Blekbala Mujik | |
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Origin | Barunga, Northern Territory, Australia |
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Years active | 1986 | –present
Labels | CAAMA/Shock |
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Blekbala Mujik (Black People's Music) are an Australian rock, reggae group formed in Barunga, Northern Territory in 1986. They fused rock and reggae with a pop, dance sound and have support base for their live shows and recordings. They are cited in the World Music: The Rough Guide as next best known to Yothu Yindi. [1] The band sings in English and in Kriol (a creole language based on English and Australian Aboriginal languages). At the ARIA Music Awards of 1996 their album, Blekbala Mujik (May 1996), was nominated for Best Indigenous Release.
Blekbala Mujik were formed in 1986 in the rural community of Barunga (Gulin-Gulin) in central Arnhem Land. The founding member, Peter Miller on vocals and guitar, lives in Alice Springs, and was a member of the Northern Land Council. [2] The band sings partly in English and partly in Kriol, which is a creole language based on English and Australian Aboriginal languages. Blekbala mujik means "blackfella music" in Kriol.
The group signed with Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) and, in 1990, they issued two albums, Nitmiluk and Midnait Mujik. [3] In 1993 they issued a seven-track cassette, Come-N-Dance. [2] [3] In May 1996 they followed with their eponymous full length album, Blekbala Mujik, via CAAMA and distributed by Shock Records, [3] which Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described as "a mix of catchy Aboriginal pop, reggae, techno-tribal dance material and bright funky rock." [2] At the ARIA Music Awards of 1996 in September, Blekbala Mujik was nominated for Best Indigenous Release. [4]
Alongside Miller other members have included Dwayne Billy on percussion (clapsticks), Johnny Blanasi on lead guitar, Jason Fuller on percussion (clapsticks), Lachlan Gela Lawrence on bass guitar and vocals, Wayne Kala Kala on drums, Allen Murphy on drums (ex-Warumpi Band, Village People, Yothu Yindi), Lazarus Murray on yidaki (see didjeridoo) and Thomas Valandhu on drums. [2] In June 1997 they issued "Walking Together" as a CD single. [2] In February 2013 they issued a new album, We Are One, and followed with a compilation, live album, Greatest Hits Live, in September 2014. [3]
Title | Details |
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Nitmiluk |
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Midnait Mujik |
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Come-N-Dance |
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Blekbala Mujik |
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We Are One |
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Greatest Hits Live |
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The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. [5]
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
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1996 | Blekbala Mujik | Best Indigenous Release | Nominated |
The Deadly Awards, (commonly known simply as The Deadlys), was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. They ran from 1996 to 2013.
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
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1996 | Blekbala Mujik | Album of the Year | Won |
Blekbala Mujik have been cited in numerous articles on Indigenous Australian music.
Yothu Yindi are an Australian musical group with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a white rock group called the Swamp Jockeys, and an unnamed Aboriginal folk group consisting of Mandawuy Yunupingu, Witiyana Marika, and Milkayngu Mununggur. The Aboriginal members came from Yolngu homelands near Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula in Northern Territory's Arnhem Land. Founding members included Stuart Kellaway on bass guitar, Cal Williams on lead guitar, Andrew Belletty on drums, Witiyana Marika on manikay, bilma and dance, Milkayngu Mununggurr on yidaki, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu on keyboards, guitar, and percussion, past lead singer Mandawuy Yunupingu and present Yirrnga Yunupingu on vocals and guitar.
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Indigenous music of Australia comprises the music of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, intersecting with their cultural and ceremonial observances, through the millennia of their individual and collective histories to the present day. The traditional forms include many aspects of performance and musical instrumentation that are unique to particular regions or Aboriginal Australian groups; and some elements of musical tradition are common or widespread through much of the Australian continent, and even beyond. The music of the Torres Strait Islanders is related to that of adjacent parts of New Guinea. Music is a vital part of Indigenous Australians' cultural maintenance.
Galarrwuy Yunupingu, also known as James Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Dr Yunupingu, was an Indigenous Australian activist who was a leader in the Aboriginal Australian community. He was involved in Indigenous land rights throughout his career. He was a Yolngu man of the Gumatj clan, from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. He was the 1978 Australian of the Year.
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"Treaty" is a protest song by Australian musical group Yothu Yindi, which is made up of Aboriginal and balanda (non-Aboriginal) members. Released in June 1991, "Treaty" was the first song by a predominantly Aboriginal band to chart in Australia and was the first song partly in any Aboriginal Australian language to gain extensive international recognition, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play singles charts. The song contains lyrics in Gumatj, one of the Yolngu Matha dialects and a language of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in northern Australia.
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