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Bunna
Lawrie
Profiles
Music
Bondi
Beach Aboriginal
Australia
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).
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
Mediaman does not represent Bunna Lawrie
or Coloured Stone
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