Tough For Territory's Black Bands
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday November 26, 1992
DARWIN: Racism and lack of industry support are undermining the potentially lucrative Aboriginal music industry in Australia, according to a report commissioned by the Northern Territory Arts Industry Council.
The report said that although Aboriginal bands in the Territory were creating some of the most exciting music in Australia, they lacked stage equipment and even, in some cases, instruments. They were also discriminated against at venues whose owners refused to hire them on the basis of race, or paid less than they would for non-Aboriginal or interstate bands.
The report on the music industry in the Northern Territory said there was"no question that some of the most exciting and original music in Australia is being created and played by Aboriginal musicians in the NT". But without access to national music industry training and development assistance, much of this potential could go untapped.
The report noted that the internationally acclaimed Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi was so short of travel funds that it rarely played at local venues and had to turn down an invitation to play at the Glasgow Festival.
Although the Northern Territory has produced several of the country's most prominent Aboriginal bands, Aboriginal musicians say most venues refuse to hire them. In Darwin only one hotel regularly employs Aboriginal bands.
The manager of one band said a publican had told the musicians he would not hire them because they would be embarrassed by having cans thrown at them by drinkers.
The report's author, Ms Gillian Harrison, of Ausmusic in Melbourne, said several Aboriginal musicians had told her that hoteliers said they were unwilling to employ Aboriginal bands because of the sort of clientele they might attract. This made it difficult for new bands trying to get the sort of professional experience that hotels traditionally provided.
The president of the NT Hoteliers' Association, Mr John Auchter, said on ABC radio that some Aboriginal bands, like some white bands, were turned away because they were not professional enough.
But the report said many bands, at a range of levels and often in remote areas, were working extremely hard under poor conditions with little support outside their own communities. It said there were several experienced Aboriginal bands "with the skills, high-quality, interesting product and performance", who were inhibited by the lack of resources.
Ms Barbara Pitman of the NT Arts Industry Training Council said the council was seeking Federal and State funds to put in place more appropriate training structures for Aboriginal bands at the community and commercial enterprise levels, and to follow up the concerns raised in Ms Harrison's report.
The Northern Territory data will also be used as part of a national employment strategy for Aboriginal musicians being developed by Mr Richard Frankland, an Aboriginal musician and former commissioner on the Aboriginal Deaths In Custody Royal Commission.
© 1992 Sydney Morning Herald
