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Early Aboriginal art
is etched and stained into the walls of caves, but in the desert,
artists also used ochre and other natural pigments to create
elaborate images in the sand.
Today these images
are exquisitely interpreted in acrylic paints, watercolors and
prints, and painted or carved onto bark, boomerangs, didgeridoos,
digging sticks, slate and boab nuts. Aboriginal art is highly
valued by collectors and can be seen and purchased at markets and
galleries throughout the Northern Territory.
The traditional music of indigenous
Australians holds a lot of meaning to their culture. Music is used
throughout an aboriginals life to teach what must be known about
their culture, about their place in it, and about its place in the
world of nature and the supernatural. Embedded in a purely oral
tradition, the music is learnt by imitation and passed on without
reference to any written notations. In the bachelor's camp, the
young man learns more light-hearted songs which are the basic
entertainment media for the band. When he marries and enters further
into group responsibilities, however, it is the karma songs that are
the central part of his education and his source of strength in
times of trouble. His maturity can be measured in the esoteric
knowledge he has acquired through song, and as an old man, he knows
that his honor is based partly on his mastery of the secret sacred
songs of the band.
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Australia
Specials
