Letterstick band at Barunga Festival

My favourite band from the Northern Territory of Australia... this bit of video shot one freezing night out in the NT at Barunga. Letterstick Band are a band from Northeast Arnhem Land in Australia. The members are from the An-Barra Clan on the coast near Maningrida. They are named after the wooden tools on which messages are carved to communicate between places. They play a mixture of reggae and rock that has been called saltwater rock and they sing in English and in Arnhem Land languages.
Letterstick take their name from one of the most remarkable tools in Aboriginal culture, the message or letterstick. This is a piece of wood with a single or set of messages carved into it, which could then be handed down from father to son or from place to place. They are still used to pass on knowledge between clans today.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/09/1065676097535.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• letterstick band
• tiwi islands
• arnhem land
• northern territory
• nt music
• barunga festival
• reggae rock australia
• julien poulson filmmaker

[ozdop]

Watch young Henley Williams on drums hit out later that same night too!

[Winanjjikari]

I remember Mixing this Night 2007 Burunga Festival.

[ididjaustralia]

love it!

[WWEFanO9]

Love This Kinda Music!