Complete the following questions.
What is the instrument accompanying the singer in the first verse?
When does the vocal harmony enter?
What instrument enters in the 2nd verse?
How is the guitar part varied in the 3rd verse and how is this idea extended into the chorus after the 3rd verse?
Which non pitched instrument enters during the instrumental, and which instrument performs the lead break?
What change takes place in the lyrics in the chorus after the 4th verse?
Questions to answer – My Island Home:
Christina Anu is an indigenous performer. Find a definition of ‘indigenous’ and ‘aboriginal’. Which term do you feel is the more accurate to describe an Aboriginal Australian?
Where was Christina Anu born? Where is her mother from? Find a map of Australia. Label where these islands are located.
‘My Island Home’ was written by Neil Murray, not Christina Anu. Which band did Neil Murray perform with? Who was the song originally written for?
Find a youtube link to the original song and watch it. What is different and what is the same between this version and Christina Anu’s? Write 5 sentences explaining the similarities and differences in the use of the concepts of music – pitch, duration, tone colour, texture, dynamics and expressive techniques, structure.
On google maps, find Elcho Island and add it to the map you already have. What is the connection between Elcho Island and the song ‘Island Home’?
In 2007, a group of Elcho Island dancers (calling themselves the Chooky Dancers) gathered on a basketball court and filmed their own version of the Greek dance ‘Zorba the Greek’ by way of thanks to a member of the local Greek community. They had no idea that what they had recorded would go on to become one of the most circulated clips world-wide – to date, about 2,500,000 hits! The Chooky Dancers have on to appear on Australia’s Got Talent and at the International Comedy Festival in Melbourne and have just completed an extensive tour of Australia.
Aboriginal people have a powerful spiritual connection to their land and to their families.
A contemporary song that speaks of this deep connection is ‘My Island Home’, here performed by Christina Anu at the closing of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in front of a world-wide audience of 2.4 billion people!
Watch a little of the recording of the Sydney Olympics to soak up the atmosphere.
‘Yothu Yindi’, a great Australian band, are from the Yolngu people. They set their feelings about ownership of their land to this internationally acclaimed song.
What is the song about?
What ‘western instruments’ are used in this song?
The clap sticks are used throughout this song – what is their role?
The singer initially performs a western sounding vocal line, then an indigenous melody in a local language. Describe the difference in pitch and tone colour between the 2 vocal lines
What is the role of the didgeridoo in the ‘aboriginal’ sections of the song?
What animal sounds do you hear?
Would the song have the same impact without the inclusion of Aboriginal sound effects or instruments? Discuss.
Name one other significant indigenous performer who comes from Elcho island