The Black Arm Band

The Black Arm Band is a collection of some of Australia's premier Indigeous musicians. The band, conceived by Artistic Director Steven Richardson, was brought together "to perform, promote and celebrate contemporary Australian Indigenous music".^[1] Members come from all over the country and have diverse musical backgrounds. The band's name comes from a speech by former Australian Prime Minister John Howard who referred to a "black armband view of history".^[2] Their first show, murundak (meaning "alive" in Woiwurrung), debuted at the 2006 Melbourne International Arts Festival and has since played around Australia and internationally in London,^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] and their second show Hidden Republic debuted at the 2008 Melbourne International Arts Festival, both Festivals being under the artistic direction of Kristy Edmunds.^[8]^[9]

In 2009 the new artistic director of the renamed Melbourne Festival, Brett Sheehy, continued the relationship with The Black Arm Band, which saw the commissioning and presentation of the premiere productions of Dirtsong (2009), Seven Songs to Leave Behind (2010) and Notes From the Hard Road And Beyond (2011), all again directed by Steven Richardson. The first was a celebration of preservation of Indigenous languages with Miles Franklin Award-winner Alexis Wright; the second an international collaboration by contemporary Indigenous singers and musicians including the legendary Gurrumul Yunupingu joined by Sinéad O'Connor, John Cale, Rickie Lee Jones and Meshell Ndegeocello; and the third saw Mavis Staples, Joss Stone, Emmanuel Jal and Paul Dempsey join The Black Arm Band to celebrate protest music from the 1960s through to contemporary Indigenous songs of activism.