KEV CARMODY: OUR PILLAR OF SOCIETY
Pictured: Kev Carmody holds tradition dear with the 2020 edition of Cannot Buy My Soul Image: Supplied
It could not be a more appropriate time for the re-release of Kev Carmody’s 2007 album, Cannot Buy My Soul. Produced by Sian Darling, Cannot Buy My Soul encapsulates the essence of Kev Carmody and more, as the tribute album is adorned with Australian artists such as Paul Kelly, Bernard Fanning, Missy Higgins, Alice Skye, Electric Fields, Courtney Barnett, and Mo’Ju.
In June 2020 the world saw the rise of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement following 46-year-old African-American man, George Floyd’s death, serving for us as a reminder of our very own black history.
Whilst the BLM movement may have been no surprise to Carmody, the re-release of Cannot Buy My Soul still stirred within him passion and purpose to fight a seemingly familiar battle.
Talking to Kev Carmody is like chatting with a long-lost friend: despite us only meeting for the first time, it’s as if we’d picked up where we’d left off the last time we spoke, possibly due to Carmody’s incredibly friendly nature.
“Crikey, I reckon it involves us all, Selin, it’s global now!” he said.
“The thing is it’s connected with Black Lives Matter, because musically we’ve been talking about this for 40-50 flaming years, and it’s still relevant, like 438 deaths in custody, [and] nobody’s been charged in Australia, it’s a hidden tragedy.”
Since the 1991 report of the Royal Commission of Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, over 430 Indigenous deaths in custody have taken place.
First Nations people account for just over three per cent of Australia’s population, however Indigenous children are, on a national average, 17 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous youth, a study released by the Sentencing Advisory Council of Victoria found.
It’s this passion which Carmody hopes to pass on to future generations through the notion of storytelling, with young First Nations artists such as Alice Skye, Electric Fields, and Mo’Ju, all performing unique renditions of his tracks on Cannot Buy My Soul.
“And that’s what I love, Selin, the old Indigenous tradition of oral storytelling,” he said. “Passing it on to the next generation, and the generation after that, as we’ve done it for thousands and thousands of years.”
A track which encapsulates Carmody’s remarkable storytelling abilities is one which he wrote with fellow Australian musician, Paul Kelly, From Little Things Big Things Grow, which tells the story of the fight for land rights by the Gurindji people in the Northern Territory, led by Vincent Lingiari.
First Nations indie-electronic duo Electric Fields re-interpreted From Little Things Big Things Grow, incorporating excerpts of Lingiari’s voice throughout, with the duo also singing in language.
Excited, Carmody expressed his appreciation for the glimmering rendition performed by Electric Fields.
“It’s blown me away because it’s all globally connected now… the transformation and evolution that’s happened with the genre of music, as an example, Electric Fields, goodness me, hearing that old mans – they got permission too off the Gurindji people – they got permission to use that old man's voice,” he said.
“And it’s like his spirit is re-lived, he’s become alive again, in that video. To hear that, it just floored me.”
Electric Fields:
Another track which Carmody holds dear is one he wrote when he was only 22, called I’ve Been Moved. The year before he wrote this song, First Nations people had only just won the right to be counted in the National Census, with 94 per cent of Australians voting “yes” in the 1967 referendum.
“Young Dan Kelly did a beautiful version of it – Paul’s nephew. That was done in 1968, and it’s the only song really that I’ve ever done the lyrics first,” he said.
“What moved my spirit outside the things which were happening around me, I tore off some cardboard off a cereal packet, wrote it down… I’ve been moved, by the crying of a newborn, because our son, our eldest son Paul was just born in 1967, and he’s in the second verse.”
“It’s just that whole concept of energy is born, that I thought was precious.”
Carmody’s 1988 powerful debut protest album, Pillars of Society, gained critical acclaim with Rollingstone Magazine describing it as, “The best album ever released by an Aboriginal musician and arguably the best protest album ever made in Australia.”
Since, Carmody has had a remarkable career with accolades to show.
In 2007, Cannot Buy My Soul won the Deadly for Best Album.
In 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Southern Queensland (formerly the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education) where he studied.
Shortly after, in 2009, he was inducted into the ARIA’s Hall of Fame.
And, despite it all, Carmody manages to maintain his love for songwriting and storytelling, with his infectious optimism felt throughout the re-imagining of Cannot Buy My Soul.
“Let’s hope the music is going to be uplifting, let’s hope we can be optimistic my friends.”