The tradition of Aboriginal country music goes further back, much like Aboriginal culture itself, than most would know. From as early as the 1920s and ’30s in Australia, the First Nations people were immediately drawn to the genre’s themes of rebellion, dispossession, melancholy and, of course, connection to the land.
The aural tradition of storytelling that has allowed Aboriginal culture to be the oldest and most continuous in the world finds a natural home in the narrative structures of country and folk music.
A proud Barkindji woman and powerful First Nations voice in Australia’s music industry, Adelaide-based Nancy Bates aims to champion Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians in Blak Country – a showcase she has curated as part of this year’s Adelaide Guitar Festival. Featuring a bevy of talent that spans multiple generations, the concert will see each performer offer a set of songs and unique perspectives backed by an all-star band of South Australian musicians.
For Jess Hitchcock, a genre-defying powerhouse singer-songwriter with roots in the Torres Strait Islands and Papua New Guinea, music has always been a way to connect and learn.
“From a young age my mum knew that music education was so important, just like learning to read,” she tells InReview. “So I learned to love music through learning it first.
“My parents also had really different tastes in music, so we had a lot of different sounds bouncing around our house, from Hair the musical to AC/DC to African and Papua bands, to country music that my mum was always blasting through the house.”
The potent power of the narrative form of country music when fused with the appropriate sonic tapestry is not lost on Hitchcock, who will be performing her own original songs in the Blak Country concert.
“I love the raw storytelling of Blak country. There’s no beating around the bush, so to speak. It’s just what you hear is what you get and there’s something so authentic about that.
“It makes it feel like it’s music for everyone and each of those songs is a relatable experience.”
Glenn Skuthorpe says country music is all he listened to growing up. Photo: supplied
Glenn Skuthorpe – a prolific musician of the Nhunggabarra, Kooma and Muruwari nations, who will also perform all original music during Blak Country – ruminates on why his connection to country music and Aboriginal culture are intrinsically tied:
“For me, country music has always been about truth-telling and connection to Country, something that we’ve been doing for millennia – sitting around the fire, singing songs and telling truths.
Get InReview in your inbox – free each Saturday. Local arts and culture – covered.
Thanks for signing up to the InReview newsletter.
“It’s all I ever listened to growing up; it’s all we had. Hank Williams and Slim Dusty and all those types. Growing up on a reserve, it was country music we identified with so strongly because we lived it.”
It is not only the raw truth country music can present that makes it so accessible, but also the simplicity of the form.
Skuthorpe pensively and proudly recalls who set him on the path of not just being a listener but a creator, too.
“My uncle sang 150 songs but only knew three chords, and he said that’s all you need to know for country. So he taught me that and it was then I started listening to Hank Williams a lot and learned how to play guitar jamming along with Hank.”
Along with Bates, Hitchcock and Skuthorpe, the impressive line-up for Blak Country includes Yawuri Penny Bonney, a Meintangk, Moandik & Narrungga elder whose vocal flare has been described as “soulful and guttural”, and Nganayi Lakinyeri (My family in Ngarrindjeri), a family band of Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna heritage. Rounding out the program is Scott Rathman Jnr, of eastern Arrernte heritage, who took the Tamworth Country Music Festival by storm last year, coming third in the annual busking competition.
There is an increasing awareness of the many artistic forms that allow Aboriginal culture to be shared, preserved and championed. Blak Country as an event is a tangible example of the hypothetical pendulum of culture swinging back towards freedom of expression as opposed to systematic oppression. This performance is set to be an unmissable event for anyone interested in Aboriginal culture, country music and storytelling as a form of palpable connection.
Blak Country will be performed on the September 13 at the Dunstan Playhouse as part of the 2024 Adelaide Guitar Festival, which runs from September 12-29.
Support local arts journalism
Your support will help us continue the important work of InReview in publishing free professional journalism that celebrates, interrogates and amplifies arts and culture in South Australia.
Donate Here
