Songs of Joy and Protest – Boomerang 2018, Byron Bay Australia

Portrait of a singer from Narasirato, Boomerang Festival 2018, Byron Bay AU

Narasirato
They commanded the stage wearing bark cloth and paint and sporting decorations made from shells and pigs’ teeth; they won the audience over with their joyful voices, bamboo pipes, log drums and infectious rhythms. The men of Narasirato – from a remote Solomon’s island – are the ultimate expression of Indigenous World Music.

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(Track: Narasirato – Roromera Dub Manasseh Remix)

It doesn’t matter how remote from our experience people’s lives are: when they start to make music, we have an understanding of how they are feeling, and clues as to what they want to express. It is indeed, a form of universal language.

If we are disinclined to take a 19th century poet’s word for it, we can look to a recently published Harvard study: Form and Function in Human Song, which found that listeners could recognise the social function of song snippets, even from small-scale societies that were foreign to them.

Certainly, I had no difficulty connecting with the music I got to enjoy at this year’s Boomerang Festival. Billed as “a New World Indigenous festival for all Australians”, the three-day festival was nested within the five-day Byron Bay Bluesfest. In addition to arts, talks and workshops, this year’s festival featured local Indigenous performers and other musicians from the Asia – Pacific region.

Aboriginal men dancing with spears, Boomerang Festival 2018, Byron Bay AU

Welcome to Country
Traditional dances performed by young Aboriginal men help us all recognise the roots of the land we are standing on.

Bird of Paradise feathers adorn the headless of a Papuan drummer from Sorong Samarai, Boomerang Festival 2018, Byron Bay AU

Sorong Samarai
After visiting Papua New Guinea late last year, I was keen to check out Sorong Samarai, a group of musical activists from across the island of New Guinea. The name comes from the eponymous West Papua protest song that seeks to unite the two halves of the island under a self-determined government. Sorong is a town at the island’s most north-western edge and Samarai is an island off the southernmost tip.

Sam Roem in Bird of Paradise Feathers
Sam Roem travelled from West Papua to Australia in a traditional wooden dugout canoe in 2006 to seek asylum. West Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, and since that time, pro-independance supporters are frequently jailed.

Sorong Samarai Rap
Rap has become a powerful – and engaging – voice in Indigenous protest movements all around the world.

Sprigga Mek – Sorong Samarai
Native Kanaka hip-hop artist Sprigga Mek from Port Moresby raps in a number of different languages.

Sorong Samarai Drums
Bamboo and log drums keep up the pace and rhythm.

Sorong Samarai Rap

Narasirato
The men in the bamboo orchestra of Narasirato list their interests as: “fishing, farming, feasting and family.”

Narasirato on Bamboo Flutes
From a small village in the rainforest on Malaita in the Solomon Islands, the band has performed as far afield as Japan and at Glastonbury, where, true to their name – Narasirato means ‘cry for sunshine’ – they stopped the English rains.

Narasirato
They perform songs that praise nature, revere ancestors and reflect on contemporary issues.

Yirrmal
Yirrmal Marika, a young Yolngu man from the community of Yirrkala, Arnhem Land in Northern Australia, comes across as a gentle soul.

Yirrmal
Using a mix of English and Aboriginal languages, and combining traditional and contemporary musical styles, Yirrmal was originally inspired by his famous musical grandfather, Dr Yunupingu.

Horns with The Strides
Jeremy Rose on tenor sax and Nick Garbett on trumpet warm up the room in preparation for the rest of their reggae band.

The Strides
No strangers to the “festival” scene, the Sydney-based nine-piece ensemble “The Strides” is truly a multi-cultural organisation.

Ras Roni and The Strides
Front-man, reggae master Ras Roni, comes to Sydney from Barbados via London.

Eddie “Blacker” Conteh and The Strides
Ragga man Eddie “Blacker C” Conteh is originally from Sierra Leon.

Ltl Gzeus and The Strides
Emcee Ltl Gzeus has Fijian/Tongan/Chinese roots.

Ras Roni with The Strides
Clearly music keeps you young: look at that twinkle!

Benny Walker
Sporting a tattoo honouring iconic Indigenous Australian singer songwriter Archie Roach, Benny Walker, a young Yorta Yorta man from Echuca, charmed the audience with his songs of sunshine.

Benny Walker