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James Ronald Chi (1948 – 26 June 2017) was an Australian composer, musician and playwright. His best known work is the 1990 musical Bran Nue Dae, which was adapted for film in 2009.
Chi attended a Catholic school in Perth, and went on to university in WA. However, he was involved in a serious car accident, and, after coming out of a three-week coma, developed bipolar affective disorder. He became severely depressed, but was helped by his faith.
After returning to Broome in 1970, he bought a guitar and started writing songs, initially on his own. Stephen Pigram and Michael Manolis joined him in songwriting, and in the early 1980s the three of them, along with Garry Gower and Patrick Bin Amat moved to Adelaide, South Australia, to study music at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) and the University of Adelaide.
Chi's most acclaimed work is Bran Nue Dae, written in collaboration with his band Kuckles, Scrap Metal, The Pigram Brothers, and friends. Bran Nue Dae is a partly autobiographical work which took many years to write. It celebrates family, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and was a hit at the Festival of Perth in 1990 where it was performed by the Black Swan Theatre.Eckersley. M.(ed.) 2009. Drama from the Rim: Asian Pacific Drama Book. Drama Victoria. Melbourne. 2009. (p. 9) It went on to tour Australia extensively and it was Australia's most successful musical play of the early 1990s. A documentary film about it was made in 1991. from Cultural Dissent, Green Left Weekly issue No. 27
One of the famous verses from a song in the musical sums up Chi's dry humour and sharp political approach:
The musical won the prestigious Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards in 1990. The following year the published script and score won the Special Award in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. It brought acclaim for many Aboriginal artists, including Ernie Dingo, Josie Ningali Lawford, and Leah Purcell, and its success was key in the establishment of the Black Swan Theatre Company.
Chi also wrote the musical Corrugation Road, which was first performed by the Black Swan Theatre at the Fairfax Studio in Melbourne in 1996 before an Australian national tour.Eckersley. M.(ed.) 2009. Drama from the Rim: Asian Pacific Drama Book. Drama Victoria. Melbourne. 2009. (p9). Corrugation Road concerns mental health, abuse, sexuality, and religion.
Chi's songs have been covered by such artists as the Irish singer Mary Black and Aboriginal singer Archie Roach.
Broome's Opera Under the Stars festival has featured Chi's "Child of Glory", from Bran Nue Dae, at every festival since 1993. His hymns are regularly sung at Aboriginal funerals in Broome.
Che was awarded the Centenary Medal by the federal government, for his contribution to Australian society, and he was acknowledged by the WA Government as a State Living Treasure.
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| 1997
| himself
| Red Ochre Award
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An inquest into his death published its results in 2019. It said that Chi had been an involuntary patient under the Mental Health Act 2014, and had died in the emergency department from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary atherosclerosis, although he had also suffered from a number of other diseases.
Career
The five friends from Broome formed the band Kuckles in 1981, with Chi as one of the three songwriters, along with Manolis and Pigram.
There's nothing I would rather be
Than to be an Aborigine
and watch you take my precious land away.
For nothing gives me greater joy
than to watch you fill each girl and boy
with superficial existential shit.
Other activities
Chi was patron of SANE Australia.
Awards and honours
In 1991, Chi was awarded the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Drama Award for Bran Nue Dae.
Australia Council for the Arts
The Australia Council for the Arts is the arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a Red Ochre Award. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement.
Deadly Awards
The Deadly Awards were an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. They ran from 1995 to 2013.
(wins only)
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| rowspan="2"| 1998
| Corrugation Road (with Kuckles and The Pigram Brothers)
| Excellence in Film or Theatrical Score
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Later life and death
Chi spent most of his later life at home in Broome with his family and friends. He died in Broome Hospital on 26 June 2017.
Discography
Works
Categories: 1948 Births, 2017 Deaths, Australian Dramatists And Playwrights, Australian People Of Chinese Descent, Australian People Of Japanese Descent, Australian People Of Scottish Descent, Indigenous Australian Musicians, Indigenous Australian Writers, Indigenous Australians From Western Australia, People From Broome, Western Australia, People With Bipolar Disorder, Musicians From Western Australia, Australian Musical Theatre Composers, Male Musical Theatre Composers
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