All proceeds are donated to The Archie Roach Foundation
Make sure to order your special limited edition 30th anniversary vinyl of Archie Roach’s second album Jamu Dreaming. Price $40 + postage and handling.
It includes a 4 page insert featuring linear notes from the album's producer, David Bridie, album reviews, interviews with Archie and beautiful archival images from photographer, the late Pierre Baroni.
The late Archie Roach is one of Australia’s most highly respected and revered musicians. His extensive list of honours and achievements includes a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Member Of The Order Of Australia (AM), Victorian Australian Of The Year 2020, induction into the ARIA and NIMA Halls Of Fame, and the recipient of 7 ARIA Awards.
FOR INTERNATIONAL Pre-orders PLEASE EMAIL (foundation@archieroach.com.au) and we will determine how much postage will cost in consultation with Australia Post.
‘Heal the People, Heal the Land…goes hand in hand’ was a song Archie wrote many years ago. Everything he spoke about came back to those few words. We had just finished designing a new range of children’s T-shirts and hoodies with this message. Archie was very excited to have these items join his Foundation’s online store. Here they are!
As we are using organic garments sourced in a factory that uses wind and solar to manufacture it may take up to 6 weeks to dispatch.
‘Heal the People, Heal the Land…goes hand in hand’ was a song Archie wrote many years ago. Everything he spoke about came back to those few words. We had just finished designing a new range of children’s T-shirts and hoodies with this message. Archie was very excited to have these items join his Foundation’s online store. Here they are!
As we are using organic garments sourced in a factory that uses wind and solar to manufacture it may take up to 6 weeks to dispatch.
‘Heal the People, Heal the Land…goes hand in hand’ was a song Archie wrote many years ago. Everything he spoke about came back to those few words. We had just finished designing a new range of children’s T-shirts and hoodies with this message. Archie was very excited to have these items join his Foundation’s online store. Here they are!
As we are using organic garments sourced in a factory that uses wind and solar to manufacture it may take up to 6 weeks to dispatch.
This stunning collection of 44 songs curated by Archie from across his stellar career includes his acclaimed new song, One Song, described as a lullaby for humanity. Also included is a 18 page booklet full of stunning and rare archival photos and Archie’s story about the last three decades as a recording artist.
Review of Archie’s new song, One Song, by Jack Latimore.
If you travel 40,075 kilometres in one direction across the land, across the water, across mountain ranges, across deserts, across forests, you will arrive back at your starting point. That’s both science and poetry. I first heard that knowledge in the lyrics of Bob Dylan, but many writers have taken licence to bend that practical note to their work either on the page or in lyrical form. In fact, there’s a line from a song by Tom Waits that goes, ‘If you get far enough away you'll be on your way back home’. Years ago, I borrowed Waits’ line to write something about community and the great Archie Roach.
Years earlier still, I’d been tracing Archie’s life through the inner-city streets, following vestiges of Charcoal Lane both literally and figuratively, consciously and not so consciously. The same streets and the same alley ways Archie once trod. The Fitzroy streets. The Collingwood streets. Anybody could walk them. Everyday all around me all the people walked those streets, pounding and plodding along the cement and bitumen in the cold or in the heat. But it was the songlines contained on that landmark album that I sought. Archie sang them up. Sang a hidden history and broken tooth romance into those places. Sang a past and a present temporal conjunction which then sailed majestically forever forward into future.
‘One Song’, the new song - the last song on this definitive collection - is imbued with similar kinds of majesty and magic. It could be interpreted as Archie sailing full circle. The artist on his way home again to the fire hearth, or to a tranquil river flow.
‘One Song’ is sparse, stripped back – Archie’s voice generous and masterful in expression, even youthful in moments, accompanied only by a cloud shade of guitar and double bass that cycles and drifts atmospherically, adding texture to light. It's prayerful and serene, yet doing bold things with simplicity. It’s a country song, though not the genre you might expect. It’s a connection to place, a singing up of an ancient wisdom from deep time: An exquisite lullaby for humanity.
‘One Song’ is also the artist folding like fiddleback grain over and across his earlier compositions, recalling the pantheism of tracks like ‘River Song’, ‘Dancing With My Spirit’, and of ‘Weeping In The Forest’. It is a song as evocative as the sweeping spiritual landscapes on Archie’s 2007 album, Journey – works like ‘Liyarn Ngarn’, ‘Spirit Of Place’, ‘Morning Star’ and ‘Old People Singing’. And think ‘Mulyawongk’, with its hymnal Hammond organ and plaintive minor chords. And a reduction of the reverence in the exultant soul and gospel explorations of ‘Song To Sing’ and Into The Bloodstream.
