Despite what you may see in the media, the cruel, hard monocultural 'face' pasted across us by the invested powers-that-be, this place that we call Australia is, on the ground and in the streets, a place of amazing diversity. Just under the radar here is the richest mix of music, poetry, dance and art happening. That's what we are here to celebrate. We are here to celebrate the multitude of voices speaking up. We are also here to celebrate the long history of spoken word performance, with two new full length spoken word and music albums to promote. That is very exciting to me, as only recently I was bemoaning the lack of long-play collaborations by Australian poets. There is also a new compilation series of Melbourne spoken word, some powerful hip hop albums, and  fascinating fresh electronic projects that bring various cultures together in music. I'm blessed to be able to offer you some 'exclusive' recordings in this podcast as well, pending release, and made just for us!

Tracklist

Hiatus Kaiyote - Creations Part One
Randall Stephens - Left Unsaid
Sean M Whelan & Isnod - Mediate
Eleanor Jackson - Let’s Take This Empty Feeling
NYUON - Your City
REMI - Melbourne Sunset
Jimblah - Well, Well
Jimblah - Treaty 2015 feat. Jimblah + Nooky + Ellie Lovegrove + Zachariiah Fielding X Yothu Yindi
REMI - Nigerian Sunrise (Instrumental)
Sista Zai - Hair
Sikander - Bhangra Manga
Ebony MonCrief - Dragon Dreaming
Amin Payne - Middle Peace Feat.K-SABA & Cazeax O.S.L.O
Amin Payne - The Sound Of The Prophets Feat.Cazeaux O.S.L.O
Hiatus Kaiyote - Prince Minikid
Jacky T - Landmark
Adam Gibson & The Ark-Ark Birds - The Ark-Ark Birds
Starship Z - Stop this Ship REMIX by Atom TM
Nayana Bhandari and the Common Ground Collective with Cazeaux O.S.L.O - Aparichit Peeda
L-FRESH The LION with Common Ground Collective & Cazeaux O.S.L.O - Just 2 Live Another Day
Starship Z - A Message to the Sentient Beings of the Universe
Andrew Galan - TurnTermination Shock (LAPKAT mix)
Joel McKerrow & the Mysterious Few - We Tell Stories

Notes on the show

Two new albums being launched this month: Adam Gibson is a Sydney-based journalist, writer, performer, lyricist, musician and artist, a prolific and reliably eloquent storyteller that I’ve been blessed to know and to listen to for many years. His new album with the Ark-Ark Birds plays like a film, sound, voice and imagery coalescing, telling stories from across the breadth of Australia with a perfectly nuanced soundtrack. I review the album at length over here. The Mysterious Few, being Josh Furhrmeister, Richelle Boer, Jhana Allan and Leah Scholes, are a wonderful counterpoint to Joel McKerrow's urgent, passionate poetry. This is Joel's debut band album and it's a fully realised work, matching deeply felt political and emotional poetry with American-style folk. I review this LP at length over here!  Another to note is the new spoken word compilation journal on the block, Melbourne Spoken Word's Audacious.Audacious now joins Going Down Swinging as the only publications to be regularly compiling local spoken word. More about it over here.  And speaking of Going Down Swinging we have a feature of their latest live performance album in the One Night Wonders series, featuring Brisbane-based poet Eleanor Jackson. 

The track that rocks the core of this month's podcast and which I'll leave as the last word is Treaty 2015. 

The video:

This past Friday, for the second time, thousands of people gathered in the centre of Melbourne, closing down the heart of the city at peak hour to protest the forced closure of remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia. Similar actions happened around the country, and around the world, something like 96 in total. (Read about the actions and the call for support here.) There is a groundswell of people from all origins coming together and this is a positive thing, emerging from increasingly unacceptable capitulations of our government to corporate and mining interests, totally unacceptable ignorance from the self-proclaimed (and sadly, democratically voted-for) 'leaders' of this country. So, this song comes at THE time, and it naturally comes from one of our greatest poets, Jimblah, joined by Nooky, Ellie Lovegrove, Zachariah Fielding.

"Over twenty years ago, Yothu Yindi released one of the greatest and undoubtably one of the most important songs to ever come out of this country. It drew both national and international attention to the fact that Aboriginal people were never recognised as the sovereign owners of this land.

Fast forward to the present and here we are still demanding those same human rights. To add to the detriment, State and Federal governments are further eroding what little rights Indigenous Australians have.

Black Australia is still expected to tip toe around White Australia, to relinquish our pain, grief and frustrations. To tow the line, get over it, to assimilate, to fit in or fuck off, that’s the mentality we are faced with on a daily basis. Whether it's an outspoken ideal, or a mentality unknowingly taken on board, it is rife within our society, from our education systems, the media, and all the way up to the laws that govern us.

"Treaty 2015" is not about the Artists whom are involved, it's about a conversation that Black Australia has been trying to have for over two centuries now, yet to no avail.

We have been unlawfully stripped of our dignity, our land, and now in 2015, Australia is still behaving as if the wealth it has acquired is not only just, but also deserving.

The simple fact remains, there is no way the wrongs of the past could ever be forgotten or erased, but the first place we need to start is to give it back to the rightful custodians – recognise our sovereignty within this land – by way of Treaty, by ensuring our Knowledge, Lore and Culture have an equal place within the framework of Australian society.

Love, thanks and respect goes out to Yothu Yindi first and foremost, and to all of the writers of Treaty, Midnight Oil, and to the rest of the contributing artists ; Nooky, Ellie Lovegrove, Zachariiah Fielding.

Dedicated to all that stand in solidarity as a united front, we will be heard.”

"This land was never given up This land was never bought and sold The planting of the union jack Never changed our law at all Now two rivers run their course Separated for so long I’m dreaming of a brighter day When the waters will be one" - Yothu Yindi (Treaty)."

Jimblah

If you want to support this, through donations to the campaigns and/or through adding your voice and your body to the movement, here are some links: www.sosblakaustralia.com | www.facebook.com/sosblakaustralia | Twitter: @sosblakaust Official Hashtags: #SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA ‪#‎NOconsent‬