Building Bridges (subtitled Australia Has a Black History)[1] is an Australian compilation album containing tracks from both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal performers, inspired by a 1988 community concert called Building Bridges.[2][3] The concert was held in Australia's Bicentennial year, which included many Aboriginal protests.[4][5]
The vinyl album was released in 1989 to raise money for the National Coalition of Aboriginal Organisations.[6] It includes songs sung in Aboriginal languages.[7] The album was released by CAAMA Music and distributed by CBS[8] in 1989, followed by a CD album released by ABC in 1990.
It reached #47 on the Australian album charts[9] and may have symbolised "the embrace of indigenous rock by the mainstream".[10]
The original double-vinyl release features 27 tracks, while the later CD release features nineteen.
On 24 January 1991 (two days before Australia Day), the Indigenous Australian TV series Blackout screened a special program to commemorate the original concert. With live music simulcast on Triple J featuring Midnight Oil, Yothu Yindi, Archie Roach, Mixed Relations, all-female band Mirror Mirror, Kev Carmody, and Crowded House, the special also included band members and members of the audience talking about the future of black/white relations in Australia. The program was produced by ABC TV in co-operation with the Building Bridges Association Inc.[4]
^ ab"Blackout". The Canberra Times. Vol. 65, no. 20, 372. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 21 January 1991. p. 24. Retrieved 1 February 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^Sydney Morning Herald, 11 March 1989, "Rampant Oils help put black bridge over the mainstream" by Lynden Barber
^Reed, Liz (2006). ""...different lives in different places": A Space for Multiple White Identities through Aboriginal Rock Music". In Lynette Russell (ed.). Boundary writing: an exploration of race, culture, and gender binaries in contemporary Australia. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN0-8248-3048-2.
^Lawe Davies, Chris (1993). "Aboriginal rock music: space and place". In Tony Bennett (ed.). Rock and Popular Music: Politics, Policies, Institutions. Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-06369-2.