CULTURE, CUSTOM AND COLLABORATION

The production of Yothu Yindi's Treaty videos

Abstract

In recent year~ there has also been an increasing tendency for remixed music tracks, particularly those produced by prominent and/or 'breaking' acts, to be accompanied by a different, or at least reconstructed, version of the original video. Since there are clear economic reasons behind record companies and artists going for such remixes, little comment is passed on the practice (unless it is by consumers confused as to which actual version they wish to purchase at their local record store). One particular case of remixing has however.been singled out for sustained critical address, that of the Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi and the two versions of their single Treaty (see Hayward, 1992 and Mitchell, 1992). As the following article will argue, the criticisms of this particular example highlight the extent to which Aboriginal acts are subject to a degree of scrutiny not accorded to mainstream Western musicians and, like many other black and non-Anglo-Celtic artists, plagued by accusations of their 'selling-out' their own cultures and being contaminated by the values of the market and Western culture in general.