The music of Australia is the music produced in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of modern Australia, including its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian music is a part of the unique heritage of a 40,000–60,000 year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of Indigenous and Western styles (exemplified in the works of No Fixed Address, Yothu Yindi, Christine Anu and Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu) mark distinctly Australian contributions to world music. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, and Australian folk music and bush ballads such as Waltzing Matilda were heavily influenced by Anglo-Celtic traditions, while classical forms were derived from those of Europe. Contemporary Australian music ranges across a broad spectrum with trends often concurrent with those of the US, the UK, and similar nations – notably in the Australian rock and Australian country music genres. Tastes have diversified along with post-World-War-II multicultural immigration to Australia.
Notable Australian musicians include: the opera singers Dame Nellie Melba and Dame Joan Sutherland; country music stars Slim Dusty (Australia's biggest selling domestic artist) and John Williamson; solo artists John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John and Tina Arena, Pub rock band Cold Chisel, folk-rocker Paul Kelly; Dance group The Avalanches; jazz guitarist Tommy Emmanuel; pioneer rocker Johnny O'Keefe, global folk-rock band The Seekers, global rock and pop bands Men At Work, The EasyBeats, Air Supply, Crowded House, AC/DC, INXS, Little River Band, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Midnight Oil, Dragon, Silverchair, Youth Group, You Am I and Powderfinger; the "pop princess" Kylie Minogue, Pendulum, Pop Rock duo Savage Garden and alternative music stars the John Butler Trio, Xavier Rudd, Wolfmother, Tame Impala and The Vines. Other popular artists and groups include The Choirboys, Chantoozies, Saint Jude, Cheetah, Sharon O'Neill, Marc Williams, Peter Andre, Goanna, Australian Crawl, Rose Tattoo, Colleen Hewett, Keith Urban, The Angels, Ted Mullry Gang, Hush, The Mixtures, Helen Reddy, and Diana Trask.
Read more about Music Of Australia: Indigenous Music, Folk Music, Organisations
Famous quotes containing the words music of, music and/or australia:
“What is our life? a play of passion;
Our mirth the music of division;
Our mothers’ wombs the tiring-houses be
Where we are dressed for this short comedy.”
—Sir Walter Raleigh (1552?–1618)
“The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions. But there is also, it seems to me, a moment at which democracy must prove its capacity to act. Every man has a right to be heard; but no man has the right to strangle democracy with a single set of vocal chords.”
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)
“It is very considerably smaller than Australia and British Somaliland put together. As things stand at present there is nothing much the Texans can do about this, and ... they are inclined to shy away from the subject in ordinary conversation, muttering defensively about the size of oranges.”
—Alex Atkinson, British humor writer. repr. In Present Laughter, ed. Alan Coren (1982)