BTN: Tiwi music: Keeping an ancient culture alive

Onscreen text reads 'VIEWER ADVICE — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following media resource may contain images and voices of people who have died.'

(Upbeat music plays)

Indigenous children dance before an audience of other children and adults.

NARRATOR:

The performers might be pretty young but these moves have been around for generations. These are the traditional songs and dances of the Tiwi people.

A map of Australia shows the location of the Tiwi Islands.

NARRATOR:

The Tiwi Islands are here, 80km from Darwin in the Northern Territory.

Shots of local kids playing football with Indigenous AFL players.

NARRATOR:

They're home to about 2,500 people, and some AFL faces you might recognise, like Cyril Rioli from Hawthorn and Austin Wonaeamirri from Melbourne Football Club.

Shots of a Tiwi Aussie Rules game.

NARRATOR:

In fact, the Tiwi people are known for being footy-mad. They've got their own Aussie Rules comp and the Tiwi Grand Final is always pretty popular. But there's a whole lot more to Tiwi history than AFL.

Shots of kids playing in a waterhole.

NARRATOR:

The Tiwi people have lived here for many hundreds, maybe even thousands of years.

Archival footage of Tiwi people climbing palm trees.

NARRATOR:

But traditionally, Indigenous Aussies didn't write down their history.

Archival footage of a Tiwi ceremony.

NARRATOR:

Instead, stories were passed down from generation to generation through storytelling, songs and dances.

A group of Tiwis sit on the ground, singing in their local language. The camera pans away to show a white woman accompanying the singers on a French horn.

NARRATOR:

Genevieve Campbell is a musician and she's here to collect those stories so they can be shared and preserved forever. She's recording the songs, writing down the music, and translating the lyrics. Most of all, Genevieve's into making good music and she's worked with the Tiwi singers on some big gigs…

A large audience in an museum gallery applauds as a group of Tiwi singers performs onstage.

NARRATOR:

..like this show that was put on in Sydney when the Pope came to visit. But Genevieve wasn't the first person to record Tiwi songs.

Archival footage of a Tiwi ceremony.

NARRATOR:

During her research, she found these recordings in museum archives.

Tiwi elders watch archival footage on laptops.

NARRATOR:

They were taken in the early 1900s and the Tiwi elders had no idea they existed.

Shot of Teresita Puruntatameri, Tiwi elder.

TERESITA:

We didn't know about… they had those recording in Canberra. And it was, you know, a surprise to us all.

A Tiwi man sings in the local language while listening to archival footage.

NARRATOR:

Genevieve brought the recordings back to the Tiwi Islands and played them to the elders, who were rapt to hear the music of their childhoods.

Shot of Eustace Tipiloura, Tiwi elder.

EUSTACE:

It's really great. The songs reminds me of my… my ancestors.

TERESITA:

We recognise some of the songs, songs that we use today. So we recognise some of the songs and that made us, you know, feel good about it.

NARRATOR:

Now they're translating the songs into modern Tiwi and English, but it's not easy. Only a handful of elders can still understand the old words.

Shot of Clementine Puruntatameri, Tiwi elder.

CLEMENTINE:

Only few of us know that traditional language properly because of my mother taught me. That's how I keep them inside me.

Shot of the narrator standing in front of a map of Australian Indigenous languages.

NARRATOR:

Before Europeans came to Australia, there were more than 600 languages spoken here. But over the years, many have been lost or forgotten. And that's why it's important that they pass on their knowledge.

Shot of Tiwi children and elders singing.

EUSTACE:

They are the new generation. Most of us won't live that long, but they can. They can carry on.

NARRATOR:

It's about more than music. It's about keeping an ancient culture alive.