Trevor Adamson is a country/gospel [1] singer best known for his song Nyanpi Matilda, a Pitjantjatjara version of Waltzing Matilda. He is from Pukatja, South Australia and sings in both Pitjantjatjara and English. He was the subject of an episode of an ABC TV series, Six Australians. [2] Trevor Adamson also featured in episode #1008 of the NITV show "Pmarra Country", an Aboriginal tribute to the legendary Slim Dusty, in which Mr. Adamson performed his Pitjantjatjara language version of Slim Dusty's 1972 song "When the Rain Tumbles Down in July".
"Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem".
Slim Dusty, AO MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars, with a career spanning nearly seven decades and producing numerous recordings. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australia, particularly of bush life and renowned Australian bush poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson that represented the lifestyle. The music genre was coined the "bush ballad", a style first made popular by Buddy Williams, the first artist to perform the genre in Australia, and also for his many trucking songs.
Eric Bogle is a Scottish folk singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Scotland, he emigrated to Australia at the age of 25, to settle near Adelaide, South Australia. Bogle's songs have covered a variety of topics, and have been performed by many artists. Two of his best known songs are "No Man's Land" and "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", with the latter named one of the APRA Top 30 Australian songs in 2001, as part of the celebrations for the Australasian Performing Right Association's 75th anniversary.
The Pitjantjatjara are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible.
Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodeling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, the Australian bush ballad tradition, as well as by popular American country music. Themes include: outback life, the lives of stockmen, truckers and outlaws, songs of romance and of political protest; and songs about the "beauty and the terror" of the Australian bush.
John Robert Williamson is an Australian country music and folk music singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, television host and conservationist. Williamson usually writes and performs songs that relate to the history and culture of Australia, particularly the outback, in a similar vein to Slim Dusty and Buddy Williams before him. Williamson has released over fifty albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books and has sold more than 4,000,000 albums in Australia. His best known hit is "True Blue". On Australia Day in 1992 Williamson was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) with the citation: "for service to Australian country music and in stimulating awareness of conservation issues". He has received twenty-six Golden Guitar trophies at the Country Music Awards of Australia, he has won three ARIA Music Awards for Best Country Album and, in 2010, was inducted into the related Hall of Fame.
"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is a song written by Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971. The song describes war as futile and gruesome, while criticising those who seek to glorify it. This is exemplified in the song by the account of a young Australian serviceman who is maimed during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War. The protagonist, who had travelled across rural Australia before the war, is emotionally devastated by the loss of his legs in battle. As the years pass he notes the death of other veterans, while the younger generation becomes apathetic to the veterans and their cause. At its conclusion, the song incorporates the melody and a few lines of lyrics of the 1895 song "Waltzing Matilda" by Australian poet Banjo Paterson.
The Arts in Australia refers to the visual arts, literature, performing arts and music in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian art, music and story telling attaches to a 40–60,000-year heritage and continues to affect the broader arts and culture of Australia. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary, visual and theatrical traditions began with strong links to the broader traditions of English and Irish literature, British art and English and Celtic music. However, the works of Australian artists – including Indigenous as well as Anglo-Celtic and multicultural migrant Australians – has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent to the global arts scene – exploring such themes as Aboriginality, Australian landscape, migrant and national identity, distance from other Western nations and proximity to Asia, the complexities of urban living and the "beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Warren Hedley Williams is an Aboriginal singer, musician and songwriter from Hermannsburg in Central Australia. Williams is an Arrernte man who plays country music and works as a broadcaster on CAAMA Radio in Alice Springs He started playing guitar at six with his father Gus Williams.
Lionel Joaquin Paul Long OAM was an Australian country and folk singer, songwriter, guitarist, actor and artist.
Herbert Patrick Laughton, was a country singer from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is also a member of the Stolen Generations.
Isaac Yamma was a country singer from Central Australia. He was a Pitjantjatjara man who was born by a waterhole near Docker River (Kaltukatjara). He started his musical career as a member of Areyonga Desert Tigers. He later performed with his band the Pitjantjatjara Country Band, a band made up of his sons Hector, Frank, Peter and Paul and his cousin Russell Yamma. His song were mostly sung in Pitjantjatjara. He was also a radio host on CAAMA Radio 8KIN FM.
Ilkari Maru is a Central Australian Indigenous band from the 1980s. They played country rock music and sing in English and Pitjantjatjara. They released two albums through CAAMA Music, Ilkari Maru (1984) and Lightning Strikes (1987).
The bush ballad, bush song or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. The typical bush ballad employs a straightforward rhyme structure to narrate a story, often one of action and adventure, and uses language that is colourful, colloquial and idiomatically Australian. Bush ballads range in tone from humorous to melancholic, and many explore themes of Australian folklore, including bushranging, droving, droughts, floods, life on the frontier, and relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Give Me a Home Among the Gumtrees is a popular Australian song written in 1974 by Wally Johnson and Bob Brown.
"Duncan" is an Australian single recorded in 1980 by Slim Dusty which reached No. 1 on the Kent Music Report charts for two weeks in early 1981. The song was Dusty's second-most successful single after "A Pub with No Beer". It is also known as "Beer with Duncan", "Have a Beer with Duncan" and "I Love to Have a Beer with Duncan". It was written by Pat Alexander.
From the Bush is a compilation album of Australian Indigenous bands released in Australia by CAAMA in 1990. It was nominated for a 1991 ARIA Award for Best Indigenous Release.
Barbara Mbitjana Moore is an Anmatyerre woman who grew up in Ti-Tree in the Northern Territory, moving later to Amata in South Australia's Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. In April 2003, Moore began painting at Amata's Tjala Arts, and, since then, has received widespread recognition. Moore won a National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2012 and has been a finalist in many other years. Moore has also been a finalist for the Wynne Prize.
Country Classics is a 3CD greatest hits album by Australian country recording artist Slim Dusty, released through Readers Digest. The album was separated into three periods of Dusty's career; The Early Years, The Middle Years and The Later Years. In 1999, the album was certified gold.
The Best of Slim Dusty is a 6xLP greatest hits album by Australian country recording artist Slim Dusty, released through Readers Digest. The six albums had different themes, Biggest Hits, Truckin' Along, with Family, Sentimental Slim, with Joy McKean and Singalong. In 1999, the album was certified gold.