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Indigenous Knowledge – connected by song

In this extract from 'Indigenous Knowledge – Australian Perspectives', the authors explore the importance and power of music and its interconnected practices.

28 Nov 2024 14:07

Clint Bracknell and Sally Treloyn

Writing and Publishing

Image: Supplied.

The ability of music to communicate, sustain knowledge and support feelings of affiliation is widely acknowledged. Its ubiquity and diversity worldwide demonstrate its potential to help humanity adapt and thrive in different times and places. Nowhere is this more evident than in Australia, home to the most long-standing, landscape-based performance traditions in the world. Aboriginal songs connect people, language, knowledge and country – that ‘nourishing terrain’ that is alive and intertwined with Aboriginal identities and knowledge systems.

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Clint Bracknell and Sally Treloyn

Clint Bracknell is a Noongar song-maker, composer and Professor of Music at the University of Western Australia. He investigates connections between song, language and landscapes while working on projects to improve Indigenous community access to cultural heritage collections. He received the 2020 Barrett Award for Australian Studies and has co-translated world first Indigenous language works in film and theatre. Sally Treloyn is an Associate Professor in Ethnomusicology and Intercultural Research in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, and Co-Director of the Research Unit for Indigenous Arts and Cultures, Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development.