Should Aborigines be banned from writing violin concertos?

Posted on 3:41 pm, September 2, 2020 by currencylad

It’s no more ridiculous than a Federal government ban on non-Aborigines working in Aboriginal styles.

This entry was posted in Cultural Issues, Ethics and morality. Bookmark the permalink.

44 Responses to Should Aborigines be banned from writing violin concertos?

  1. Nelson_Kidd-Players
    #3568998, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:03 pm

    What about wearing clothes?

    Proportion the clothes according to the mix of their parentage.

  2. John A
    #3569011, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:10 pm

    LOL!! Isn’t almost all dot art faked?

    Come to think of it, this may be the end of Jackson Pollock, too.

  3. Seza
    #3569012, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:11 pm

    They should certainly be only allowed to speak their traditional language. That should make the voice to parliament suitably impotent.

  4. bemused
    #3569016, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:13 pm

    I’ve often wondered about this cultural appropriation business and it seems always to be a one way street. What’s ours is ours and what’s yours is ours.

    Gurrumul Yunupingu, as marvelous a voice that he had, used a guitar (played upside down) which was never conceived by aborigines. How would any aboriginal band like the Wurumpi Band, have ever made a song.

  5. Bruce of Newcastle
    #3569018, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:14 pm

    I have no objection so long as they are paid using beads, axes and cowrie shells, since it was the dastardly colonial power which brought money to the continent.

  6. Professor Fred Lenin
    #3569019, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:14 pm

    Dot paintings using traditional acrylic paint chinese paint brushes ,cotton buds on traditional canvas with machined stretchers . Sold in art galleries by white sympathetic rich dealers paying them in tax free money .
    Its good to keep traditions going been doing that for 50,000 years havent they.
    The Centrelink tradition and the aboriginal universities centuries old .
    Australia should be proud to be paying for this .

  7. Roger
    #3569021, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:15 pm

    LOL!! Isn’t almost all dot art faked?

    It didn’t exist until the early 1970s when a white art teacher encouraged indigenous folk in central Australia to paint on canvas utilising motifs from their body painting and symbols from their stories. Since then many non-traditional indigenous folk have taken it up and made money from it. Why not? Personally I’d prefer a Namatjira on my wall, though.

  8. Lee
    #3569022, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:15 pm

    It’s as silly as the idea that one should not be allowed to write books featuring people of another race, culture, religion, or even gender.
    Or non-Mexicans banned from wearing sombreros.
    Or people of non-African descent banned from having dreadlocks.

  9. bemused
    #3569032, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:20 pm

    Or people of non-African descent banned from having dreadlocks.

    Dreadlocks were used by the Egyptians, though there’s some thought that is was first used by Vedic Indians.

  10. Botswana O'Hooligan
    #3569042, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:29 pm

    Wot about professor Bruce Pascoe then?

  11. Roger
    #3569046, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:33 pm

    Will Mr. Wyatt swing into action against statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary made by atheists in China?

  12. Fred
    #3569047, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    I get offended when Aborigines use English. Please stop.

    And also stop using electricity and running water.

  13. Walter Plinge
    #3569050, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:35 pm

    Dot paintings, indigenous or not, are simple graphics that anyone can do with a box of paints from Riot and a day to spare. Interesting as things to fill up a gap on a wall or decorate a tea-towel but little artistic interest or merit. No training or years of starving in a garret honing one’s painterly skills. It’s the equivalent of Peter Garrett ‘s vocals. Not exactly in the same league as Bryn Terfel.

  14. sfw
    #3569054, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:38 pm

    Our Commonwealth Liberal Gov at work. I do ask myself, would Labor have done much worse?

  15. Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
    #3569060, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:47 pm

    I get offended when Aborigines use English. Please stop.

    And also stop using electricity and running water.

    Please stop living in houses and driving motor vehicles.

  16. Rex Mango
    #3569070, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:52 pm

    Perhaps someone could copyright their flag, to protect that dot painting from being ripped off by say the AFL?

  17. a happy little debunker
    #3569073, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:53 pm

    In any truly multi-cultural society all culture is shared equally.

    If it is not shared equally, then it is not a multi-cultural society.

  18. candy
    #3569077, posted on September 2, 2020 at 4:54 pm

    “We’ve even had it done here in Australia by people who are quite happy to sit down in a sweatshop environment and recreate Aboriginal artworks.”

    I have never heard of sweatshops in Australia. If that is the case Minister Wyatt should be taking that problem to Fair Work immediately. That’s a terrible situation.

