Brisbane Festival welcomes the whole city to a very special FREE opening event with the presentation of The Black Arm Band at River Stage.

The Black Arm Band features a line-up of some of the most respected names in Australian music performing works from an inspirational songbook of contemporary Aboriginal life.

The Black Arm Band celebrates music as an instrument of identity, political resistance, cultural resilience and a call to freedom.   Against a backdrop of lyrical and provocative film images, The Black Arm Band promises to be a unique Festival experience symbolising the step towards mutual recognition between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

“There are not stars here, the ‘star’ is the music and the stories it tells, the stories of Aboriginal Australians.  Catch it if you can, you may never see so much talent together again.”
Melbourne Stage Online, 2006

“This was an inspirational concert in its own right, and with significant differences... [It] was not a multicultural tribute to an individual but a celebration of collective experiences by some of the nation’s finest indigenous singers from across the generations… this concert will be hard to forget.”
The Australian, 2007

FEATURING

Dave Arden, Mark Atkins, Lou Bennett, Emma Donovan, Kutcha Edwards, Joe Geia, Shane Howard, Ruby Hunter, Jimmy Little, Rachel Maza-Long, Shellie Morris, Stephen Pigram, Archie Roach, Peter Rotumah, Dan Sultan, Bart Willoughby and Ursula Yovich and many, many more.

Photo: John Sones