Mostly, ‘One Song’ is immediately Archie: A life of weathered terrain imbued with an 80,000-year backstory. An intersection across millennia of cosmological expressions, transcendental reflections and ruminations of memory and fate. An ancient wisdom travelling at once forward and throughout the songlines and blowing along the streets. A message from the Old People to us.
“Remember well what we have told you
Oh don’t forget where you come from”.
A message from the Old People to us.
Written by Jack Latimore
ARCHIE ROACH ANNOUNCES HIS CAREER SPANNING ANTHOLOGY ALBUM, MY SONGS: 1989 – 2021.
This limited 4CD deluxe vinyl sized edition features 44 songs curated by Archie from across his stellar career with 13 bonus demo tracks unheard of til now on a CD called The Old Days. This special collection also includes his plaintive new song, called One Song, described as a lullaby for humanity. Also included is a 16 page booklet full of stunning and rare archival photos and Archie’s story about the last three decades as a recording artist.
The limited 4CD vinyl sized edition is available only through the online Archie Roach Foundation store with all proceeds going to support foundation projects.
Review of Archie’s new song, One Song by Jack Latimore:
If you travel 40,075 kilometres in one direction across the land, across the water, across mountain ranges, across deserts, across forests, you will arrive back at your starting point. That’s both science and poetry. I first heard that knowledge in the lyrics of Bob Dylan, but many writers have taken licence to bend that practical note to their work either on the page or in lyrical form. In fact, there’s a line from a song by Tom Waits that goes, ‘If you get far enough away you'll be on your way back home’. Years ago, I borrowed Waits’ line to write something about community and the great Archie Roach.
Years earlier still, I’d been tracing Archie’s life through the inner-city streets, following vestiges of Charcoal Lane both literally and figuratively, consciously and not so consciously. The same streets and the same alley ways Archie once trod. The Fitzroy streets. The Collingwood streets. Anybody could walk them. Everyday all around me all the people walked those streets, pounding and plodding along the cement and bitumen in the cold or in the heat. But it was the songlines contained on that landmark album that I sought. Archie sang them up. Sang a hidden history and broken tooth romance into those places. Sang a past and a present temporal conjunction which then sailed majestically forever forward into future.
‘One Song’, the new song - the last song on this definitive collection - is imbued with similar kinds of majesty and magic. It could be interpreted as Archie sailing full circle. The artist on his way home again to the fire hearth, or to a tranquil river flow.
‘One Song’ is sparse, stripped back – Archie’s voice generous and masterful in expression, even youthful in moments, accompanied only by a cloud shade of guitar and double bass that cycles and drifts atmospherically, adding texture to light. It's prayerful and serene, yet doing bold things with simplicity. It’s a country song, though not the genre you might expect. It’s a connection to place, a singing up of an ancient wisdom from deep time: An exquisite lullaby for humanity.
‘One Song’ is also the artist folding like fiddleback grain over and across his earlier compositions, recalling the pantheism of tracks like ‘River Song’, ‘Dancing With My Spirit’, and of ‘Weeping In The Forest’. It is a song as evocative as the sweeping spiritual landscapes on Archie’s 2007 album, Journey – works like ‘Liyarn Ngarn’, ‘Spirit Of Place’, ‘Morning Star’ and ‘Old People Singing’. And think ‘Mulyawongk’, with its hymnal Hammond organ and plaintive minor chords. And a reduction of the reverence in the exultant soul and gospel explorations of ‘Song To Sing’ and Into The Bloodstream.
Mostly, ‘One Song’ is immediately Archie: A life of weathered terrain imbued with an 80,000-year backstory. An intersection across millennia of cosmological expressions, transcendental reflections and ruminations of memory and fate. An ancient wisdom travelling at once forward and throughout the songlines and blowing along the streets. A message from the Old People to us.
“Remember well what we have told you
Oh don’t forget where you come from”.
A message from the Old People to us.
Written by Jack Latimore
It’s an honor, a privilege really, to be able to present this collection of music from the late, the great Ruby Hunter, sharing songs from her first two albums, Thoughts Within and Feeling Good, songs she wrote with children from Cape York in Butcher Paper Texta Blackboard and Chalk and songs from the film Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow, from a 2004 concert called Kura Tungar.
Ruby was a very cultural woman. Her identity as a proud Ngarrindjeri, Pitjantjatjara and Kokatha woman from South Australia was very strong. The significance of her cultural upbringing, growing up with her old people on the Coorong before she was taken, only gives you a better understanding of her music. Ruby loved her bush jewelry and the clothes she wore represented her culture.
