By Larry Schwartz
THEY were two-thirds of the original line up of an award-winning group whose name, Stiff Gins, caused controversy. While some continue to associate “gin” with a derogatory word for Aboriginal woman, Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs argued that they were seeking to “redress this meaning”.
“We, along with many other Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, no longer want the word to be associated with such hurt and negativity,” they told the Koori Mail in late 2001, “and our actions are in honour of all the women, our own mothers, aunties, sisters and grandmothers included, who were abused with this word.”
Almost a decade on, Simpson reveals that some people still have misgivings. “There are still definitely people who are upset by the term … but I think because we have been around for a while and we have shown that we are committed to what we say we are trying to do, people are accepting that and accepting us for that…We’ve put it out there for the community to have their say which is the most important thing I think.”
She and Briggs were not sure they had what it took to carry on after co-founder Emma Donovan quit some years ago. “I think that we thought we were basically backup singers in that three-way thing and that’s because we didn’t have any confidence,” Simpson says. “She is an amazing vocalist and we kind of let her do her thing. When she left it took us almost four years to hit our straps and find out who we really were as singers and writers and performers in our own right.
“We had a few other members after Emma left because everybody knew us as a three-piece harmony group and we thought we were going to miss another voice if it is just the two of us…. We just had to realise that we could do it ourselves.”
Simpson says the Stiff Gins’ new album, Wind and Water, is proof of their growth and as well as a testament to their enduring friendship. “I always say that meeting Kaleena changed my life,” she says.
“Before we even started singing we had a wonderful friendship. When I think about it, we’re opposites in almost every sense and can do something that compliments each other so well. If we have ever had to go through shitty things or wonderful things we have always been standing next to each other. So I know that if our friendship wasn’t as strong the band might not have survived the first rough thing that happened. “
Opposites in almost every sense? “She sings high. I sing low. She is tall and thin and I am short and wide. She is a water sign. I am a fire sign….
Simpson helps troubled youth in a program at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. She represented New South Wales in an indigenous women’s cricket team at the recent annual Imparja cricket carnival in Alice Springs. She opened the batting and laughingly concedes that she “got out for a golden duck in the televised final” against the ACT. Briggs, she reckons, is a “sci-fi nerd”.
Wind and Water is the first release on a new label run by Sydney’s Gadigal Information Service, named for the traditional owners of the inner Sydney area which has operated an indigenous radio station for almost a decade.
“I feel like it (the album) is a major development. We’ve done other albums with other players but we were just learning what we were good at and what we were doing.”
A track called GoGo recalls the death of 17 year-old Thomas “TJ” Hickey that led to the Redfern Riots of 2004. He lost control of his bicycle and was impaled on a metal fence and is understood to have spotted a police vehicle he believed was chasing him.
“Kaleena and I met in Redfern,” Simpson says. “We started in Redfern. Our first gigs were there. We felt a real synergy with the people and the place there. My father went to the funeral in Walgett where he (Hickey) was from and I went to a memorial march down in Redfern. And on the same day and in those two places it had rained for the first time in a long time. So (we are) connecting that young man with rain which gives life and celebrating life.”
The first track, Yandool, means “We Come” and the lyrics are in the traditional language of Briggs’ people, the Wiradjuri of central and southern New South Wales. Simpsons says her mob is the Yuwaalaraay from Northwest New South Wales.
“We both live in Sydney and our mobs are six and 10 hours either way north or south of here, we have to be conscious of keeping those links …and the way that we do that here is through song and travelling and going back home and that kind of thing. We’ve got to work hard to still have that in our life.”
Rhythms March 2011
Larry Schwartz Writer 