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Profile: Archie Roach
Q. Archie you are a man with many great songs under your belt, what are the ones that you are proudest of? A. Took the Children Away, Weeping In The Forest, Small Child and Jamu Dreaming. Q. Your song Took The Children Away alerted the broader community to the experience of the ‘stolen generations’. Why do you think it took people so long to acknowledge and recognise such a terrible practise? A. That subject was not really talked about in schools as part of Australian history. Some people did know but many others did not. As far as the wider community was told Aboriginal people were a dying culture, living in the deserts and in the bush throwing boomerangs and spears. Q. What do you think was the turning point in getting the public ‘ear’ and ‘heart’? A. It’s hard to pinpoint but documentaries such as Lousy Little Sixpence and films like Women Of The Sun and songs like Uncle Bob Randall’s Brown Skin Baby helped raise awareness. There are still people that come up to me today after hearing Took The Children Away and tell me that they did not know this took place. People are still learning about the stolen generations but there is much more awareness than there was 20 to 30 years ago. Q. Are you able to describe your sense of spirit and how it works in your life? A. I liken my spirit to a small child. It’s the inner voice that guides me through life. Q. Who are the musicians who have most influenced Archie Roach? A. There are so many but if I was to name a few they would be
Uncle Jimmy Little, Uncle Bob Randall, Hank Williams and a few American gospel and soul singers like Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples. Q. Do you mentor many upcoming musicians? Who are the ones that you have helped kick along? A. Singer songwriters like Dave Arden and my own children and people who have opened shows for me like Dewayne Everett Smith. Q. What do you think is the essence of good storytelling? Why do you think story is so important to us as people, and as a country? A. The essence of good storytelling is a good story. In Aboriginal culture the storytelling (oral tradition) is central to preserving culture. For the wider
non-indigenous community there are the storytellers that have also played a central role such as Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson. Q. Were you always musical? Being a successful musician is an unlikely path for anyone - what got you started and kept you going? A. Yes I was always musical. I remember I heard a woman sing and play guitar in church one day and from that time on thought that’s what I wanted to do. It was my community that provided the encouragement that kept me going, writing songs, recording and performing them. Q. How do you think festivals like Boomerang assist crosscultural interactions? Are you a believer in the power of art, song,
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