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Bunna
Lawrie
Greg
Tingle, Bunna Lawrie, Chad Kendrick and Marco Yellin
Coloured
Stone
Coloured
Stone is a band from Ceduna, South Australia. Their
hit song "Finir" made it on to the Australian
ARIA Charts. Their sound has been described as having
a reggae thump and a funk feel, with unique Aboriginal
qualities. The band performs using guitar, bass, drums,
and Aboriginal instruments the didjeridu and the bundawuthada
(gong stone), to play traditional music such as the
haunting "Mouydjengara", a whale-dreaming
song of the Mirning people.
The
band members of Coloured Stone were originally two
sets of brothers, Buna and Bunny (Duane) Lawrie, and
the Coaby brothers, Neil and Mackie, who play rhythm
and bass. All are from the mission settlement of Koonibba.
Buna Lawrie is drummer, singer and leader of the band,
and also a member of the Mirning Aboriginal tribe.
The band's single, "Black Boy" was a success
when first released in 1984 (it became the number
one song in Fiji), and was followed by "When
You Gonna Learn" and "Dancin' in the Moonlight".
The lyrics of "Black Boy" included the line
"Black boy, black boy, the color of your skin
is your pride and joy," which was a somewhat
revolutionary sentiment for outback Australia in the
1980s. It moved black audiences to increase their
dancing each time it was played at an early gig in
Alice Springs.
Buna
Lawrie's son, Jason Scott has played guitar, bass,
drums and didjeridu for Coloured Stone since he was
13 years old. His first major gig was "Rock Against
Racism" in Adelaide. Jason has also performed
at the Sydney Opera House and toured the US in 1994
with the Wirrangu Band as part of a cultural exchange
program. With his band Desert Sea Jason released an
album in 2002 named From the Desert to the Sea.
Support
for Aboriginal causes
Peter
Dawson reported on Coloured Stone's April 1998 outdoor
gig; the first day Wild Water opened for Coloured
Stone and Regurgitator at Brown's Mart Community Arts
Centre, to an enthusiastic audience, both black and
white, which danced til three in the morning. On the
third day the band went to Jabiru to play at the Sports
and Social Club. At dawn on day four, Coloured Stone
traveled to Jabiluka to play on a makeshift stage
in support of the Mirrar tribe's protest blockade
of the road to a uranium mine on Mirrar land.
From
March to August 2001, Buna Lawrie and fellow Aboriginal
musician Barry Cedric took part in a songwriting workshop
for Aboriginal youth at Yarrabah. The young people
learned to play musical instruments, compose a song
and set it to music. At the end, six youths went to
Cairns to record their song, "One Fire",
in a recording studio. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
Articles
Hope
found in whale dreamtime, by Greg Tingle - October
2008
Websites
Bunna
Lawrie MySpace
ABC
Speaking Out
Whaledreamers
Profiles
Changing
Colours Movement
Mirning
Tribe
News
Bunna
Lawrie to appear at Greenfest,
Brisbane
Google
News search for Bunna Lawrie
Media
Man does not represent Bunna Lawrie or Coloured Stone
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