WOMAD

The Black Arm Band

From Australia

The Black Arm Band presents music of the Australian Indigenous experience.

It is a creative meeting place for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists and producers to develop, perform, promote and celebrate contemporary Australian Indigenous music as a symbol of resilience and hope in the spirit and action of reconciliation.

To date The Black Arm Band has produced two major works - murundak (premiere Melbourne International Arts Festival 2006) and Hidden Republic (premiere Melbourne International Arts Festival 2008).

With critically acclaimed presentations throughout 2008 and a hugely successful international premiere at the Southbank Centre in London in mid-2008, The Black Arm Band is described as "part Aboriginal soul revue, part civil rights statement . . . national treasures" (Evening Standard, 27 Jun) and is increasingly sought after internationally.

The Black Arm Band also undertakes work in remote and regional Indigenous communities using the power of music to enhance community health and well being.
The mission of The Black Arm Band is to perform, promote and celebrate contemporary Australian Indigenous music to the highest possible professional standard as a symbol of resilience and hope in the spirit and action of reconciliation.
"...an uplifting experience that said more about black and white solidarity than a million parliamentary speeches." Ray Purvis, West Australian, 25/2/08
The long term vision for the Black Arm Band is as an on going organised presence - a national resource hub for the development and performance of Indigenous music in all its forms. The Black Arm Band is working on initiatives for 2008 and beyond including regional touring, community development workshops, new collaborations and a documentary film.
The Black Arm Band was created in 2006 to perform murundak, an extraordinary music and film event that celebrates Australian Indigenous music as an instrument of identity, resistance and resilience, and a call to freedom.
"This gathering of stars and styles was like listening to a gathering of Beaz, Dylan, Judy Collins, Eric Clapton and Odetta" John Slavin, The Age Newspaper, 30/10/06
The Black Arm Band's murundak had its world premiere as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival at Hamer Hall on 27th and 28th October 2006. Hidden Republic is premiering now, two years later, at the 2008 Melbourne International Arts Festival at the Arts Centre, 24th and 25th October.
Winner of the 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Contemporary Music Concert, murundak celebrated, consolidated and contextualised the work of many of the original creative pioneers of Aboriginal contemporary music. Members of the Black Arm Band include, Archie Roach ('Took the Children Away'), Bart Willoughby ('We Have Survived' - No Fixed Address), Rachel Maza Long (actress, SBS presenter), Shane Howard ('Solid Rock') and Lou Bennett (Tiddas). These artists, black and white, share a cultural space through music, reconciling difference and exploring what connects us, rather than divides us, across cultural and historical boundaries.
"The Black Arm Band reminds me of the long struggle and the long journey we've been on. 30 years ago we were marching for justice down the city streets, but now we're telling our stories in the concert halls". - Archie Roach, The Black Arm Band
The Black Arm Band is an Arts House special project - Arts House is a City of Melbourne contemporary arts initiative.
(Biography supplied by artist and image by John Sones)
http://www.blackarmband.com.au
Click here to sample their sounds