MyGen Profile GeneratorAfter a long absence, Archie Roach returns with a sublime but powerful new album - Journey.
“I thought writing the song Took The Children Away was, in part, a way of telling people that taking children from their families was not necessarily the best or only so-called solution concerning the child or their family’s well being. I was wrong.
We thought the Bringing Them Home report would see measures taken to ensure it should never happen again. We were wrong.
We thought the Deaths in Custody report would help prevent such things happening. We were wrong.
The songs from Journey are a reaffirmation of identity, country, beliefs and spirit and how no-one listened to our recommendations on stolen kids or people dying in jails. So it continues…. but we are still watching and definitely taking note.â€
Archie Roach. 2007
Produced by Shane Howard and Engineered and Co-produced by Nash Chambers, the new album Journey was a long time in the creation and preparation and a short time in the recording. Recorded live in Melbourne’s Sing Sing studios after a journey that took Archie from the spiritual Ngurrarra paintings, south of Fitzroy Crossing, to the deaths in custody in the jails of Roebourne and Fremantle. It continued through the desert country of Central Australia and the inevitable connection back to Archie’s home country of the Gunditjmara/Kirrae Whurrong of South West Victoria.
Journey is a companion piece to the recently released Liyarn Ngarn DVD, a compelling tale of racism and a plea for a new future in black/white relations in Australia.
Archie Roach has seen a lot, some would say too much hurt, but still these holy songs reach out to bridge the divide between black and white. They are prayers for forgiveness and understanding. Archie Roach turns suffering into hope….and art.
Australia needs these songs right now. Black and white. We all need to be healed and reassured by one of Australia’s great songwriters and singers. And Archie Roach is a unique voice in the league of Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker or George Jones.
This album soars. It also stills you in the eternal moment of dreaming. Songs of pain, loss, racism, redemption and hope. These songs are a marriage of Aboriginal and Western philosophy from the heart and mind of an extraordinary writer and singer.
An elder statesman of Aboriginal music, Archie takes us on a journey of epic dimensions but the music and the message are absolutely clear and uncomplicated.
Journey due for release late 2007 features special guest appearances by Kasey Chambers, Troy Cassar-Daley, Paul Kelly, David Bridie, Shane Howard and The Pigram Brothers.
