Crossing Roper Bar
Crossing Roper Bar is the result of a significant collaboration between the musicians of Australian Art Orchestra, under the direction of Paul Grabowsky, and a group of performing artists of the remote Indigenous community of Ngukurr in the Northern Territory. During a series of residencies at Ngukurr by the AAO musicians, the work that is Crossing Roper Bar was developed. AAO worked with traditional songkeepers, learning the Manikay (song cycles) before interpreting the songs on Western instruments in collaboration with traditional Indigenous instruments, rhythms and song cycles. The musics of Indigenous and Western societies come together to create something entirely new which has its roots in one of the oldest living music traditions on earth.
Crossing Roper Bar is an exceptional outcome of a collaboration resulting in a work that sets a benchmark for improvisation and cross-cultural performance. It is a work that is intrinsically informed by the songs and music of Indigenous culture imbued with the music of Western traditions.
For this tour, Artback NT will be working with Tura New Music - one of Australia's peak bodies for the promotion and presentation of new music.
August Tour - Darwin, Katherine and Ngukurr.
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Photographer: Zen Mejglo
Crossing Roper Bar
FINA Festival, Melbourne
March 2007
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Dereb Masinko
Promotional image supplied by Kultour – Office of Multicultural Arts, Victoria
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Drums and Lions
Drums and Lions transports the audience to East Africa in this unique musical collaboration between Maltese Australian reggae dynamo Nicky Bomba and Ethiopian born Azmari musician Dereb Desalegn. The two established Drums and Lions in early 2006 and they have since catapulted onto the international world music scene with the launch of their debut self titled album, two video clips and performances at WOMAD (UK and Australia), WOMEX (Spain) and an Ethiopian tour in 2006.
The musical roots of Drums and Lions are bound deeply in traditional Ethiopian music. Dereb, coming from a long line of musicians and singers, is a master of the Ethiopian one string violin, masenko and is a singer of rare talent. He specialises in new wave Azmari music - a style that developed when the Azmaris, the wandering minstrels of rural Ethiopia, migrated to inner city Addis Ababa. Combining soul, blues, reggae and Bollywood, with the musical heritage of Ethiopia's 70 ethnic groups, the Azmaris created a new generation of music. In Drums and Lions, Dereb and Nicky have stayed true to the Azmari tradition of improvisation and non-conformism, even further evolving the music into a new African Australian sound.
August - September Tour - Darwin, Katherine, Miniyeri, Tennant Creek.
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Ngarukuruwala
Tiwi traditional song meets jazz and swing in an evening of story telling with groove.
Ngarukuruwala is a collaboration between the Wangatunga Strong Womens Group, singers from Bathurst Island, Northern Territory and a group of jazz musicians from Sydney to create a new and unique fusion of two musical cultures.
In Tiwi, NGARUKURUWALA means 'We come together and sing songs' and is how the women describe what it is that they do. Using this as the project name reflects the fact that the Tiwi songs are the starting point of the idea as well as the fact that their main aim is to 'sing' or make music together.
This experimental project brings together musicians with an eclectic combination of knowledge and traditions. The women, numbering about twelve voices, use a guitar and tapping sticks in their music while the instrumental group includes brass, saxophones and rhythm section. Although they come from very different cultures, when the group play music together they are speaking the same language. Through a process of collaboration the Tiwi women have shared with the musicians some of the secrets of their music and their songs and helped shape them into new and vibrant arrangements which will make for a night of great music.
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Northern Territory Indigenous Music Awards
Darwin August 2007
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 Image: NEO
Photo: Anja Bretfeld |
NEO
Supported by Arts NT and Artback NT
NEO, a seven piece Aussie funk and roots band, play soul fuel for wild dancing. Their high energy performances, infusions of funk, reggae, rock, blues, folk, ska and groove are delightfully blended by intoxicating lyrics and overtones of flirtatious flute and commanding harmonica melodies.
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