Six months after his dying at age 66, legendary Gunditjmara (Kirrae Whurrong/Djab Wurrung) and Bundjalung singer-songwriter and activist Archie Roach has been posthumously awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).
Roach has been awarded the honour for his “eminent service to the performing arts as a songwriter and musician, to Indigenous rights and reconciliation, and through support for emerging First Nations artists”.
Archie Roach – ‘Took the Children Away’
Roach’s posthumous elevation to the Companion of the Order of Australia comes after he was, in 2015, amongst these in that 12 months’s Queen’s Birthday honours listing as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). Speaking to The Guardian, Roach’s nephew Shane Evans mentioned he and his household would at this time – twenty sixth January – replicate on Roach’s life, and the ache and struggling he and different First Nations folks endured at this time.
While at this time is often referred to as Australia Day, additionally it is known as Invasion Day or Survival Day, reflecting the lengthy historical past of colonisation in opposition to First Nations folks in Australia, and its ongoing injustices. Evans mentioned Roach was in a position to “lighten the load” of that struggling by “sharing the stories with his beautiful ballads,” notably with the late Ruby Hunter, who was his musical and life associate for many years previous to her personal dying in 2010.
Jill Shelton, Roach’s longtime good friend and supervisor, instructed The Guardian that the singer could be “humbled and thrilled” about the award. She mentioned that he had thought deeply about the “ambiguities” of accepting such an honour, on at this time’s date.
“Archie was a deep thinker, he understood the complexities, the troubled landscape of being forcibly removed and his own journey as a member of the Stolen Generations and everything that meant,” Shelton instructed the publication. “He always saw awards as honouring not only him … it was an award for all his community, brothers, sisters, artists everywhere.”
Born in the rural Victorian city of Mooroopna in 1956, Roach was forcibly faraway from his mother and father at a younger age and positioned into foster care as a member of the Stolen Generations. The expertise impressed his first music ‘Took the Children Away’, launched in 1990 as the lead single from debut album Charcoal Lane.
The album shortly earned gold certification, and gained two awards at the 1991 ARIAs – Best New Talent and Best Indigenous Release. Roach’s closing album, The Songs of Charcoal Lane, was launched in 2020 to rejoice the album’s thirtieth anniversary, that includes re-recorded variations of the songs on its tracklist.
Over his lifetime, Roach gained eight ARIA awards, and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2020. At this 12 months’s ceremony, Roach was posthumously awarded Best Independent Release for his observe ‘One Song’. Throughout his life, Roach remained devoted to activism and advocacy. In 2014, he launched the Archie Roach Foundation, to nurture and supply alternatives for younger Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander folks in the arts. The Foundation continues its work to today.
Roach died in July 2022 at the age of 66 on Gunditjmara Country in Warrnambool, Victoria. In a assertion shared by his household at the time, it was mentioned that Roach had “passed, surrounded by his family and loved ones” in hospital following a interval of lengthy sickness.
Last month, Roach was honoured with a state memorial service in Melbourne the place Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews apologised for the “extreme, inhumane acts” dedicated in opposition to the late musician “due to past government policies and laws.”
Further Reading
Musicians and Public Figures Respond to the Death of Archie Roach
Baker Boy, King Stingray Lead National Indigenous Music Awards Winners
Watch Archie Roach Perform A Stunning Rendition Of ‘Took The Children Away’ At The 2020 ARIA Awards
The publish Archie Roach Posthumously Awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia appeared first on Music Feeds.
Archie Roach Posthumously Awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia
Archie Roach Posthumously Awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia
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Archie Roach Posthumously Awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia