‘Sing loud, break through the silence’
musical responses to the national apology to the Stolen Generations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v13i1.69Keywords:
Indigenous contemporary performance, music and reconciliation, race relations in AustraliaAbstract
On 13 February 2008 the Australian Parliament formally apologized to the members of the Stolen Generations. This was a historic moment for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Jackie Huggins believes that the Apology ‘generated a sense of hope, healing, forgiveness and unity’ and was the ‘first important steps towards a new national approach to reconciliation’. Music has the potential to capture this hope for reconciliation and a number of Indigenous and non-Indigenous musicians have responded to the Apology through song. This article explores how contemporary music-making intersects with discourses of reconciliation surrounding the Apology and considers the ways music underscores the hope for healing and justice for Indigenous Australians, recognition of colonial history, and relationships and collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Drawing on Indigenous and non-Indigenous responses and using examples of songs written since the Apology and interviews with the performers, I explore the ways in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian songwriters have musically expressed their responses to this powerful moment and their attempts to generate awareness and break the silence about the history of the Stolen Generations through the medium of contemporary song.
References
Altman, J., and M. Hinkson, eds. 2007. Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilise, Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia. North Carlton: Arena Publications.
Atkinson, J. 2002. Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines; The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia. Melbourne: Spinifex Press.
Barney, K. 2008. ‘“We’re Women We Fight for Freedom”: Intersections of Race and Gender in Contemporary Songs by Indigenous Australian Women Performers’. Women’s Studies Journal 22/1: 3–15.
Barney, K., and E. Mackinlay. 2010. ‘Singing Trauma Trails: Songs of the Stolen Generations in Indigenous Australia’. Music and Politics 4(2). http://www.music.ucsb.edu/projects/musicandpolitics/archive/2010-2/barney-mackinlay.pdf. http://dx.doi.org/z10.1080/13562511003619995
Behrendt, L. 2009. ‘The Apology One Year On’. Speech presented on 13 February. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00898.x
Blacking, J. 1973. How Musical is Man? London: University of Washington Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2800784
Bradley, J., and E. Mackinlay. 2007. ‘Singing the Land, Singing the Family: Song, Place and Spirituality amongst the Yanyuwa’. In The Soundscapes of Australia: Music, Place and Spirituality, ed. Fiona Richards, 75–92. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Condon, M. 2009. ‘After the Apology: It’s Been a Year Since the Prime Minister Said Sorry to the Stolen Generations. What’s Changed?’ Q Weekender, 7-8 February. http://www.gilimbaa.com.au/media/QWeekend_Gilimbaa.pdf
Corn, A. 2009. Reflections and Voices: Exploring the Music of Yothu Yindi with Mandawuy Yunupingu.Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Derrida, J. 2004. ‘On Forgiveness’. In Derrida, On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness, 50. London: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/para.2004.27.2.7
Dunbar-Hall, P., and C. Gibson. 2000. ‘Singing about Nations within Nations: Geopolitics and Identity in Australian Indigenous Rock Music’. Popular Music and Society 24/2: 45–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03007760008591767
—2004. Deadly Sounds, Deadly Places: Contemporary Aboriginal Music in Australia. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
Gibson, C. 1998. ‘“We Sing our Home, We Dance our Land”: Indigenous Self Determination and Contemporary Geopolitics in Australian Popular Music’. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 16: 163–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/d160163
Gratton, M., ed. Essays on Australian Reconciliation. Melbourne: Black Inc.
Gunstone, A. 2008. ‘The Australian Reconciliation Process: An Analysis’. In Pathways to Reconciliation: Between Theory and Practice, ed. Philipa Rothfield, Cleo Fleming and Paul A. Komesaroff, 169–78. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Healing Foundation. 2009. ‘About the Healing Foundation’. http://healingfoundation.org.au/?page_id=2 (accessed 25 July 2010).
Henderson, D. 1996. ‘Emotion, Devotion, Lingering and Longing in Some Nepali Songs’. Ethnomusicology 40/3: 440–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/852471
Higson, R. 2008. ‘Rudd, Keating Grow Big in Hip-hop’. The Australian, 21 April.
