GANGgajang release Speak To Me as the soundtrack for the Yes campaign

Revered rock legends want to hear more songs from Australia’s next generation of musicians in support of the Voice to parliament.

Iconic band GANGgajang hope their new song Speak To Me will encourage Australians to listen to “common sense” in support of the Yes vote on the Voice to parliament.

There is a quiet power but loud passion behind their song, as band frontman Mark Callaghan calls on his younger peers to contribute to a soundtrack for the Yes movement.

“We started having conversations about four months ago, to rework our song Hundreds of Languages because, to be honest, we were going ‘Where are the young kids with a song for the Voice?’” Callaghan said.

Callaghan and his bandmates have been writing and singing about Indigenous causes and the Australian spirit and heartland for four decades.

Songs including Sounds of Then (This is Australia) and Circles In The Sand, whose video was filmed with the permission of elders in the shadow of Uluru, are indelibly woven into our cultural landscape.

GANGgajang release new single Speak to Me for Yes campaign for the Voice. Picture: Supplied.

Yet the divisiveness of the conversation about the Voice has him bracing for “nasty” backlash to the stunning song which centres on the Uluru Statement From The Heart and also features revered didgeridoo player and composer William Barton and actor Jack Thompson.

“I hate to even mention the No campaign but they’ve managed to spread so much fear and confusion,” he said.

“The Uluru Statement is a beautiful document and I think the Voice is something I feel Australian needs to do otherwise it’s all going to stay the same as what it’s been for forever.

“So we decided to stand up and be counted.

“We’re all a little nervous about it just in terms of the blowback that we’re possibly going to get on social media and all that sort of stuff because there’s some pretty nasty stuff going around.”

GANGgajang said anyone wanting to use Speak To Me to soundtrack the Yes campaign were free to use it.

“I cannot stress enough we absolutely have no axe to grind here in terms of wanting to achieve something commercially out of this song. This is just a donation to the movement and if people want to use it, they can use it,” he said.

William Barton plays on Speak To Me. Picture: Supplied.

Barton, who has regularly played with the band over the years said he believed strongly in music’s power to strike connection with Australians who were yet to decide their vote.

“It is important we have musical allies,” he said.

“I think of it in terms of the lullaby, these songs which are passed down from generation to generation, and it doesn’t matter if you’re Indigenous or non-Indigenous, we are connected through music, through those songlines.

“Speak To Me states there are many languages here in this country but we all want to have a unified voice.

“I want people listening to this to feel they are part of this Australia and we are now in this unique, special chapter where we’ve got to get it right.”

Originally published as GANGgajang release Speak To Me as the soundtrack for the Yes campaign