The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) came to life in 1982. The establishment of radio station 8KIN–FM was seen as being vital to the broad educational and community development aspirations of Aboriginal people in Central Australia. Radio was a way to give voice to Aboriginal hopes and dreams as well as being a tool to maintain and sustain the culture and languages of Central Australia.
From its inception CAAMA recorded the songsters of the Land, using the most rudimentary tape machines, the songs were then played directly on Radio 8KIN-FM. Compilations were produced and cassettes of music began selling like hotcakes in community stores across the country.
The multiplied effect of these recordings was startling; the radio station was deluged with requests for favorite songs, bush musicians turned up in droves wanting their songs recorded, Aboriginal music appeared on soundtracks for television and motion picture; certain artists achieved popularity with non-Aboriginal enthusiasts and tourists; a new form of Australian music had been born.
The music swelled in popularity; Aboriginal groups proliferated, almost springing from the bush; they demanded to be recorded and heard. The Warumpi Band, Ilkari Maru, The Wedgetail Eagles, The Pitjantjatjara Country Band and Soft Sands from the Northern Territory gained popularity as Coloured Stone, No Fixed Address, Us Mob and others achieved prominence in the southern states.
The CAAMA Music studio was busy. Aboriginal engineers were being trained under a DEET training scheme, a recording label and publishing company were established, the first CAAMA Shop was established; it sold the music and distributed it to stores throughout the bush and a myriad of retail outlets nationally. In short time CAAMA Music reached self-sustainability; its name became well known in the promotion of contemporary Aboriginal music through concerts, festivals and the broadcast of film clips on Imparja television and the ABC.
CAAMA’s social charter is to use the mediums of radio and television to give Aboriginal people a strong voice in the development of country, culture, politics and education; to use the broadcasting arts and sciences to arrest cultural disintegration, to empower people and bring inspiration to their lives. Aboriginal music, particularly CAAMA Music, has been integral to all these processes. Volumes of songs have been recorded which address socially pertinent issues ranging from substance abuse, domestic violence, land rights, AIDS, water management, health and well-being. These songs have been broadcast far and wide to affect community awareness and help bring effective strategies to bear on the many social problems besetting Aboriginal communities.
The music emanating from CAAMA’s studio provided social commentary and perhaps has even been a precipitant force in cultural and political change in Central Australia; the presence of music in community life is often an index of its feeling and well being; it carries messages of change and conveys the mood of the people.
There is no doubt music is a vital factor in the lives of Aboriginal people in Central Australia. Like football, it is a highly credentialed activity; it influences social standing and provides, however meagre, an alternate income stream.
CAAMA Music has now existed for more than 25 years. In that time thousands of Aboriginal musicians have been recorded in the famous CAAMA Music studio, their work then being broadcast on Radio 8KIN-FM. CAAMA Music is Australia’s biggest and oldest indigenous record label.
