
A teenage band put together by Sammy Butcher performs for an audience. Sammy talks about the kind of songs he and the children write together, and one song ‘Ngayulu Nyangu’ which means I have seen it all, is about the difficulties some of the children face growing up in the community. We are taken out of the recording studio and into the bush where the Elders teach the children how to get bush tucker. Summary by Romaine Moreton.
A very tender moment in the documentary, though it isn’t filmed that way. For those of us who do not speak the language in which the young singer is singing, we do not know that he is singing about having seen it all – ‘Ngayulu Nyangu’. The Little Orphan Band, which played for Russell Crowe and met Peter Garrett, offers a healing perspective on music, and we get the sense that the children involved in this project are doing it for reasons of survival. Sammy Butcher states quite simply while ‘Ngayulu Nyangu’ is being performed, it’s a true message, and for a moment we are allowed to glimpse the reality of the young musicians and at the same time the importance of the work Sammy Butcher is doing.
A documentary about musician Sammy Butcher who once played with the Warumpi Band and now invests his energy in young musicians in his community, Papunya, 250 kilometres west of Alice Springs.
Sammy Butcher, Out of the Shadows is part of the Nganampa Anwernekenhe series produced by Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) Productions. Nganampa Anwernekenhe means 'ours’ in the Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte lanuages, and the series aims to contribute to the preservation of Indigenous languages and cultures.
A documentary that shows what life after the Warumpi Band is like for Sammy Butcher. Like so many other Indigenous artists, Sammy Butcher’s role within his community becomes one of responsibility as well as his individual professional aspirations. The moment in the documentary that has great resonance is when The Orphan Band sing the song ‘Ngayulu Nyangu’ which means I have seen it all. This expresses the heart of Sammy Butcher’s work, which is to create a better way for future generations through music.
Notes by Romaine Moreton
This clip shows the efforts of Luritja man and well-known musician, Sammy Butcher, to keep culture strong. The opening sequence features young boys, members of the Little Orphan Band, singing of a family whose lives are dominated by alcohol, drugs and gambling as Butcher explains that perhaps the lyrics will change people’s lives. In the second sequence his family members are seen in their country with the women teaching children how to find honey ants and witchetty grubs. Luritja language with English subtitles is used throughout the clip.
Education notes provided by The Learning Federation and Education Services Australia
This clip starts approximately 6 minutes into the documentary.
There are young boys singing, playing guitar and drumming on a stage in front of a small ground. Subtitles read.
Sammy Butcher We wrote songs to get people to listen to the meaning.
Sammy is interviewed sitting in the control room of studio while a band is recording on the other side. A young boy sings into the microphone. We see close ups of the digital recording program being used.
Sammy ‘Ngaylulu Nyangu’, it means I have seen it all. Like the mother would get her cheque, and goes to the shop to change it, cashes it, and gambles it all on cards. Really she ought to be buying good food, instead she wastes it on cards. With the father, he goes around following the grog, the families wait for him but he never returns. The sister smokes marijuana, and the brother goes sniffing petrol. Its up to each individual person to understand themselves. ‘I can’t say to them, Oh you should stop drinking.’ Maybe the song will change them, because the song says it all.
We see a woman walking through long grass bending to pick something off the ground, there is trees and shrubs around. Then a man sitting under a tree. We then see a group of women sitting under the shade of a tree. Interview with woman.
Sammy We Aboriginal people are spoiling ourselves. With grog, marijuana and anything. Our family is trying to keep our culture strong by asking ourselves questions about where we come from, so that we know our dreaming. We are going to dig for honey ants and witchetty grubs today. To pass the knowledge onto the children.
A 4WD is travelling through the long grass and passes by along a sandy track. We see into the back of the vehicle where women and children are crowded in together. They exit the vehicle and start digging into the sand under a shrub with long sticks. The women pull sticks out of the ground, out of which they get witchetty grubs. The young girls and boys look on and one boy is handed a witchetty grub. We see a blue bowl on the ground with eight witchetty grubs in it.
Woman Now, we’re going for honey ants and witchetty grubs. My grandmother showed me how to find honey ants and witchetty grubs. I learned from my grandmother at Haasts Bluff. Now I am teaching the little ones, how to find honey ants, hunt for goannas, and where to get bush bananas. Tracking, digging and cooking. We also teach traditional dancing. The people from Papunya teach their young ones about bush tucker.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.