ABSTRACT
The comfortable sound of gentle acoustic guitar-picking of a slow country love song fills the dimly lit control room. J. Gerstin’s observations are relevant to the negotiation of male, blackfella and musical forms around the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association recording studio, where Aboriginal men like Lyndon, Stan and Warren have recorded, played, toured and made music with and around each other for years. They know each other’s musical skills, techniques and preferences as well as their personal idiosyncrasies from having been involved in the musical and personal dramas, and the good and the bad turn of events, that mark their respective biographies. Either way, the Aboriginal men around the studio both read and exploit this blackfella interactional etiquette to negotiate their relative musical and male positions and recognition in the competitive studio dynamic. Both the men and the women, here, adhere to regional Aboriginal norms of appropriate gendered behaviour in public and tend to keep a respectful distance from each other.
