page_title: Indigenous Australians
section_title: Music, dance and ceremony
hierarchical_section_title: Indigenous Australians / Culture / Music, dance and ceremony
caption_attribution_description: English: Nambassa 1981 Arnhemland and Torrest Strait dance company.jpg - Image (photograph) taken by Official Nambassa Photographer and uploaded by User:StoneHenge007, Nambassa dot com Terms of Use: 1/ All users of this image are required to attribute this work to "en:Nambassa Trust and Peter Terry" and the url: " http://www.nambassa.com " is to accompany all use. 2/ Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor. 3/ For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Statement by Nambassa Trust and Peter Terry
context_page_description: Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage to groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They include the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia. The term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, or the person's specific cultural group, is often preferred, though the terms First Nations of Australia, First Peoples of Australia and First Australians are also increasingly common.
  The time of arrival of the first peoples on the continent and nearby islands is a matter of debate among researchers. The earliest conclusively human remains found in Australia are those of Mungo Man LM3 and Mungo Lady, which have been dated to around 50,000 years BP. Recent archaeological evidence from the analysis of charcoal and artefacts revealing human use suggests a date as early as 65,000 BP. Luminescence dating has suggested habitation in Arnhem Land as far back as 60,000 years BP. Evidence of fires in South-West Victoria suggest "human presence in Australia 120,000 years ago", although more research is required. Genetic research has inferred a date of habitation as early as 80,000 years BP.
context_section_description: Music and dance have formed an integral part of the social, cultural and ceremonial observances of people through the millennia of the individual and collective histories of Australian Indigenous peoples to the present day. Around 1950, the first research into Aboriginal music was undertaken by the anthropologist A. P. Elkin, who recorded Aboriginal music in Arnhem Land.
  The various Aboriginal peoples developed unique musical instruments and styles. The didgeridoo, which is widely thought to be a stereotypical instrument of Aboriginal people, was traditionally played by Aboriginal men of the eastern Kimberley region and Arnhem Land (such as the Yolngu). Bullroarers and clapsticks were used across Australia. Songlines relate to the Dreamtime in Aboriginal culture, overlapping with oral lore. Corroboree is a generic word to explain different genres of performance, embracing songs, dances, rallies and meetings of various kinds.
  Indigenous musicians have been prominent in various contemporary styles of music, including creating a sub-genre of rock music as well as participating in pop and other mainstream styles. Hip hop music is helping preserve some Indigenous languages.
  The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in Brisbane teaches acting, music and dance, and the Bangarra Dance Theatre is an acclaimed contemporary dance company.
  For Torres Strait Islander people, singing and dancing is their "literature" – "the most important aspect of Torres Strait lifestyle. The Torres Strait Islanders preserve and present their oral history through songs and dances;...the dances act as illustrative material and, of course, the dancer himself is the storyteller" (Ephraim Bani, 1979).
caption: Aboriginal dancers in 1981
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