HREOC (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission). 1997. Bringing Them Home: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families. Sydney: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
Huggins, J. 1998. Sister Girl: The Writings of Aboriginal Activist and Historian Jackie Huggins. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
—2008a. ‘The Human Face of Indigenous Australia’. In Pathways to Reconciliation: Between Theory and Practice, ed. Philipa Rothfield, Cleo Fleming and Paul A. Komesaroff, xiii. Aldershot: Ashgate.
—2008b. ‘Editorial’. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 38S: iv.
Kimberley Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation. 2010. Remember Me. Compact disc.
Komesaroff, P. A. 2008. ‘Introduction; Pathways to Reconciliation: Bringing Diverse Voices into Conversation’. In Pathways to Reconciliation: Between Theory and Practice, ed. P. Rothfield, C. Fleming and P. A. Komesaroff, 1–12. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Langton, M. 2008. ‘Indigenous Affairs’. In Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a Better Australia, ed. Robert Mann, 222–23. Melbourne: Black Inc.
Lawrence, F. 2008. ‘Music and Empathy’. In Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics, ed. Olivier Urbain, 15–25. London: I.B. Tauris.
Lederach, J. P. 1999. Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies. Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press.
Mackinlay, E. 2008. ‘Crossing and Negotiating Borders of Identity, Knowledge and Tradition: Coming to an Understanding of Aboriginal Women’s Performance in Educational Locales as a White Woman’. Journal of Australian Studies 32(2): 179-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14443050802056714
Maddison, S. 2011. Beyond White Guilt: The Real Challenge for Black–White Relations in Australia. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Magowan, F. 2001. ‘Crying to Remember: Reproducing Personhood and Community’. In Telling Stories: Indigenous History and Memory in Australia and New Zealand, ed. Fiona Magowan and Bain Attwood, 41–60. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
—2005. ‘Drums of Suffering in Belfast’s European Capital of Culture Bid: John Blacking on Music, Conflict and Healing’. In The Legacy of John Blacking: Essays on Music, Culture and Society, ed. Victoria Rogers and David Symons, 56–78. Crawley: UWA Press.
McDonald, W. ‘Tricky Business: Whites on Black Territory’. Australian Author 29/1: 13–14.
Mitchell, T. 2007. ‘The Reography of Reason: Australian Hip Hop as Experimental History and Pedagogy’. Altitude 8. http://thealtitudejournal.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/5_mitchell_final_completeep.pdf (accessed 28 November 2009).
Moran, A. 1998. ‘Aboriginal Reconciliation: Transformations in Settler Nationalism’. Melbourne Journal of Politics Special Reconciliation 25: 101–32.
Nomad Two Worlds. Nomad Two Worlds biography. http://nomad.dipdive.com/biography/ (accessed 25 November 2009).
Phillips, G., and M. O’Brien. 2009. Voices from the Campfire: Establishing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Reconciliation Australia. 2009. Who is Reconciliation Australia? http://www.reconciliation.org.au/ (accessed 25 November 2009).
Reed, L. 2002. ‘Awakening: The Politics of Indigenous Control and Authenticity at Sydney 2000’. Australasian Music Research 7: 95–101.
Reynolds, H. 2000. ‘A Crossroad of Conscience’. In Essays on Australian Reconciliation, ed. Michelle Gratton, 53–59. Melbourne: Black Inc.
Rothfield, P. 2008. ‘Evaluating Reconciliation’. In Pathways to Reconciliation: Between Theory and Practice, ed. Philipa Rothfield, Cleo Fleming and Paul A. Komesaroff, 15–28. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Rudd, K. 2008. Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples. Canberra, ACT: House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia.
Ryan, R. 2002. ‘Awakening “the Fire Within”: Symbols, Rituals and Reconciliation’. Australasian Music Research 7: 85–94.
Short, D. 2008. Reconciliation and Colonial Power: Indigenous Rights in Australia. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Small, C. 1998. Musiking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press.
Smith, G. 2005. Singing Australian: A History of Folk and Country Music. Melbourne: Pluto Press.