  19. Ed Case
    #3569087, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:00 pm

    Are any real Aborigines saying this?
    I doubt it.
    Meanwhile, Australian Aborigines are about as likely to write a Violin Concerto that was any good as
    Scotsmen, Irishmen, or Englishmen are.
    In other words, very unlikely to ever happen.
    Aborigines good at representational painting?
    I would say yes, though I think Namatjira is the only one who was ever promoted, and without promoters in the Art World, you’re fucked.

  20. H B Bear
    #3569096, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:04 pm

    Can’t wait to see the size of the department established to administer this thought bubble. Count the Landcruisers.

  21. Professor Fred Lenin
    #3569112, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:13 pm

    The aboriginals never were guity of cultural appropriation , that is why they never had pots to boil things in bows and arrows , houses ,domestic animals and farming (contrarary to what
    Pommy Pascoe claims ) ,their society was free of all these foreign influences . They were the only people in the world not to do it .
    Just think ,a time traveller could visit Botany Bay in 1700,1200,700,50bc etc and see no difference in the culture ,amazing innit ?

  22. Walter Plinge
    #3569121, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:16 pm

    Meanwhile, Australian Aborigines are about as likely to write a Violin Concerto that was any good as
    Scotsmen, Irishmen, or Englishmen are.

    To be fair, given it’s not necessary to be able to read music to graduate with a music degree these days, no modern graduate from the Conservatorium of Music will be writing a concerto of any kind either.

  23. stevem
    #3569124, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:17 pm

    Really dumb. What are the criteria for aboriginality? This has never been clarified up until now will it need to be?
    Then:

    “We hear from artists and communities about how destructive these type of imitation products are to cultural knowledge and stories because … they distort stories and change the way in which Aboriginal art and cultural knowledge is presented to the wider public.”

    Does this mean only those who have been brought up with no influence from outside aboriginal culture are eligible? Even then, presumably, there must be purity with only one tribe or some “cultural appropriation” would have occurred.

    As others have said, how can this be administered? We just need our elected officials to think about the ramifications of their decisions – often doing nothing is the correct course of action.

  24. Whalehunt Fun
    #3569129, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:20 pm

    What disgusting pea.do.files and misogynists. Aboriginal culture included child rape and violent abuse of women every bit as enthusiastically as a certain religion. And we are supposed to not spit on people who mention this vile culture. It should be a criminal offence to not spit on any person suspected of promoting this faeces renamed as a culture.

  25. Ed Case
    #3569140, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:27 pm

    A few points:
    1. Boiling food destroys the vitamins, denatures the Fats, and makes the Minerals indigestible.
    Various peoples that did use pots visited Australia, the Aborigines had no use of the tech.
    2. Eucalypts are no good for bows and arrows.
    3. Kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, koalas, you name it, can’t be domesticated.
    Why waste time on shit that can’t be done?
    4. Depends on what you call a house.
    A European Aristocrat living in a Castle might not consider that you live in a house.
    5. Farming? All the native grasses are low in nutrition, the native fruits and veges are hardly worth mentioning.
    Aboriginal Australia suffered from a chronic shortage of Fat.
    It took the introduction of Cattle and Sheep to change that.
    Summary: Australia was/is inhospitable on many levels.
    That these people survived and prospered is a credit to them.

  26. billie
    #3569143, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:28 pm

    meh, it will kill the atwork completely if you can call it art

    to me it looks like “craft”, mass produced to a formula rather than creative inspiration

    I’m sure there is some truely creative stuff but I lost interest back when the industry wanted a cut for every resale of a painting, and so on and so forth .. sheer greed

    that’s what’s created this current grab, the ass fell out of the painting market completely

    it wasn’t helped by the superannuation legislation forcing you to put investments in art ina bank, not to be enjoyed (killed coin and stamp collecting too, but I digress)

    it was a fad, it had its day and now we have souvenirs with the faux designs, and that’s the current money grab

    they will kill that industry as well, with government help as ever

    they deserve it .. greedy people

  27. Whalehunt Fun
    #3569144, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:29 pm

    No, that these people did not have the balls to up sticks and leave is a damning of them.

  28. duncanm
    #3569165, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:40 pm

    Is there any particular reason the Aboriginal art community can’t sort this shit out themselves.

    Just form an association, come up with some sort of contributory certification scheme with an official logo “Genuine Ring-a-ding art” and publicise the label. Done.

    WTF does the government need to (again) do the work for them? Are they that useless?

  29. Ed Case
    #3569186, posted on September 2, 2020 at 5:51 pm

    Governments of all stripes spend their time dreaming up fake Aboriginal issues.
    The M.O. seems to be:
    Make enough noise about bullshit and no one will ever ask questions like:
    1. Where’s the $30 billion/year going? and
    2. They’ve got Land Rights over vast swathes, why isn’t anything worthwhile happening.
    No link, but a couple of years ago a Cape York cattle station bought by the Feds for Aboriginal ownership
    decided to go Carbon Credit Farming. Sold the entire herd straight to a Meatworks, no Auction, Stud Bulls among them.
    It’s a disgrace, but meanwhile Cultural Appropriation, eh?

