The Children Came Back

July 2, 2015 11:50 PM

BriggsGE, aka Adam Briggs, from a town called Shepparton, just dropped his latest track The Children Came Back featuring occasional collaborator Gurrumul, and Dewayne Everettsmith. It's not just a track though, it's an homage to Archie Roach's They Took the Children Away, in and of itself about The Stolen Generation. It features, amongst others, Samara Muir . It namedrops some of the best and brightest, and makes it clear - always was, always will be, Aboriginal land and this struggle is not over.
posted by geek anachronism (5 comments total)

Haven't finished going through the links yet (dust, damn dust) but I loved this bit from the eighth link which is an interview about the song in the fifth link:

Interviewer: You address the Australian Prime Minister with the line “Now Mr Abbott, think about it, me and you we feel the same that might sound strange, I’m just saying, we both unsettled when the boats came.” If you could speak directly to him what would you say?
BrigssGE: I think my friend here has already said it.

And I also have to say that I never became fond of hip-hop until I heard Aboriginal hip-hop. Maybe it's the accent, it is certainly the content. Don't hear too much about bitchz and hos. Do hear much about love of country and people.

Great post. Thanks.
posted by Thella at 1:04 AM on July 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Archie Roach's They Took The Children Away always makes me cry. Waiting until I'm alone to listen to Briggs' in case it has the same effect.

Briggs is a good follow on Twitter, if you're into that. Fired up and funny and pithy.
posted by harriet vane at 1:18 AM on July 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Waiting until I'm alone to listen to Briggs' in case it has the same effect.
I won't say there won't be tears but hopefully you'll be smiling and doing a double pat, double fist against your chest.
posted by Thella at 1:21 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

It has more hope than sorrow to my ear, which is something I've always appreciated about Briggs' music. That and the seemingly boundless rage. His whole oeuvre isn't like this, that's for sure, but there's a deep sense of humour too, even in the more 'drinking and chicks' stuff is less...mean. There's a split though, between his earlier work and the more recent stuff - not that it gets political, by any means, but it gets more political I guess.
posted by geek anachronism at 2:45 AM on July 3, 2015

I like the music a lot, and I very much like the depth of the lyrics. Great post.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:05 AM on July 3, 2015 [1 favorite]