Crossing Roper Bar

CROSSING ROPER BAR Australian Art Orchestra musicians collaborate with musicians from Arnhem Land Julien Wilson On August 3rd 2006, five members of the Australian Art Orchestra from Melbourne and Sydney arrived in the dark at the Garma Festival of Traditional Culture and found the tents that would be our home for the next five days. Garma (a Yolngu word meaning “both ways learning”) is an annual event run by the Yothu Yindi Foundation for the Yolngu people of NE Arnhem Land. ‘We’re living in fluid times, trying to discover in more profound ways what it is to be Australian. I think the vast majority of Australians would agree that Aboriginal Australians have a special contribution to make to that. But there seems to be a problem. I think most non-Aboriginal Australians accept that there is a deep intellectual strength to Aboriginal knowledge, but they seem to think of it as a mystery. I hope we are less of a mystery now.’ Mandawuy Yunupingu The first line of Manduway’s quote, taken from the Garma program, in many ways sums up something that has been on the agenda of the Australian Art Orchestra since its inception in 1993. What does it mean to be Australian and, as performers, how can we access and channel that quality? Can we create a meaningful musical dialogue between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians that respectfully represents both cultures?... This is a sample article from Music Forum Magazine