Tatz, C. 1998. ‘Genocide in Australia’. AIATSIS Research Discussion Paper 8: 2. http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research/docs/dp/dp08.pdf
Tavuchis, N. 1991. Mea Culpa: A Sociology of Apology and Reconciliation. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Tobin, M. 2007. ‘School Bans “Sorry Song”’. The World Today, 11 July. http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s1975739.htm (accessed 25 November 2009).
Urbain, O., ed. 2008. Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics. London: I.B. Tauris.
Wright, T. 2008. ‘Outburst of Emotion Echoes Across the Land’. The Age, 14 February. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/australias-new-beginning/2008/02/13/1202760398783.html
Atkinson, J. 2002. Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines; The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia. Melbourne: Spinifex Press.
Barney, K. 2008. ‘“We’re Women We Fight for Freedom”: Intersections of Race and Gender in Contemporary Songs by Indigenous Australian Women Performers’. Women’s Studies Journal 22/1: 3–15.
Barney, K., and E. Mackinlay. 2010. ‘Singing Trauma Trails: Songs of the Stolen Generations in Indigenous Australia’. Music and Politics 4(2). http://www.music.ucsb.edu/projects/musicandpolitics/archive/2010-2/barney-mackinlay.pdf. http://dx.doi.org/z10.1080/13562511003619995
Behrendt, L. 2009. ‘The Apology One Year On’. Speech presented on 13 February. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00898.x
Blacking, J. 1973. How Musical is Man? London: University of Washington Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2800784
Bradley, J., and E. Mackinlay. 2007. ‘Singing the Land, Singing the Family: Song, Place and Spirituality amongst the Yanyuwa’. In The Soundscapes of Australia: Music, Place and Spirituality, ed. Fiona Richards, 75–92. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Condon, M. 2009. ‘After the Apology: It’s Been a Year Since the Prime Minister Said Sorry to the Stolen Generations. What’s Changed?’ Q Weekender, 7-8 February. http://www.gilimbaa.com.au/media/QWeekend_Gilimbaa.pdf
Corn, A. 2009. Reflections and Voices: Exploring the Music of Yothu Yindi with Mandawuy Yunupingu.Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Derrida, J. 2004. ‘On Forgiveness’. In Derrida, On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness, 50. London: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/para.2004.27.2.7
Dunbar-Hall, P., and C. Gibson. 2000. ‘Singing about Nations within Nations: Geopolitics and Identity in Australian Indigenous Rock Music’. Popular Music and Society 24/2: 45–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03007760008591767
—2004. Deadly Sounds, Deadly Places: Contemporary Aboriginal Music in Australia. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
Gibson, C. 1998. ‘“We Sing our Home, We Dance our Land”: Indigenous Self Determination and Contemporary Geopolitics in Australian Popular Music’. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 16: 163–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/d160163
Gratton, M., ed. Essays on Australian Reconciliation. Melbourne: Black Inc.
Gunstone, A. 2008. ‘The Australian Reconciliation Process: An Analysis’. In Pathways to Reconciliation: Between Theory and Practice, ed. Philipa Rothfield, Cleo Fleming and Paul A. Komesaroff, 169–78. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Healing Foundation. 2009. ‘About the Healing Foundation’. http://healingfoundation.org.au/?page_id=2 (accessed 25 July 2010).
Henderson, D. 1996. ‘Emotion, Devotion, Lingering and Longing in Some Nepali Songs’. Ethnomusicology 40/3: 440–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/852471
Higson, R. 2008. ‘Rudd, Keating Grow Big in Hip-hop’. The Australian, 21 April.
HREOC (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission). 1997. Bringing Them Home: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families. Sydney: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
Huggins, J. 1998. Sister Girl: The Writings of Aboriginal Activist and Historian Jackie Huggins. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
—2008a. ‘The Human Face of Indigenous Australia’. In Pathways to Reconciliation: Between Theory and Practice, ed. Philipa Rothfield, Cleo Fleming and Paul A. Komesaroff, xiii. Aldershot: Ashgate.
—2008b. ‘Editorial’. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 38S: iv.
Kimberley Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation. 2010. Remember Me. Compact disc.
