Dead Serious #19 Didgeridoo Boy
Dead Serious #19 (MP3-14.9 MB- 46.24min)
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Today my special guest is Jeremy Donovan, an artist, musician, performer and ambassador for Aboriginal culture and an Australian storyteller.
Jeremy, a decendant of both the Gumbaiingirr and KuKu- Yalanji tribes, grew up in Sydney and at the age of 16 was sent to live with his grandfather in far North Queensland in a traditional Aboriginal community where the people spoke an indigenous language he didn’t understand and lived in an environment where Playstations, electricity and western luxuries were unknown.
So started Jeremy’s journey to reconnect to the land, customs and language of his KuKu- Yalangi people.
Jeremy talks about how this was for him as a city kid. How he rediscovered his heritage. How he learned the stories of his people and how he discovered his life mission.
Jeremy talks to us about the stories of his people. How indigenous Australians were the original environmentalists. He talks about his ‘totems’. About language diversity in Aboriginal communities. About death and loss in Aboriginal communities and tells the very personal story surrounding the death of his grandfather and how the community responded to this.
Jeremy also tells us about the ‘changing face’ of Aboriginal Australia and how his work as an artist and musicican gives his life meaning and ‘provides a bridge’ between indigenous Australia and white Australia.
I’m sure you will find (as I have as I have got to know Jeremy), what an inspiring man he is. He has spent time in the juvenile justice system and moved from the ‘fringe’ to discover his personal heritage and now shares that with the broader community via his performances.
Music from Jeremy’s new CD Yalangi is featured in this episode of Dead Serious and I’m sure you’ll find as I have, that his music inspires, motivates and makes you feel a real ‘connectedness’ to the land we call ‘home’.
For those of you we don’t live in Australia, when you listen to Jeremy’s music you will experience the ‘essence’ of the ‘wide brown land’, ‘the land down under’.
You can find out more about the art, the music and the man, Jeremy Donovan by visiting his website (simply click on his name to go to the link).
My special thanks to Jeremy for his generosity. For sharing his music (which I will be featuring in subsequent shows) and his life story.
This show was recorded on Skylook.