March 30, 2024
Article by: Glenn Barry
Presenters Naomi Sunderland (Griffith University), Kristy Apps (Griffith University), and Glen Barry (Griffith University) are sharing about The Remedy Project: Exploring First Nations music as a cultural determinant of health. It is an Australian Research Council funded research project (2021-2024).
The Remedy Project, First Nations Music as a Determinant of Health honours the role of First Nations music as a natural “remedy” in cultural healing and ceremony that has happened over millennia in First Nations communities. It reflects the resolute strength of First Nations cultures, music, and musicians in the face of historical and ongoing colonisation.
First Nations music may be defined in part by the First Nations identity of the performer/s or as original music created by First Nations People across a wide range of genres (Bracknell, 2019; Clough, 2012). In this project, we recognised music as cultural action. For example, music is something that First Nations People have been practising for millennia to care for one another and Country, teaching, communicating, and lobbying for change to resist, advocate, express, and heal.
Our project examines music as a cultural determinant of health for First Nations communities. For some, music can be an enduring link with our ancestors, our Country, our languages. It can link our past with our present and future. It may hold the comfort of familiarity and belonging, and it can be healing. It can represent, express, and foster strength. Music can speak to our communities and about them to others.
