Archie Roach – Journey

Journey – Archie Roach

BY CHRIS PEKEN

Archie Roach has cemented his place over the last decade as one of the pre-eminent voices of the traditional and ancient people of our land. From his groundbreaking Took The Children Away to his more recent working with partner Ruby Hunter, what has become remarkable about Roach is the way he has let his music do the talking; in between albums his silence has only served to strengthen the message of his carefully chosen words. This album, Journey, is just that – a musical album that follows the accompanying DVD Liyarn Ngarn – the journey Roach undertook with English actor Pete Postlewaite and indigenous leader Patrick Dobson tracing the steps of a young indigenous man, Louis Johnson. From Fitzroy Crossing, to the deaths in custody in Freemantle, through the desert of Central Australia and concluding in Archie’s home country Gunditjmara/Kirrae Whurrong of South West Victoria. Despite a long list of celebrated guests on Journey – including Shane Howard (who also produced the album) Troy Cassar-Daly, Paul Kelly, David Bridie and the Pigram Brothers – it is very much an Archie Roach album, telling of Archie’s trip and his continuing search for not only a home country, but for some meaning in the continuing journey and struggle of his people. Musically Journey takes on a gentle rolling feel, sharing as much with Islander music as with the country music that Roach has explored previously. The themes of repossession, spiritual elders, justice, and hopes for reconciliation are not new – they are after all over 200 years old – but Roach continues to explore them with a spirit that is so beautifully open despite everything it has endured. Archie Roach gives so much to the people of this country both black and white, it would be nice to think that his personal journey has a joyous reconciliation.

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