Australian Music

 

Australia started taking participation in popular music around 1950. A lot of their music is Aboriginal and rock. Many people find it to be different and refreshing. One of the main groups is Yothu Yindi. They first became popular in 1993.

Some other Australian performers are Coloured Stone, Kev Carmody, Archie Roach, Scrap Metal, the Sunrise Band, and Christine Anu. The two bands that really started music in Australia were No Fixed Address and Warumpi Band.
White Outback music is a mix between Irish Heritage and American Country music. Some popular people are Slim Dusty, Ted Egan, John Williamson, Chad Morgan, and Lee Kernaghan. Bush folk bands usually use fiddles, banjos, and tin whistles. Another instrument is the single-stringed, tea chest bass.

Recent talent: Savage Garden, Killing Heidi, Madison Avenue, Vanessa Amorosi
Reader contribution from Cara Werribee: 10/2000

Didgeridoo

Mac PC Unix

Click one of the above to hear a didgeridoo.
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument used by the aborigines in songs and ceremonies. They are made out of a piece of eucalyptus tree and are 4-6 feet long. Didgeridoos are hollowed out by termites.
 The Aborigines play their didgeridoos by using a method called circular breathing. Circular breathing is breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth at the same time. You have to trap air in your mouth and push it out with your tongue while you breath in through your nose.

 The Aborigines use beeswax as a mouthpiece so it's easier to play. They are usually in the northern areas of Australia. Before white men came it was used throughout Australia.

Reader contribution from Kelli Mcintosh: 6/2000

"The yidaki was named 'dee-jee-ree-doo' after the language which was being spoken thru it as it was played when a white man first heard it. It was not played all over Australia before invasion, rather only in small pockets in the north of Northern Territory."

 

Click here to see the words to Australia's popular song.

Waltzing Matilda

Back to Home Page