Aboriginal Popular Music

This unit introduces you to the modern history and evolution of contemporary popular music in Australia, from the perspective of Indigenous artists and their songs, their communities and their audiences. Through a number of case studies – with a focus on Victorian Aboriginal artists and music – you will examine how popular song becomes a vehicle for identity, storytelling and truth-telling. You also explore the role of contemporary music in modern Indigenous communities as an agent for change, justice, and social cohesion. Through practical projects, you are encouraged to immerse yourself in current Aboriginal popular music, and work collaboratively with Indigenous artists to produce your own creative interpretations or presentations of selected repertoire. This unit pairs well with Music and Wellbeing, although both units can be taken independently without prerequisites.