Komesaroff, P. A. 2008. ‘Introduction; Pathways to Reconciliation: Bringing Diverse Voices into Conversation’. In Pathways to Reconciliation: Between Theory and Practice, ed. P. Rothfield, C. Fleming and P. A. Komesaroff, 1–12. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Langton, M. 2008. ‘Indigenous Affairs’. In Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a Better Australia, ed. Robert Mann, 222–23. Melbourne: Black Inc.
Lawrence, F. 2008. ‘Music and Empathy’. In Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics, ed. Olivier Urbain, 15–25. London: I.B. Tauris.
Lederach, J. P. 1999. Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies. Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press.
Mackinlay, E. 2008. ‘Crossing and Negotiating Borders of Identity, Knowledge and Tradition: Coming to an Understanding of Aboriginal Women’s Performance in Educational Locales as a White Woman’. Journal of Australian Studies 32(2): 179-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14443050802056714
Maddison, S. 2011. Beyond White Guilt: The Real Challenge for Black–White Relations in Australia. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Magowan, F. 2001. ‘Crying to Remember: Reproducing Personhood and Community’. In Telling Stories: Indigenous History and Memory in Australia and New Zealand, ed. Fiona Magowan and Bain Attwood, 41–60. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
—2005. ‘Drums of Suffering in Belfast’s European Capital of Culture Bid: John Blacking on Music, Conflict and Healing’. In The Legacy of John Blacking: Essays on Music, Culture and Society, ed. Victoria Rogers and David Symons, 56–78. Crawley: UWA Press.
McDonald, W. ‘Tricky Business: Whites on Black Territory’. Australian Author 29/1: 13–14.
Mitchell, T. 2007. ‘The Reography of Reason: Australian Hip Hop as Experimental History and Pedagogy’. Altitude 8. http://thealtitudejournal.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/5_mitchell_final_completeep.pdf (accessed 28 November 2009).
Moran, A. 1998. ‘Aboriginal Reconciliation: Transformations in Settler Nationalism’. Melbourne Journal of Politics Special Reconciliation 25: 101–32.
Nomad Two Worlds. Nomad Two Worlds biography. http://nomad.dipdive.com/biography/ (accessed 25 November 2009).
Phillips, G., and M. O’Brien. 2009. Voices from the Campfire: Establishing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Reconciliation Australia. 2009. Who is Reconciliation Australia? http://www.reconciliation.org.au/ (accessed 25 November 2009).
Reed, L. 2002. ‘Awakening: The Politics of Indigenous Control and Authenticity at Sydney 2000’. Australasian Music Research 7: 95–101.
Reynolds, H. 2000. ‘A Crossroad of Conscience’. In Essays on Australian Reconciliation, ed. Michelle Gratton, 53–59. Melbourne: Black Inc.
Rothfield, P. 2008. ‘Evaluating Reconciliation’. In Pathways to Reconciliation: Between Theory and Practice, ed. Philipa Rothfield, Cleo Fleming and Paul A. Komesaroff, 15–28. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Rudd, K. 2008. Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples. Canberra, ACT: House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia.
Ryan, R. 2002. ‘Awakening “the Fire Within”: Symbols, Rituals and Reconciliation’. Australasian Music Research 7: 85–94.
Short, D. 2008. Reconciliation and Colonial Power: Indigenous Rights in Australia. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Small, C. 1998. Musiking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press.
Smith, G. 2005. Singing Australian: A History of Folk and Country Music. Melbourne: Pluto Press.
Tatz, C. 1998. ‘Genocide in Australia’. AIATSIS Research Discussion Paper 8: 2. http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research/docs/dp/dp08.pdf
Tavuchis, N. 1991. Mea Culpa: A Sociology of Apology and Reconciliation. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Tobin, M. 2007. ‘School Bans “Sorry Song”’. The World Today, 11 July. http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s1975739.htm (accessed 25 November 2009).
Urbain, O., ed. 2008. Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics. London: I.B. Tauris.
Wright, T. 2008. ‘Outburst of Emotion Echoes Across the Land’. The Age, 14 February. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/australias-new-beginning/2008/02/13/1202760398783.html
Published
2012-11-20
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Barney, K. (2012). ‘Sing loud, break through the silence’: musical responses to the national apology to the Stolen Generations. Perfect Beat, 13(1), 69-94. https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v13i1.69
