Electric Fields, a Aboriginal Australian electronic music duo made up of Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, may not have qualified for the Eurovision grand final this year, but their experience has been far from disheartening. They’ve described it as an electrifying moment that will be etched in their memories forever.
Representing Australia in Malmö, Sweden, Electric Fields made history as the first Australian Eurovision contestant to incorporate First Nations language into their entry. Their song "One Milkali (One Blood)" is all about unity - it talks about how we’re all connected, no matter where we’re from.
Electric Fields - One Milkali (One Blood) [Lyric Video]
The song switches between English and Pitjantjatjara (pronounced as pit-jan-jah-jarra) a/Yankunytjatjara (pronounced as yan-kun-ja-jarra), two languages spoken by Indigenous Australians.
These languages come from the Aṉangu people, which includes about 4000 speakers, and stretches northwest to Balgo, west to Port Headland, south to Kalgoorlie, Yalata and Oodnadatta and northeast to Alice Springs.
Unfortunately, 4,000 speakers isn’t many. In fact, all Indigenous Australian languages are endangered, and many communities struggle to find spaces where they can use and pass on their languages. Contemporary music is one such place where First Nations languages are increasingly being found.
This mix of language is something practised by multilingual people, often switch between languages or different styles of speech when they talk. This is called code-switching. Code switching is done for different reasons, like wanting to blend in or connect with others.
Incredibly, Electric Field’s is celebrating Indigenous culture through the use of words and rhythms from Indigenous ceremonies, showing how music can bring people together. They're following in the footsteps of other Indigenous musicians who have proudly sung in their languages, like the Warumpi Band and Yothu Yindi.
If you're inspired by Electric Fields and want to learn more about Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara, check out the Wangka Wiru by Paul Eckert and Joyce Hudson stocked by Red Kangaroo Books.
“There are ‘Learner Guides’ available for a range of Aboriginal languages but none that I have seen come anywhere near the depth, thoroughness and structural logic of Wangku Wiru. The conclusions state that it is ‘designed to give some basic information about the language’ which should ‘help in the task of communicating with Pitjantjatjara speakers’ (p277).
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