AUSTRALIAN

MUSIC
 Australia is a
country rich in
diversity,
culturally and
geographically, a
richness
embodied in our
music which
embraces all
genres and
styles, is both
steeped in
tradition, and at
the forefront of
innovation and
experimentation.

Culture, A. (2013, September 12). Australian Music. Australian Culture. Retrieved May 15,
2022, from https://culturaustraliana.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/music-of-australia
INDIGENOUS MUSIC ● To play a didjeridu, the musician
relaxes their lips and then blows
Indigenous Australian music air through their mouth to make
refers to the music of their lips buzz and vibrate. The ● The musician can
Aborigines and Torres Strait buzzing from their lips travels change the sound of
Islanders. Music forms an down the hollow tube and makes the didjeridu by
integral part of the social, the low sound you heard. pushing more air at
cultural and ceremonial once, or even by
observances of these peoples, growling and making
and has been so for over
other sounds into
60,000 years. Traditional
Indigenous music is best
the didjeridu.
characterised by the
didgeridoo, the best-known
instrument, which is
considered by some to be the
world’s oldest.

● Aborigines play a unique instrument

known as a Didjeridu. The didjeridu
makes the low rumbling sound that
you heard just now.
● Didjeridus are usually made from a
eucalyptus tree branch that has been
hollowed out by termites! The
instrument can be anywhere from 3
1/2 to 7 feet long.
Folk Music Folk Revival
Australia’s bush music Notable Australian exponents of
the folk revival movement
belonged to an oral and
included both European
folkloric tradition, and was
immigrants such as Eric Bogle,
only later published in noted for his sad lament to the
print in volumes such as battle of Gallipoli and
Banjo Paterson’s Old Bush indigenous Australians like
Songs, in the 1890s. Archie Roach and Paul Kelly.

The distinctive themes and In the 1970s, Australian Folk

origins of Australia’s «bush Rock brought both familiar and
music» or «bush band music» less familiar traditional songs, as
can be traced to the songs sung well as new compositions, to live
by the convicts who were sent venues and the airwaves. The
to Australia during the early 1990s brought Australian
period of the British https://youtu.be/b--kuKfpwko Indigenous Folk Rock to the
colonisation, beginning in 1788. world, led by bands including
Early Australian ballads sing of Yothu Yindi. Australia’s long and
the harsh ways of life of the continuous folk tradition
epoch and of such people and continues strongly to this day,
events as bushrangers, with elements of folk music still
swagmen, drovers, stockmen present in many contemporary
and shearers. Convict and artists including those generally
bushranger verses often railed thought of as Rock, Heavy Metal
against government tyranny. and Alternative Music.
Music in Australia. (2010, January 11). Music Australia. Retrieved May 19, 2022, from
https://musicaustralia.org.au/discover/the-professional-music-industry/music-inaustralia
 Country Music

Country yodeller, Melinda Schneider with folk-rocker Paul Kelly.

Australian country music is a part of the music of

Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from
bluegrass, to yodelling to folk to the more popular. The
genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk
music, by the traditions of Australian bush balladeers,
as well as by popular American country music. The
style of Australian country music evolved under the
influence of rock and roll forms. While some subject
matter may be constant, musical styles differ between
traditional and contemporary bush ballads.
 R&B Soul Music
Guy Sebastian and Jimmy Barnes 6 March 2008 State Theatre
R&B and soul music had a significant impact on
Australian popular music, although it is notable
that many seminal recordings in this genre by
American acts of the late 20th century were not
played on Australian radio. Anecdotal evidence
suggest that racism was a key factor—in his
book on the history of Australian radio, author
and broadcaster Wayne Mac recounts that
when a local Melbourne DJ of the 1960s played
the new Ike and Tina Turner single «River Deep
Mountain High» it was immediately pulled
from the playlist by the station’s program
manager for being «too noisy and too black».