Ruby had this great way of writing songs. It was so honest and sincere. She would just write down what came into her head without thinking too much about it. It was pure, straight from her heart and mind. When I sit down to write songs I am always thinking – is there a better way I can say that; is there a better word I can use.
Thoughts Within
The songs on Ruby’s debut album, Thoughts Within, were influenced by how the world affected her and those she knew and loved. Ruby thought a lot about how she saw life and how life treated her. Her songs explored how she felt not only as a woman but an Aboriginal Woman, how she navigated her way through life, overcoming the obstacles she had to face because of who she was. She always said her brother Jeffrey Hunter suggested the album title when he said to her ‘I didn’t know you had those thoughts within’.
Feeling Good.
The songs on her second album Feeling Good were just that; feel good songs. In life you might have a bad start but you can have a good finish. The album was about coming out from a dark place, coming into the light and feeling a lot better about yourself and about life in general. Feeling strong as a woman and in particular an Aboriginal woman also influenced her songwriting on this album.
Butcher Paper Texta Blackboard and Chalk
In 1997 Ruby and I toured Cape York in far north Queensland doing songwriting workshops with school children. Ruby had this gift of being able to talk to children; becoming childlike herself. I witnessed this amazing transformation and it was a beautiful thing to see. I remember asking Ruby ‘Mum if you had the chance to put your children’s songs onto an album what would you call it?’ She thought about for a minute then said ‘how about Butcher Paper Texta Blackboard and Chalk?’ To this day I remember saying ‘why would you call it that?’ ‘Well that’s how we wrote the songs on butcher paper with texta and blackboard with chalk,’ she said. So when I talk about her music and her honesty that’s it in a nutshell, you can’t get any more honest than that!
Songs from the film Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow
Songs from the film Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow came from a concert Ruby and I performed with Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra back in 2004 called ‘Kura Tungar – Songs from the River’.
Ruby loved the Murray River and the Coorong. That’s where she was the happiest. These songs are a great refelction on who Ruby was, from the time of her birth to the time she was taken and about her love for her culture and her people, the Ngarrandjeri people.
Archie
Koorie.. 1988 A collection of Archie’s earliest protest songs.
This collection of songs on Koorie, like all my songs, were written at a kitchen table leading up to the so called bicentenary of Australia in 1988, celebrating two hundred years of white settlement.
I had been a resident of Galiamble, a rehab facility in St Kilda, trying to quit drinking again, trying to turn my life around. After I got well my late partner, Ruby Hunter, me and our two young children, Amos and Eban moved into a small flat not far from Galiamble where I ended up working for a while. It was right next door to the bottle shop behind the Village Belle Hotel, an irony not lost on me given I was a recovering alcoholic.
With the exception of Took The Children Away, a song I penned after talking with my Uncle Banjo Clarke at Framlingham Aboriginal Mission in southwest Victoria in the late 1980’s, I wrote the other songs protesting the upcoming bicentennial celebrations.
Sitting at that St Kilda kitchen table the songs started pouring out of me; almost a song a day. The inspiration to protest the bicentennial was strong. The history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia was around 60,000 years, far longer than the 200 years of white settlement. Over a period of about two weeks I had written nine songs.
Some of these early songs made it onto my first album Charcoal Lane, released in 1990, and some have never been heard beyond this unearthed Koorie tape, some thirty- three years on.
Uncle Jim Berg, who founded the Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Trust, knew that I was writing songs. He asked me to write one to accompany an exhibition in late 1988 that the Trust was curating to celebrate Victorian Aboriginal life. I called the song, Koorie Koorie. Uncle Jim organized for me to record all ten songs in a Richmond studio with Ruby on vocals and Wayne Thorpe on didjeridoo. Only a couple of hundred copies of Koorie were ever released and only on cassette. I hope you enjoy listening to some of my earliest songs of protest.
KOORIE 1988 T-SHIRT. POSTED EARLY APRIL.
Koorie.. 1988 A collection of Archie’s earliest protest songs.
This collection of songs on Koorie, like all my songs, were written at a kitchen table leading up to the so called bicentenary of Australia in 1988, celebrating two hundred years of white settlement.
I had been a resident of Galiamble, a rehab facility in St Kilda, trying to quit drinking again, trying to turn my life around. After I got well my late partner, Ruby Hunter, me and our two young children, Amos and Eban moved into a small flat not far from Galiamble where I ended up working for a while. It was right next door to the bottle shop behind the Village Belle Hotel, an irony not lost on me given I was a recovering alcoholic.
