UPK#6 - Track 10: Ila Wiya

Added by Nganampa Health

Description Lyric Video for Track 10 of UPK#6.

Lyrics NHC Group. Melody by Bill Davis.

Listen all you fathers and mothers! You must look after your children well and be strong about it so they can grow well, without sickness. Teach your children well, speak well and don’t smoke close to the children, that’s bad.
Ila wiya! Not Close!

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.