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{{Short description|Australian composer, musician, and playwright (1948–2017)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
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| birth_place      = [[Broome, Western Australia]], Australia
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'''James Ronald Chi''' (1948 – 26 June 2017) was an Australian composer, musician and playwright. His best known work is the 1990 musical ''[[Bran Nue Dae]]'', which was [[Bran Nue Dae (film)|adapted for film]] in 2009.

==Early life and education==
James Ronald Chi<ref name=austlitchi>{{cite web | title=Jimmy Chi | website=[[AustLit]] | date=30 May 2023 | url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A8396 | access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref><ref name=inquest/> was born in [[Broome, Western Australia]] in 1948 to a father of [[Chinese Australian|Chinese]] and [[Japanese Australian|Japanese]] descent and a mother of [[Scottish Australian|Scottish]] and [[Aboriginal Australian|Aboriginal]] ([[Bardi people|Bardi]] and [[Nyulnyul people|Nyulnyul]]) descent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2014/10/03/4100197.htm |title=Aboriginal playwright and composer Jimmy Chi on the strength to live with mental illness |first=Ben |last=Collins |date=6 October 2014 |work=ABC Local Kimberley |accessdate=29 April 2018}}</ref><ref name=austlitchi/>

Chi attended a Catholic school in [[Perth]], and went on to university in WA. However, he was involved in a serious car accident, and, after coming out of a three-week coma,<ref name="l407"/> developed [[bipolar affective disorder]].<ref name=inquest/> He became severely depressed, but was helped by his faith.<ref name="l407"/>

After returning to Broome in 1970, he bought a guitar and started writing songs, initially on his own. [[Stephen Pigram]] and Michael Manolis joined him in songwriting, and in the early 1980s the three of them, along with Garry Gower and Patrick Bin Amat moved to [[Adelaide]], [[South Australia]], to study music at the [[Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music]] (CASM) and the [[University of Adelaide]].<ref name="l407">{{cite web | last=Plater | first=Diane | title=The other side of Broome | website=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] | date=6 August 2009 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/the-other-side-of-broome-20090806-ealp.html | access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref><ref name=austlit>{{cite web | title=Kuckles | website=[[AustLit]]| date=28 June 2023 | url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A131143 | access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref>

== Career ==
The five friends from Broome formed the band [[Kuckles]]<ref name="l407"/> in 1981, with Chi as one of the three songwriters, along with Manolis and Pigram.<ref name=austlit/>

Chi's most acclaimed work is ''[[Bran Nue Dae]]'', written in collaboration with his band [[Kuckles]], [[Scrap Metal (band)|Scrap Metal]], [[The Pigram Brothers]], and friends. ''Bran Nue Dae'' is a partly autobiographical work which took many years to write. It celebrates family, forgiveness, and [[Reconciliation Australia|reconciliation]], and was a hit at the [[Festival of Perth]] in 1990 where it was performed by the [[Black Swan Theatre]].<ref>Eckersley. M.(ed.) 2009. ''Drama from the Rim: Asian Pacific Drama Book''. Drama Victoria. Melbourne. 2009. (p. 9)</ref><ref name=ozco>{{cite web | title=JIMMY CHI | website=ozco.gov.au | publisher=[[Australia Council]] | date=10 October 2006 | url=http://www.ozco.gov.au/arts_in_australia/artists/artists_atsia/jimmy_chi/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830235133/http://www.ozco.gov.au/arts_in_australia/artists/artists_atsia/jimmy_chi/ | archive-date=30 August 2007 | url-status=dead | access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref> It went on to tour Australia extensively and it was Australia's most successful musical play of the early 1990s.<ref name=austlitchi/> A documentary film about it was made in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.greenleft.org.au/1991/27/618 |title=Jimmy Chi's magical musical 11 September 1991, reviewed by Peter Boyle |access-date=11 August 2007 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200344/http://www.greenleft.org.au/1991/27/618 |url-status=dead }} from ''Cultural Dissent, Green Left Weekly'' issue No. 27</ref>

One of the famous verses from a song in the musical sums up Chi's dry humour and sharp political approach:
<blockquote>There's nothing I would rather be<br />
Than to be an Aborigine<br />
and watch you take my precious land away.<br>
For nothing gives me greater joy<br />
than to watch you fill each girl and boy<br />
with superficial existential shit.</blockquote>

The musical won the prestigious [[Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards]] in 1990. The following year the published script and score won the Special Award in the [[Western Australian Premier's Book Awards]].<ref name="WA">{{cite web|title=Western Australian Premier's Book Awards – 1991 Winners |publisher=State Library of Western Australia |url=http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/pbk91win.html |accessdate=11 August 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509092512/http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/pbk91win.html |archivedate=9 May 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It brought acclaim for many Aboriginal artists, including [[Ernie Dingo]], [[Josie Ningali Lawford]], and [[Leah Purcell]], and its success was key in the establishment of the [[Black Swan State Theatre Company|Black Swan Theatre Company]].<ref name=ozco/>