With the exception of Took The Children Away, a song I penned after talking with my Uncle Banjo Clarke at Framlingham Aboriginal Mission in southwest Victoria in the late 1980’s, I wrote the other songs protesting the upcoming bicentennial celebrations.
Sitting at that St Kilda kitchen table the songs started pouring out of me; almost a song a day. The inspiration to protest the bicentennial was strong. The history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia was around 60,000 years, far longer than the 200 years of white settlement. Over a period of about two weeks I had written nine songs.
Some of these early songs made it onto my first album Charcoal Lane, released in 1990, and some have never been heard beyond this unearthed Koorie tape, some thirty- three years on.
Uncle Jim Berg, who founded the Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Trust, knew that I was writing songs. He asked me to write one to accompany an exhibition in late 1988 that the Trust was curating to celebrate Victorian Aboriginal life. I called the song, Koorie Koorie. Uncle Jim organized for me to record all ten songs in a Richmond studio with Ruby on vocals and Wayne Thorpe on didjeridoo. Only a couple of hundred copies of Koorie were ever released and only on cassette. I hope you enjoy listening to some of my earliest songs of protest.
‘There are many Australian stories, and mine is just one about what happened to me and other First Peoples of this country. It’s important for me to tell my story – because it’s not just part of my healing but of this country’s as well. We all have a story and as you read this book I would like you to think of your own story, what that means and who is also a part of your story.’
In his inspirational, highly acclaimed memoir – and including reflections from First Nations Elders and young people – Archie Roach tells the story of his life and his music. Only two when he was forcibly removed from his family, and brought up by a series of foster parents until his early teens, Archie’s world imploded when he received a letter that spoke of a life he had no memory of. It took him almost a lifetime to find out who he really was.
Tell Me Why is an unforgettable story of resilience, strength of spirit and hope.
Music legend, Stolen Generations survivor and 2020 Victorian Australian Of The Year Archie Roach AM releases The Songs Of Charcoal Lane, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release.
The Songs of Charcoal Lane includes all of the 10 impassioned tracks from his landmark debut album, re-recorded in Archie’s home in 2020.
When Charcoal Lane was released in 1990, the impact was immediate. Critics were quick to realise that Archie’s soulful vocals and heartfelt lyrics heralded the emergence of a major new artist. The album’s centrepiece, Took the Children Away, shone a spotlight on the impact of the forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from their families and brought it to the attention of the global community. The single won an international Human Rights Achievement Award (the first time ever awarded for a song), while the album was certified gold and won two ARIA Awards.
In June and July 2020, and in a year like no other, Archie Roach gathered two trusted musicians, Stephen Magnusson and Sam Anning, along with recording engineer Hadyn Buxton, around his kitchen table in Gunditjmara country down at Killarney in southwest Victoria to record those timeless ten songs again.
Critics were quick to realise Archie’s soulful vocals and heartfelt lyrics heralded the emergence of a major new artist. The album’s centrepiece, “Took the Children Away”, shone a spotlight on the impact of the forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from their families and brought it to the attention of the global community. The single won an international Human Rights Achievement Award (the first time ever awarded for a song), while the album was certified gold and won two ARIA Awards.
The double CD is packaged in a stunning hardcover clothbound book, with 32 pages of extensive notes and exclusive photos. Limited edition and individually numbered.
Not many have lived as many lives – from stolen child, teenage alcoholic, seeker, lover, father, musical and lyrical genius, to social advocate and First Nations leader – as Archie Roach.
Tell Me Why is the new book and album from Archie Roach.
The memoir is a stunning account of his resilience and strength of spirit – and also of a great love story. It is intimate, moving and often confronting, and Roach’s story is an extraordinary odyssey through love and heartbreak, family and community, survival and renewal – and the healing power of music.
The companion album re-imagines 11 songs that have defined his extraordinary career, together with two songs that were penned but never recorded, two songs of early-influence, and three brand new recordings. The album is produced by Paul Grabowsky.
All proceeds from the store will be donated to the Archie Roach Foundation.
• Pale Blue, 100% combed cotton (marles 15% viscose)
• Custom printed
• Regular fit
• Crew neck
• Neck ribbing
• Side seamed
All proceeds from the store will be donated to the Archie Roach Foundation.
It’s hard to believe that Dancing With My Spirit was recorded nearly a quarter of a century ago, and since that time, for a variety of reasons, has been sitting ‘unreleased’ on a shelf in my studio. The album contains a gift of inspired songs written by Archie, and brought to life during pre-production by the talented musicians who performed on it – Bruce Haymes (keyboards), Dave Steel (guitars), Stuart Speed (bass) and Archie Cuthbertson (drums).
