The Stiff Gins are an Indigenous Australian band from Sydney. They call their music "acoustic with harmonies" and are regularly compared to Tiddas.[1] The band was formed by Emma Donovan, Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs in 1999,[2] after meeting at the Eora Centre while studying music. The band's name uses the word gin (a derogatory word for an Aboriginal woman which was also a Dharug word for woman/wife) with the word stiff to become strong black woman,[3] a name which caused debate about use of the word gin.[4]
The band won Deadlys in 2000 for Most Promising New Talent and in 2001 for their single "Morning Star".[5]
The Deadly Awards, commonly known simply as "The Deadlys", was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. The awards ran from 1995 until funding cuts lead to their cancellation in 2014.[7]
^Ewans, Michael; Rosalind Halton; John A. Phillips (2004). Music Research: New Directions for a New Century. Cambridge Scholars Press. ISBN9781904303350.
^Dunbar-Hall, Peter; Chris Gibson (July 2004). Deadly Sounds, Deadly Places. Contemporary Aboriginal Music in Australia. University of New South Wales Press. ISBN9780868406220.
^Michael Ewans, Rosalind Halton, John A. Phillips Music Research: New Directions for a New Century 2004 Page 159 "... 2000, the group won a Deadly Awards for Most Promising New Talent, and in 2001, they won the Single Release of the Year award for their song "Morning Star."
^Elder, Bruce (11 June 2011), "Indigenous folk", The Sydney Morning Herald
Davis, Therese (2006). "'The Spirit, the Heart and the Power': An Interview with the 'Stiff Gins' on Music, Friendship and History". Aboriginal History. 30: 111–123.