  30. Diogenes
    #3569250, posted on September 2, 2020 at 6:17 pm

    What about one ‘people’ appropriating from another ‘people’ ?
    NSWelsh aboriginals playing didges ?
    Darkinjung/Awabakal people creating totem poles ?

  31. nb
    #3569387, posted on September 2, 2020 at 7:10 pm

    Only ethnic Marxists should be allowed to write Marxy stuff.

  32. Boambee John
    #3569461, posted on September 2, 2020 at 7:37 pm

    Aboriginal Australia suffered from a chronic shortage of Fat.

    Hence the custom, recorded by Ion Idriess in Outlaws of the Leopolds, of eating the raw kidney fat of slain enemies?

  33. Chris M
    #3569465, posted on September 2, 2020 at 7:37 pm

    Dot paintings are not traditional Aboriginal thus should not be labeled as such, they were taught this style on the missions – so whitey paintings.

  34. HT
    #3569478, posted on September 2, 2020 at 7:43 pm

    I’ll say it again guys, if you live in Victoria, watch your digital hygiene. I wasn’t joking, then, or now.

    You cannot fight, or even support the fight if you allow the VicStasi to pick you off as an individual. One obvious solution for those in Victoria who want to organise protests is organise protests from “Free Australia”, ie; outside the Victorian jurisdiction. Ask a friend or set up decoy accounts.

    As for the actions of VICPOL in this instance, fucking disgraceful.

  35. HT
    #3569482, posted on September 2, 2020 at 7:45 pm

    Wrong thread, SO ANGRY ATM.

    Sorry 👀

  36. Colonel Bunty Golightly
    #3569488, posted on September 2, 2020 at 7:48 pm

    Where would you find one who could play a concerto?

  37. Ed Case
    #3569516, posted on September 2, 2020 at 8:01 pm

    ***Hence the custom, recorded by Ion Idriess in Outlaws of the Leopolds, of eating the raw kidney fat of slain enemies?***
    I suppose so. A roo has got to be on very good country to have even a tiny amount of fat on the meat,
    eating very lean meat and no fat causes ”Rabbit Starvation”.
    Eating Jerky by itself is eventually fatal, mixed with 50% by weight of kidney fat, The Mongols went to war with that alone.

  38. Pedro the Loafer
    #3569586, posted on September 2, 2020 at 8:38 pm

    Did an aborigine make Ken Wyatt’s tie in that video?

    Enquiring minds . . . .

  39. JohnJJJ
    #3569593, posted on September 2, 2020 at 8:41 pm

    Where can I check the authenticity of my tea towels?

  40. Damienski
    #3569859, posted on September 2, 2020 at 11:36 pm

    Where can I check the authenticity of my tea towels?

    Simples. Wipe a wet plate with each tea towel. If the plate is dry afterwards, you’ve used a genuine tea towel. You’re welcome.

  42. Kevin Hayward
    #3570083, posted on September 3, 2020 at 7:47 am

    Should Aborigines be banned from writing violin concertos? Of course not. It is known amongst the Elder community, and only spoken of in secret language, that violins, and hence violin concerti, were actually invented by Indigenous first nation Australians.
    When James Cook and Joseph Banks were going around systematically destroying Indigenous cultural artefacts, tearing down institutes of higher learning and burning libraries (they say the smell of burning bark and smoke in the air darkened the sun at midday) they also raided the work shop of Doomagee Stradavaree. They took his unfinished instruments and sold them to an Italian seaman who took them home with him. The product of 80,000 years of research, handed down through the generations by word of mouth pillaged and sold for a pittance. The Italians managed, by a spectacular fluke, to find suitable replacement material for the native bees’ wax and possum droppings used in traditional manufacture.
    And the rest, as they say, is history.

  43. Professor Fred Lenin
    #3570354, posted on September 3, 2020 at 11:36 am

    Ed Case , $30 billion? Surely not ? We could have 20 more ABCs for that , pumping out gangrene communist [ropaganda . Defund Indigenius now . We want more ABC s ,

  44. Professor Fred Lenin
    #3570377, posted on September 3, 2020 at 11:46 am

    Kevin ,Banksie stole one of Stradavarees violins and sold ot to the Italian bloke .
    You forgot the massive bark canoe shipbuilding industry in Botany Bay and the massive bark grain silos at Broosipasco near the huge bakery and the water boiling works ,and the aboriginal weather bureau ,near their ministry of climate change damage minimalisation .
    So much culcha all vanished without trace.

Comments are closed.