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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
' ... a feature music documentary that journeys into the heart of Aboriginal protest music following The Black Arm Band, a gathering of some of Australia's finest Indigenous musicians, as they take to the road with their songs of resistance and freedom.' (Daybreak Films website)
Notes
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2017 Available through ABC Televison iView service.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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'I Know That Face' Murundak : Songs of Freedom and the Black Arm Band
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Cultural Studies Review , vol. 20 no. 2 2012;'‘This black armband view of our history’ was a phrase used by Prime Minister John Howard in a 1996 Sir Robert Menzies Lecture. Howard used the phrase, first coined by historian Geoffrey Blainey, to counter the arguments of opponents who were insisting that the post-contact treatment of the Aboriginal people must be recognised and included in Australian historical discourse and public forms of remembrance. The musical ensemble that is the subject of Natasha Gadd and Rhys Graham’s documentary film, Murundak: Songs of Freedom (2011) developed its name and its intention in protest against Howard’s dismissive rhetoric.
This article examines the ways in which the film extends the platform for the Black Arm Band’s performances of cultural-political intervention begun in their highly successful murundak concerts. We argue that the film constructs an alternative Australian history through strategies that authorise the personal memories disclosed by the Aboriginal band members – the film’s protagonists – and enable them to be gathered into a form of collective, social memory. Songs and song-writing provide the focal point for this work of remembrance, and the unifying thread that weaves a regenerative narrative through three major stages of Aboriginal history: the struggle to survive; the process of healing; and reconnection with kin, country and language.' (Publication abstract)
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ATOM Awards Finalists : Indigenous Key Issues and Stories Highlighted
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: National Indigenous Times , 19 October vol. 10 no. 239 2011; (p. 41) -
A Bright Talent in the Background
2011
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— Appears in: Tracker , October no. 7 2011; (p. 51, 53) -
Songs of Freedom Take Centre Stage
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 18 May no. 501 2011; (p. 46) -
Untitled
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 26 May 2011; (p. 29)
— Review of Murundak : Songs of Freedom 2010 single work film/TV
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Vivid Evocation of Indigenous History
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 14 April 2011; (p. 15)
— Review of Murundak : Songs of Freedom 2010 single work film/TV -
Untitled
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 26 May 2011; (p. 29)
— Review of Murundak : Songs of Freedom 2010 single work film/TV -
Sound of History
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 11 February 2011; (p. 22) -
The Road to Freedom
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 12 May 2011; (p. 8) -
Songs of Freedom Take Centre Stage
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 18 May no. 501 2011; (p. 46) -
A Bright Talent in the Background
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: Tracker , October no. 7 2011; (p. 51, 53) -
ATOM Awards Finalists : Indigenous Key Issues and Stories Highlighted
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: National Indigenous Times , 19 October vol. 10 no. 239 2011; (p. 41)
Awards
- 2011 winner Australian Teachers of Media Awards — Best Documentary General (presented in memory of Anna Kannava)
- 2010
- 1960-2000