Ted Billy interviewed by William Kepa in the Torres Strait songs project [sound recording]

Ted Billy has lived on Warraber Island all his life. He talks about his first memories of music and dance at school; Torres Strait Islander (TSI) birthday and weddings parties; dances and celebrations for school; learning music and dance from his parents who were role models for the TSI culture; his uncles and community leaders role in teaching TSI culture; the stories told in songs being mostly about the environment; lugger songs; singing bringing joy, keeping him in contact with the story within a song and why it was written; songs bringing healing via spiritual contact with nature; songs being written mostly by men; church music; women singing songs; playing the warup drum and guitar; his love of music.

Billy discusses the Islanders learning to sing, dance and play instruments; skills being handed down; how the music and dance has changed over the years, mainly due to kids leaving the island for school; the loss of language having a big impact; understanding kala lagaw ya language but not being able to speak it well; the Torres Strait Regional Authority music and dance project helping to preserve culture; encouraging Elders to share their knowledge; the role of Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) to encourage preservation of cultural knowledge; the studio recording and being pleased with the finished product; being glad for opportunity to document cultural knowledge for future generations.