Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

The Tiwi Strong Women’s Group (now known as Ngarukuruwala) has been singing together since they were young girls, learning traditional songs from their mothers and grandmothers. Now in their 60s and 70s, they still sing every day, teaching the stories held in Tiwi songs to new generations.

In Tiwi + Jazz, the group explores field recordings of Tiwi songs made over the last 100 years, creating ‘memorial duets’ between jazz instrumentalists, Tiwi singers and deceased Tiwi songmen and women.

The show is built around ethnographic field recordings of Tiwi songs, taken between 1912 and 1981. The recorded voices of Tiwi elders become the ‘hero’ of each piece, with the Sydney musicians and Tiwi singers performing with them in a combination of newly composed works and improvisation. Elders sing with their ancestors and tell stories of the songs’ provenance.

The musical style moves from traditional Indigenous sounds, through the choral/guitar styles of the women’s group to classical violin lullaby, contemporary jazz improvisation and upbeat dance songs. Knowing the part of the day each song was first performed, the artists will fill The Lighthouse with the sounds of the Tiwi bush from dawn to dusk (where the songs came from) and the sounds of the archives (where they were preserved) threading everything together for one stunning musical experience.  

Credits

Tiwi Strong Women’s Group Performers Teresita Puruntatameri, Regina Kantilla, Jacinta Tipungwuti,  Mary Elizabeth Moree, Karen Tipiloura, Calista Kantilla, Leonie Tipiloura, Cynthia Portaminni
Vocals & Guitar Francis Orsto
Senior Songman Eustace Tipiloura
Horn Genevieve Campbell
Violin Michelle Kelly
Trombone Simon Bartlett
Double Bass Dave Ellis
Blues Harp & Guitar Dan Dinnen
Drums Jamie Cameron
Audio Bob Wheatley

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on (08) 8943 4200

Featured artists

• Performer Ngarukuruwala