Chi also wrote the musical ''[[Corrugation Road]]'', which was first performed by the Black Swan Theatre at the [[Arts Centre Melbourne|Fairfax Studio]] in Melbourne in 1996 before an Australian national tour.<ref>Eckersley. M.(ed.) 2009. Drama from the Rim: Asian Pacific Drama Book. Drama Victoria. Melbourne. 2009. (p9).</ref> ''Corrugation Road'' concerns mental health, abuse, sexuality, and religion.<ref name=ozco/>

Chi's songs have been covered by such artists as the Irish singer [[Mary Black]] and Aboriginal singer [[Archie Roach]].<ref name="THA">{{cite web|title="Bran Nue Dae (Part 2)" |date= 3 June 2020|publisher= Theatre Heritage Australia Inc|url=https://theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/musicals/item/638-bran-nue-dae-part-2|access-date= 15 May 2024}}</ref>

Broome's Opera Under the Stars festival has featured Chi's "Child of Glory", from ''Bran Nue Dae'', at every festival since 1993. His hymns are regularly sung at Aboriginal funerals in Broome.<ref name="THA" />

==Other activities==
Chi was  patron of [[SANE Australia]].<ref name=austlitchi/>

==Awards and honours==
In 1991, Chi was awarded the [[Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission]] Drama Award for ''Bran Nue Dae''.<ref name="human1">{{cite web|title=1991 Human Rights Medal and Awards |publisher=[[Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission]] |url=http://www.humanrights.gov.au/hr_awards/1990.html |accessdate=21 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927020544/http://www.humanrights.gov.au/hr_awards/1990.html |archivedate=27 September 2007 }}</ref>

Che was awarded the [[Centenary Medal]] by the federal government, for his contribution to Australian society, and he was acknowledged by the [[Government of Western Australia|WA Government]] as a State Living Treasure.<ref name=austlitchi/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.artswa.wa.gov.au/documents/STATETREASURESBook.pdf |title=''WA State Living Treasures'' |access-date=29 May 2006 |archive-date=19 August 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819210510/http://www.artswa.wa.gov.au/documents/STATETREASURESBook.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Australia Council for the Arts===
The [[Australia Council for the Arts]] is the arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a [[Red Ochre Award]]. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement.

{{awards table}}
|-
| [[Red Ochre Award|1997]]
| himself
| Red Ochre Award
| {{yes2|Awarded}}<ref name=austlitchi/>
|-
{{end}}

===Deadly Awards===
The [[Deadly Awards]] were an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. They ran from 1995 to 2013.<ref name="Pennycook">{{cite book|author1-link=Alastair Pennycook|author=Pennycook, Alastair|title=Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows|date=7 December 2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7GVyWedo95cC&pg=PA162|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-18876-5|page=162}}</ref>

{{awards table}} <small>(wins only)</small>
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[Deadly Awards 1998|1998]]
| ''Corrugation Road'' <small> (with Kuckles and The Pigram Brothers)</small>
| Excellence in Film or Theatrical Score 
| {{won}}
|-
{{end}}

==Later life and death==
Chi spent most of his later life at home in Broome with his family and friends. He died in Broome Hospital on 26 June 2017.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-27/brand-nu-dae-playwright-dies-age-69/8654418|title=Bran Nue Dae playwright, Indigenous 'WA state treasure' dies|date=27 June 2017|publisher=ABC News|access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref>

An inquest into his death published its results in 2019. It said that Chi had been an [[Involuntary commitment|involuntary patient]] under the ''Mental Health Act 2014'', and had died in the [[emergency department]] from [[chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]] and [[coronary atherosclerosis]], although he had also suffered from a number of other diseases.<ref name=inquest>{{cite web | title=Inquest Finding | website= Coroner's Court of Western Australia| date=7 October 2019 | url=https://www.coronerscourt.wa.gov.au/I/inquest_into_the_death_of_james_ronald_chi.aspx | access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref>

==Discography==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
! Title
! Details
|-
! scope="row"| ''[[Bran Nue Dae|Bran Nue Dae - Original Cast Recording]]'' <br> (with [[Kuckles]])
|
* Released: 1993
* Label: BND Records Pty Ltd, PolyGram	<small>(BNDCD 002)</small>
* Format: CD, Cassette
|-
! scope="row"| ''[[Corrugation Road]]'' <br> (with [[The Pigram Brothers]] and [[Kuckles]])
|
* Released: 1997
* Label: Angoorrabin <small>(AR-8)</small>
* Format: CD
|-
|}

==Works==
* ''Broome songwriters'' with Michael Manolis and Ron Harper (Hodja Educational Resources, 1985) {{ISBN|0-949575-37-2}}
*'' Bran Nue Dae'' (Currency Press, 1991) {{ISBN|0-86819-293-7}}
* ''Corrugation Road'' (sound recording – Angoorrabin Records, p1996)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chi, Jimmy}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:Australian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Australian people of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:Australian people of Japanese descent]]
[[Category:Indigenous Australian musicians]]
[[Category:Indigenous Australian writers]]
[[Category:Indigenous Australians from Western Australia]]
[[Category:People from Broome, Western Australia]]
[[Category:People with bipolar disorder]]
[[Category:Musicians from Western Australia]]
[[Category:Australian musical theatre composers]]
[[Category:Male musical theatre composers]]