But the songs truly entered another dimension when the Tiddas came to the studio and added their gorgeous, bold harmonies to the mix. The combination of these 3 women and Archie singing together created a magic that’s rare and precious, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have witnessed this creation.
I suppose it’s just that Dancing With My Spirit has been waiting for the right time to reveal itself to the public. That time has now come, heralded by the Tiddas’ announcement that they are reforming especially to sing with Archie once more, and to showcase the songs from the album via series of performances around Australia.
Needless to say I’m absolutely thrilled at this turn of events – thrilled that a recording I truly believe in is finally being released, thrilled that the Tiddas are finally returning to the stage, and totally thrilled to be involved as producer of the album and one of the performing musicians in these upcoming shows. Some things are truly worth waiting for..
We have re-manufactured all sizes of this popular T-shirt.
Unlike his early albums, “Let Love Rule” was written around a definite concept. “On this album I wanted to explore the theme of love – what it is, what it means,” said Archie. “I wanted to write about love, or a willingness to love all people.” He was concerned by what he saw happening in the world and particularly in Australia. “We are closing ourselves off and not letting people in. And not just in the sense of not letting them into the country, but not letting them into our hearts, into our minds. This country was built on people coming here from other countries. That’s what made Australia what it is today.”
These are big words from a man who personally experienced the suffering of being forcibly removed from his family aged only 3 under the Australian Government’s assimilation policy, the legacy of this brutal policy is now referred to as the Stolen Generations.
Those close to him saw the healing effect of that record - on Archie and his audiences. For Archie himself, it was a chance to begin to live again. “It’s a two-way thing. The audience gives me so much back – it’s hard to explain. But that’s actually what I do this for … to get that interaction with the audience.”
Archie Roach and Wiradjuri artist, Birrunga Henderson have donated signed Limited Edition Prints of Robert’s portrait of Archie to The Archie Roach Foundation and The Wayne Weaver Foundation in support of First Nations families and communities.
These special numbered, signed and catalogued prints are $310 (including postage and handling) and was Robert Henderson’s 2014 Archibald Prize entry.
What happens to your donation?
Profits from the donations received will be split equally between the two Foundations to enable them to continue their important work in First Nations communities.
What does the Archie Roach Foundation do?
The Archie Roach Foundation was established in 2014 to nurture meaningful and potentially life changing opportunities for First Nations artists.
The Foundation seeks to walk alongside those working in the arts and young people heading down the wrong track just like Archie was, to support them to be the best that they can be.
Archie knows what it means to have someone walk beside you at key crossroads in your life; to help point you in a deadly direction and empower you to take the next positive step.
He also understands the power of music and storytelling to communicate, connect and heal and is committed to helping others share their story which creates a stronger, more cohesive culturally respectful national story.
What does The Wayne Weaver Foundation do?
The Wayne Weaver Foundation was founded in early 2018 in support of bereaved First Nations families and communities. The Foundation supports the cost of funerals, transport, coffins, and gravestones.
The Wayne Weaver Foundation is focussed on protecting and conserving the social and cultural bonds and traditions of First Nations people, their families and communities at times of bereavement by providing the support, resources and follow up necessary to attend and participate in funeral ceremonies.
Donate now
Receive a stunning Limited Edition print of Archie Roach by Wiradjuri artist, Robert Henderson. Each print is reproduced on quality art paper, is individually numbered and signed by Archie and Robert.
A limited number of prints are available. To donate, contact us now at:
The ultimate illustrated commemoration of iconic Australian musicians Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter in songs, stories, photographs and tributes.
Since he left us, Archie Roach’s legacy has continued to soar, like his totem animal from his mother’s ancestral lands, the wedge-tailed eagle. Archie’s songs stand as anthems for both the experience of dispossession and our shared humanity.
Songs from the Kitchen Table is a tribute to the power of Archie’s voice, and to the love of music he shared with his life partner and musical collaborator, Ruby Hunter. This beautiful, illustrated volume contains the lyrics to over one hundred of their songs, carefully curated by Archie’s manager and friend, Jill Shelton.
From Archie’s breathtaking early works, ‘Took the Children Away’ and ‘Charcoal Lane’, to the timeless classics ‘Tell Me Why’, Ruby’s ‘Down City Streets’, and Archie’s final masterpiece, ‘One Song’, the lyrics are accompanied by stories about their composition, rare photographs, original artwork, and heartfelt tributes to Archie and Ruby from those who knew and loved them.
With forewords by their long-time friends and musical collaborators, Emma Donovan, Paul Kelly and Jack Latimore, Songs from the Kitchen Table is a celebration of one of Australia’s great creative partnerships, and a testament to the ongoing power of plain-spoken truths.