
Dijeridoo from northeastern Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land Clapsticks. These would often be used to accompany a dijeridoo.
A bull-roarer with traditional decorations.
A bull-roarer from Groote Eylandt decorated with a human face.
A diagram demonstrating gum-leaf playing techniques
Song Analysis
Rivers by Tribal Trance
Musical
- Female voice, flute, didgeridoo, synthesizer pad, 2 conga-like drums
- duple meter
- Didgeridoo, synthesizer, and drums provide a consistent background and tonal center throughout the song
- melodic lines sound major and resolve to the tonal center
- Tempo is moderate
- Lyrics are in English
Structural
Starts with river/stream sound and birds singing
0:11 faint drum beat fades in (congas)
0:16 didgeridoo drone
0:23 high pitched flute sound
0:36 synthesizer pad comes in
A
0:43 short melodic phrase on the flute
0:52 didgeridoo rhythmic sound effect answers the flute statement
0:56 short melodic phrase on the flute again, ends on a higher note
1:07 final flute statement of this phrase
B
1:20 Voice comes in with melody and lyrics
1:36 high pitched flute sound (as in the beginning), voice continues
1:58 voice stops, only the drum groove, didgeridoo, and synthesizer pad remain
C
2:06 flute comes in with a new melody; same style, but different notes
D
2:25 high pitched vocal trill effect
2:30 high pitched flute line imitates the vocal effect
A
2:48 flute melodic line
B
3:15 voice melody again
3:32 high pitched flute sound (as in the beginning), voice continues
3:57 voce stops, only drum groove, didgeridoo, and synthesizer pad remain
4:03 synthesizer pad comes in
4:08 flute melodic phrase
fades out
Contextual
- modern Australian group
- traditional Australian influences (didgeridoo, drum beat, etc)
- modern western influences (synthesizer pad)
Musician Biography
Stephen Kent
| In the Global music scene Stephen Kent is among the most established musicians playing the Didjeridu in a contemporary context. Born English he was raised in E. Africa and Devon, England and in 1981, after several years of work in London with the band Furious Pig, moved to Australia to become Musical Director of Australias Circus Oz. Concern for the plight of Australias Aboriginal peoples was a prime cause in the group's work and this led him to spend time among Aborigines in the center of Australia. This resulted in his learning to play the Didjeridu in 1982. |
| Returning to Europe in 1983 and basing himself in London and Barcelona, he began a series of music and Contemporary Dance collaborations that increasingly focused on the Didjeridu. On the other hand, he continued to develop his performance skills in the Circus Arts andtoured the world for 3 years with Ra Ra Zoo, jumping in and out of a locked suitcase. |
Solo
| As a Solo Artist, Kent has produced 3 albums --'Songs From the Burnt Earth', 'Landing' and most recently, 'Family Tree'-- a double CD that includes both a retrospective look at over 10 years of recordings with the Didjeridu emphasizing previously unreleased music, remixes and also a 2nd CD of solo Didjeridu journeys into deep space. 'Landing' occupied the top ten of CMJ's world music charts for over 4 months; it features a wide range of didge settings including collaborations with percussion, p'iri and vocals as well as 4 solo pieces. |
| In concert he has played all over the world and shared the bill with many renowned performers including, Youssou Ndour, Baaba Maal, Yma Sumac, Zap Mama, Boukman Eksperyans, Fatala, Diamanda Galas and John Paul Jones, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, King Sunny Ade, Yothu Yindi, Toni Childs, Yungchen Lhamo, Badi Assad, Steve Shehan, David Hudson and Janawirri Yiparrka among others. |
| Apart from his own musical projects Stephen is also involved with the promotion of World Music on radio, programming a weekly show on KPFA 94.1 FM in Northern California. |
Group Projects
| The group Lights in a Fat City evolved in the mid-Eighties London, playing initially on a magic carpet in Camden Lock market, and in 1987/88 produced the landmark recording, 'Somewhere', - the first international release to feature the 'Didge' as a focal part of cutting edge contemporary music. Between '88 and '91 LIAFC performed in numerous music Festivals in Europe and N. America including Womad, Leipzig and Zurich Jazz Festivals '89, Winnipeg Folk Festival '89, '90, '91, New Music America '90, New York International Festival of the Arts '91. |
| After touring in N. America in 1991 he shifted base to the San Francisco Bay Area where he co-formed the groups Trance Mission with Beth Custer, Kenneth Newby and John Loose and Beasts of Paradise with Eda Maxym, Barbara Imhoff, Nancy Kaspar and Geoffrey Gordon and continued to build a solo performing and recording career. |
| His involvement with the Bay Area record company, City of Tribes, has produced a series of CD releases to date, the most current being Trance Mission's Fourth CD 'A Day Out of Time' recorded live on July 25th, 1998 in Berkeley, California. It was released in April '99. |
| Both Trance Mission and Beasts of Paradise have performed widely in the States, to critical acclaim, and Trance Mission have had several successful European Tours in the last 2 years, as has Stephen Kent with vocalist and partner Eda Maxym. |
Taken from Stephen Kent's website: [http://www.stephenkent.net/skBio.html]
Sources
"Aboriginal Artefacts." Aboriginal Arts. 4 Dec 2006 [http://www.aboriginalarts.co.uk]
"Australia." CultureGrams 2007: World Edition. Provo: ProQuest Information and Learning, 2006.
"Australian Aborigines." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Eds. Timothy L. Gall and Susan Bevan Gall. Detroit: U*X*L, 1999.
Fletcher, Neville H. "Australian Aboriginal Musical Instruments." Didjshop.com. 4 Dec 2006.
<http://www.didjshop.com/austrAboriginalMusicInstruments.htm>
Tribal Trance. "Rivers." __Minjahra__. Orchard, 1999.
"Stephen Kent: Bio." __Stephen Kent__. 6 Dec 2006. <http://www.stephenkent.net/skBio.html>
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