Kim White, Sydney

On May 6, 500-700 people attended the Rock the Block festival in the inner-city suburb of Redfern, enjoying five hours of Indigenous and non-Indigenous music and films. Money raised by the festival will contribute towards a new community dance studio at the Eloura Tony Mundine gym.

Performers on the day ranged from rock act and organisers Andorra to local favourite Wire MC. There were impromptu performances by No Fixed Address frontperson Bart Willoughby, and Richard Green accompanied by children singing contemporary nursery rhymes in Aboriginal languages.

Other musicians who entertained the crowd included Ozi Batla from the Herd, eclectic folk act Shimmer, pop violinist Gisele Scales, Indigenous hip-hop artists Tribal Ashes and Munkimuk, Jesse Morris and the Project, local rock stalwarts the Urban Guerillas and, rounding out the evening, Melbourne act Combat Wombat.

The Blackscreen film series, run by the Australian Film Commission as part of the festival, also enjoyed a large attendance. Blackscreen was introduced by Andre Reese, director of Sunrise Awakening, which documents the beginning of black theatre in the 1970s and which was restored in order to be screened at Rock the Block. It is the first of many archived films that the AFC is showing at the Block, as the area once again becomes a hub for Indigenous theatre, films and dance.

Aboriginal Housing Company CEO Mick Mundine said the Block’s residents are looking forward with great enthusiasm to another event in October — a children’s day featuring performances from children learning at the dance studio.

Photographer Moz has taken a wonderful series of shots of the day, which are viewable at <http://www.moz.net.nz>.

From Green Left Weekly, May 24, 2006.
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