Papersky #29 Australia
Playing Australia's Songlines
With world renowned and top prize winning Japanese didgeridoo player Goma we take an in-depth Aboriginal Culture. This issue of Papersky is very special as it’s the first attempt of a major Japanese magazine to report on Aboriginal Australians or Indigenous Australian culture. Native Australians date back as long as 125,000 years and consisted of over 300 languages so you can imagine, we can scratch the surface at best. We began our trip in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, the belly button of Australia and then moved to Alice Springs. One of the reasons we know that these two areas are special is due to the large number of paintings, natural rocks, water holes, trees, animals and land formations. These natural elements form or become what are known as Songlines. Songlines, also called Dreaming tracks by Indigenous Australians, are in short how Aborigines passed their culture from one generation to the next. The Songlines are an intricate series of song cycles that identify landmarks for navigation and it’s important to remember that for the Aborigines, all land is sacred and alive. Their ancestors have life in singing, gave them life though song and the songs must be continually sung to keep the land, “alive.” Our guest, Goma, who ten years ago, was living in North Australia’s Arnhem Land, was fascinated by the culture and the Aboriginal instrument, the didgeridoo. This issue got it’s title because as we traveled to the various sacred sites and met Native Australians, Goma would always have his didgeridoo in hand, while the females of our tour would be carrying Rhythm Sticks. In short, the Papersky crew was traveling Australians’ Songlines in stereo. This issue includes a cross-country look at Aborigine culture through a prism of Art & Place in addition to a different look at the people and culture of Melbourne plus our ongoing series of “Illustrated views of the Japan Alps.” There’s also a ‘first trip’ to India, our maps and guide of where to find Australia in Tokyo, our regular columns and an ‘A to B’ with Teronubu Fujimori from Prague to Zlin in the Czech Republic and a whole lot more.
GOMAさんと旅するオーストラリア 大地の歌を聞きながら 日本国内でも大きな展覧会が開かれるなど、先住民族アボリジニの文化への関心が、世界中で年々高まってきている国、オーストラリア。アボリジニの伝統楽器ディジュリドゥ奏者であるアーティスト「GOMA」さんと、 音楽と自然をキーワードにオーストラリアの大地を旅して、アボリジニの音楽や文化、そして伝統的な音楽を受け継ぐ現代のミュージシャンなどを紹介します
