The News-Times Music Reviews & News
By Cary Darling Orange County Register

Think about modern Australian pop music and the faces that flash to mind are Silverchair and Midnight Oil, groups that represent the surf's-up, heads-down, no-nonsense rock 'n' roll for which the continent is known. But there's a different sound coming from the big, brown land these days - though it's one that's been around for 40,000 years or so. It's the voice of Aboriginal Australia and it's being heard here with more frequency.

But most of what Americans have heard of Aboriginal pop has been from a male perspective - the rock/traditional blend of Yothu Yindi, the folk of Archie Roach - and that's where Tiddas breaks the mold. The word is Aboriginal for ``sister,'' and the all-female trio, two of whose members are Aboriginal, just released its first U.S. album, ``Sing About Life,'' on Island/Loose Cannon. In addition, the threesome has just finished a stateside tour that included dates with Billy Bragg. In Europe, it has played at Peter Gabriel's WOMAD festivals.

The group - including Amy Saunders, Lou Bennett and white Australian Sally Dastey - combines traditional Euro-American folk sensibilities with hints of global-music influences and lyrics flavored by their experiences as Aboriginal women. ``Sing About Life'' won an ARIA, Australia's equivalent of the Grammy, as best indigenous record in 1994. Comparisons are often made to the Indigo Girls, though Tiddas has more of a world-music flavor.

``(The song) `Sing About Life' basically describes us and what we sing about,'' Saunders said in a phone interview. ``We sing about Aboriginal issues, and the three of us are women so we couldn't sing about being a white male; that's beyond us. We write about the things we know.''

Yet the three first came together in the early '90s as singers in a band formed by Saunders' brother, an 11-piece outfit with a horn section. ``We could never hear ourselves,'' Saunders said. ``(The three of us) were invited out to a women's performance and we didn't know what to call ourselves. (Aboriginal singer-songwriter) Ruby Hunter said, `I can't call you my brother, you're my tiddas.'

``We thought we'd do it just for that night but it kept going from there. It was quite a good thing for us.''

Performances around Australia followed and fans started asking about recordings. ``We hadn't really thought about that,'' Saunders recalled. ``A friend of ours who worked for the Australian Broadcasting Commission had his own Friday-night music show and we (did) live performances with Sweet Honey in the Rock. He took a shine to us and got us into the studio, mainly to record stuff for his radio show.''

The result was a six-track CD that ended up being Tiddas' first Australian release. That was followed by a 20-track album. Fourteen of those 26 songs make up the U.S. version of ``Sing About Life.''

Tiddas isn't the only new female Aboriginal face making noise on the Australian scene right now. Christine Anu, a Torres Strait Islander whose ``Stylin' Up'' album has been a hit Down Under, takes a more danceable pop approach to getting her point across, closer to Neneh Cherry and Me'Shell NdegeOcello than to Tiddas. Her material has yet to be released in the U.S.

``She's singing traditional songs about where she grew up and doing it with a modern beat,'' Saunders said. ``That's very cool and she's relating to young Aboriginal kids as well.''

Rhythm Nation is a weekly look at world and dance music. Cary Darling is an assistant entertainment editor at The Orange County Register. He can be reached by e-mail at carydar(at)aol.com or caryd(at)eworld.com, by phone at (714) 953-7866, by fax at (714) 542-5037, or by mail at P.O. Box 1626, Santa Ana, Calif. 92711-1626.

(c) 1995, Orange County Register. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

AP-NY-12-18-95 0748EST