Jimmy Chi

Jimmy Chi (* 1948 in Broome ; † June 26, 2017 ibid) was a musician, composer and playwright from Western Australia . His most famous work is Bran Nue Dae , a musical. It is the first musical that an Aboriginal wrote and composed. According to his ancestry, he is Aboriginal, Chinese and Japanese.

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Bran Nue Dae is a rock opera that premiered at the Perth Festival in 1990. It is the story of the Aboriginal boy Willy on a journey from Perth to his homeland in his search for himself, for affection and security. It is the autobiographical story of Jimmy Chi, who grew up in Broome and whom his mother sent to a Catholic mission station in Perth. After a car accident he was first referred to a psychiatric ward; when he left, he went back to Broome and taught himself to make music and to write songs. The musical has won several awards, including the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. It is one of Australia's most famous musicals and it was later made into a film.

He also wrote the musical Corrugation Road , which addressed social taboos among Aboriginal Australians such as sex, health and religion.

Both musicals were of great importance for the self-image and for the identification of the Aborigines. The songs of Chi are played in the form of hymns at Aboriginal funerals in the Broome area. Some Chi songs were sung by Irish singer Mary Black and Archie Roach , an Australian Aboriginal singer.

Web links

• Jimmy Chi in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Awards from Jimmy Chi

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rangi Hirini: Bran Nue Dae playwright and Broome legend passes away. NITV, June 29, 2017, accessed on June 29, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Google books
3. ↑ Jimmy Chi's magical musical ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.