By Alex Bainbridge
DAVID BENIUK is an accomplished musician who frequently plays benefits for progressive causes. More than that, he is a songwriter who writes honestly about what he sees and thus creates some of the best political music I have heard in Australia.
Beniuk grew up in Wollongong. His family was interested in politics and discussed it a lot. The TV set was "fixed on the ABC". He always liked music, too.
Political music became his way of fusing his two interests. He found that "music could have a brain, could be intellectual, the lyrics [of a song] don't have to be just fodder".
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the big anti-nuclear campaign and other political issues made a strong impression on Beniuk. Part of his early political experience was the election of the Bob Hawke ALP government, including its immediate action to stop the damming of the Franklin River in Tasmania.
Many people, Beniuk among them, expected and hoped that Hawke would help bring in a new period of social reform after the years of the Malcolm Fraser Liberal government. He was disappointed. "We weren't quite prepared for what was to come", he told me.
Beniuk's "The Lesser of Two Evils" — a song about the ALP on his latest CD, UnAustralian Folk Songs — asks "Did we vote for the Franklin River/ Or for woodchip exporters' gain?".
Beniuk identifies the resurgence of Australian political music at that time as an influence. He listened to Goanna's "Let the Franklin Flow", the Warumpi Band and Redgum as he became politically aware.
Beniuk writes from his experience, although people sometimes mistakenly assume the songs are about him. "Four Weeks Notice" from his first CD, Port, is an example. This song is "realist fiction" about the mass sackings at BHP's Wollongong site in the 1980s. Employment at BHP in the city fell from 30,000 to 8000; the song explores the effects on the people involved.
Among Beniuk's own compositions, "A Woman or a Gentle Man" is one of his favourites. The song is a positive and beautiful exposition of bisexuality, a story derived from the experiences of a friend.
On the place of social change in his music Beniuk said, "It's almost the best way to say these sorts of things. All music is political. Johnny Farnham is political — he's conservative ...
"We get labelled as political songwriters because we challenge things. People who are conservative in music don't get labelled political."
Beniuk believes writing music about political issues can be a great way of getting a message across. "Music can be more rousing than a speech", he said. "Songs can become anthems, getting used over and over again, and taking on a momentum of their own." People can be inspired by music, but Beniuk points out, "people need to act on that as well".
"Throughout history, we've always needed people who challenge things in different ways, whether it's through music or theatre, songs or protesting, or whatever. For anything to get done, you need activism — activism that the mainstream might not appreciate at the time."
Beniuk has played for the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Green Left Weekly, the Bellingen Environment Centre, the Wildlife Rescue Service and others. He also plays with a six-member band called the UnAustralians, which grew out of the recording of his more recent CD. He is currently working on a third CD, which will be finished early next year.