The Sound of Australia: Instrumental Aspects of Australian Music

Australians have drawn musical inspiration from all over the globe, the earliest composers studying in Britain and Germany, but gradually beginning to draw inspiration from both Indigenous Australian music and Asian music. Asian music (particularly “south-east Asian approaches to pitch, such as the use of simple pitch sets within a harmonic language” [Richards 2007, p. 4]) is a “metaphor for saying this really our geographical place in the world. We are much closer to Asia, therefore we should look to it, listen to it and be influenced by it” (Stanhope 2004; cited in Richards 2007, p.4). This would have eventually formulated a unique Australian sound, however increasing globalisation has hindered this progress. The evolution of Australian-themed music from classics such as ‘Click Go the Shears’ to Area 7’s ‘Nobody Likes a Bogan’ has left Australia with a more globally homogonous sound. “There is no doubt that globalisation has contributed to the homogenisation of popular or rock music” (Douglas, 2000). Australia’s relative youth has meant this has occurred before a distinctive Australian sound could be produced.

“[W]hile some forms of music might be easier to recognise as having an Australian sound because of particular lyrical content or style (such as bush music, folk) it [is] difficult to define an Australian sound in all genres of music” (Douglas, 2000). It could be argued that there is no original, uniquely Australian sound in non-Indigenous Australian music, as the Internet and increasing globalisation has affected music production in very drastic ways. “For many artists, concerned with global communities, cyberspace and the dynamic world of remixes, the sense of place as a geographic space has all but disappeared” (Bandt; in Richards 2007, p. 266)



However, some traditions have arisen in music about Australia. Due to the tradition of travel and exploration in Australia (one of the prominent themes in music about Australia), instruments are traditionally acoustic, portable and makeshift – acoustic guitars, flutes, whistles, drums, wobble boards, trumpets, harmonicas, fiddles and violins rather popular in songs about Australia, building on bush and folk music origins. Indigenous Australian instruments are also often incorporated.

“[T]he dominant sound of Australian rock as loud and played well ‘live’”, rough around the edges and unpolished (Douglas, 2000). This is reflective of the rough, harsh country, as well as our imperfect, convict past, relaxed attitude and global perceptions of Australia as such. Audience participation has reoccurred in music about Australia – songs are easy to sing along to, and people are encouraged to, building the sense of community so prominent in Australian music. Indigenous Australian songs are sung in collectives, with accompanying group dances, while rock songs use familial language such as nicknames, slang and collective nouns to involve the audience, identifying them as part of the music, and thus part of Australia.

Indigenous Australian music is very distinctive, easily recognisable to overseas listeners. “Australia... has been mapped and inscribed for over 50, 000 years with indigenous song. Traditionally, land and song are inseparable... Songs are the audible geography of place, time and culture. They are signifiers of identity and belonging... They are the land as they resonate within it” (Bandt; in Richards 2007, p. 265). Influenced by and reflective of the Australian soundscape, Indigenous Australian music captures Australian landscape through musical signifiers such as imitating birdsong and insects to replicate the texture of the soundscape. The dances that accompany their music reinforce the figurative sounds.



This is exploited by non-Australian musicians writing songs about or targeting an Australian audience, such as Jonas Brothers’ ‘Australia’, stereotyping Australia even further. About the singer’s longing for a girlfriend from Australia, who “won’t break [his] heart” because she’s from Australia (perhaps an allusion to the well-known ‘girlfriend from Canada’ excuse – “she’s my dream girl”), the introduction features didgeridoos while the remainder of the song is typically pop/rock in style, having no other allusions to Australia apart from in lyrical content, making it seem somewhat out of place. Yet the sound of the didgeridoo is so distinctive that it sets the tone for the entire piece and is instantly recognisable.