Australia didn’t impress me the first time. It had the most amazing beaches and you didn’t tip your waiter. Pumpkin soup was a huge as were thousands of labels of wine. All good points. But Aussie Rules football struck me as a slightly colonial game in which men danced around a field in hot pants while tackling each other. Most of the people in my age group took pride in retelling their adventures of years spent overseas, yet gushed unironically about how Australia was the best country in the world. The ‘bush’ was mostly drab, scrappy and slightly alarming to someone who grew up in the Himalayas. Down Under was not just a name, it was also a lonesome feeling; far away from the world I knew.
When it came to music, I was surprised by how most of the songs played on the AM dial were by Australian artists, none of whom I had heard of. A couple of Melbourne radio stations (Triple RRR and PBS106.7) broadcast completely non-mainstream music. Everything from Iraqi and Somali pop to reggae, hard country and all varieties of metal. This was another surprise. How long had it been since any Twin Cities station other than small community stations with weak-as-piss signals had broadcast such diverse DJ-curated sets?
I’ve lived in Australia for close to thirty years now. I have been persuaded that Aussie Rules is the best game ever thought of by humans. The beaches are still great and not crowded. But I now see the scrappy drab bush as intensely beautiful. In the recent years of psycho politics across the world, being hidden Down Under has been a wonderful relief.
When it comes to music, I still know next to nothing about the scene. I am embarrassed by my ignorance especially as I read my music related magazines/sites; the number of Australian bands and artists getting reviewed (mostly positively) is astounding. From time to time, I’ve reflected on why I’ve kept my distance from one of the richest popular music cultures in the world. The short answer is, I’m intimidated. Overwhelmed really. To became even fairly conversant with Australian music a lot of my energy and time will be required. And to date I’ve not been ready to commit those resources.
Not surprisingly, it’s been through country music and related offshoots of the same, that I’ve started to open myself up to Australian music. This mixtape is my first attempt at curating some exclusively Aussie country. As usual, I take a ‘broad church’ approach to country with very little ‘radio country’ making the cut. I’ve no doubt more of that sub-genre will arrive in future volumes.
One of the most fascinating corners of Australian country is Aboriginal country music. Unlike in the States where Native American bands/singers were rarely widely feted, in Australia the number and variety of Aboriginal artists making country music is comparatively huge. Not just today (Frank Yamma, Alice Skye, Archie Roach) but all the way back to the early days. I’ve included some distinctly Australian/Aboriginal tracks here (Jimmy Little, Gawurra, The Country Outkasts) and am excited about sharing more from this rich trove in upcoming volumes.
Australians are very connected to the idea of the land. Our national anthem and many ‘national poems’ speak about the weather, the mountains and rivers and deserts with near-Biblical awe. Aboriginal people see natural world as being a manifestation of the eternal mysterious divine. Locating songs on the vast landmass of Australia has a hoary tradition in Australian rock and folk and country. In the States much of the great interior of the continent has been long resettled, industrialised and urbanized. But in Australia everything beyond 300-400km from either coast is (often hostile) outback, desert, forest and mountains. Because it hasn’t been covered over and turned into a parking lot the sense of earth, rock and land is so much more real down here then up there. All of which is perfect material and context for country music. Several songs I’ve included here are very much in the vein of ‘landed country music’.
I hope you’ll enjoy this initial volume of Sunburnt Country which takes its name from a famous early 20th century poem called My Country by Dorothea McKellar. Here is the second stanza,
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!
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