UPK#6 - Track 2: Arkalpayi

Added by Nganampa Health

Description Lyric Video for Track 2 of UPK#6.

Written Bill Davis, Performed Elijah Pinta Connelly, from Pipalyatjara.

That man right in front of you is continually miserable. He groans, he behaves like a poor thing. He is sad.
That man just over there, he obsesses, he overthinks, he is not happy, his home is squalid.
The children are watching, watching, now they are copying, copying.
Now this man just here is living happily, he cares for his home and it is clean. He looks after his family.
The children are watching, watching, they are copying, copying.

UPK stands for Uwankara Palyanku Kanyintjaku; a Pitjantjatjara expression meaning ‘everybody building and caring for the future’.

Using music is an agent of change, the songwriters involved take aim the root causes of hurt they see around them, like petrol sniffing, alcohol and drug addiction, waste management, care-for-country, hunting, and homesickness.

The content of UPK songs is not about blame or victimhood but a musical effort to address the factors that contribute to, or impact on, good living.

Creating awareness is the intention of UPK music because it is the key precedent to positive action.

UPK6 was recorded at West Bore in the APY Lands using an open-air studio with a hessian fence for wind-break, used carpet to keep the dirt down, and digital recording gear housed in the front room of an old outstation home.

The resulting album was released on the APY Lands in the form of a USB slap band containing the whole album, plus a karaoke version complete with scrolling Pitjantjatjara lyrics.