A strange soundscape issues from an empty auditorium where a cultural collaboration is playing a unique composition.<\/p>\n
Traditional clap sticks set a steady, resonant rhythm, as the classical ensemble begins slowly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Above the music, the voice of Yol\u014bu songman Banula Marika rises, a deep tone that lingers alongside the orchestra’s notes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Banula Marika is a Yol\u014bu songman from north-east Arnhem Land. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
“This is the beginning, the Manikay,” Marika said of the song.<\/p>\n
He said Manikay are traditional Yol\u014bu ceremonial songs, carrying ancestral stories and a connection to country.<\/p>\n
“The bilma (clap sticks), the yidaki (didgeridoo). It is the beginning for Yol\u014bu people.”<\/p>\n
Banula Marika (left) plays the clap sticks while \u014aalkanbuy Munungurr (right) plays the didgeridoo. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u014aalkanbuy Munungurr playing didgeridoo on a stage shared with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
Marika explained that the song being played is a key creation story, tracing the journey of an ancestral being, Wuyal, the “sugarbag man”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the past three years Marika has worked with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra to create this work.<\/p>\n
The project involved taking Darwin Symphony Orchestra resident composer Netanela Mizrahi across the beaches, mangroves and bushland that Wuyal travelled in his search for wild honey.<\/p>\n
“There are parts of this story, the songlines, that aren’t mine to fully understand,” Mizrahi said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Banula Marika guided Netanela Mizrahi across areas of Arnhem Land, including Yirrkala beach, where the ancestral being Wuyal travelled. (Supplied: Darwin Symphony Orchestra)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Netanela Mizrahi says she knows there are parts of the songlines and stories that are not for her to know. (Supplied: Darwin Sypmhony Orchestra)<\/p>\n
The composer said the songlines are complete as they are, but that this collaboration with Marika offered an opportunity to create something new.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got the songlines, and we’ve got the wonderful beast of an orchestra, and now we can also create a third thing, which is when they meet, and what do we create when they do,” Mizrahi said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u014aalkanbuy Munungurr (left) and Banula Marika (right) playing together in a practice session for their show Heaven and Earth, premiering this weekend. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
During the performance, Marika leads a bungul (a Yol\u014bu ceremony) onto the stage, re-enacting Wuyal’s journey.<\/p>\n
Weaving gracefully among the musicians, the dancers carry branches from country as they pace out a tribute to their land and its stories.<\/p>\n
It’s a collaboration that composers and Yol\u014bu elders are hoping to continue.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jon Tooby conducting the Darwin Symphony Orchestra. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n
“I think there is space to explore that further \u2014 what does it mean to find these meeting points not just musically or sonically, but also spatially, and in the ways that we relate to one another?,” Ms Mizrahi said.<\/p>\n
Darwin Symphony Orchestra chief conductor Jon Tooby said the connection the collaboration offered audiences was profound.<\/p>\n
“It’s the common language we all have, storytelling,” Tooby said.<\/p>\n
“It’s a language we all share, the arts, and to me that’s a profound reconciliation tool.”<\/p>\n
For Yol\u014bu elders, the collaboration is a way to share their pride in their culture with the world.<\/p>\n
“It’s important \u2026 and it’s good for [Banula Marika] and it’s good for me, as a role model for the next generation,” \u014aalkanbuy Munungurr, the work’s yidaki (didgeridoo) player, said.<\/p>\n
The new composition will premiere at the Darwin Festival this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A strange soundscape issues from an empty auditorium where a cultural collaboration is playing a unique composition. Traditional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64820,64819,8870,64,63,64817,5249,64816,134,64818,64821,1098,32838,64815],"class_list":{"0":"post-86758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-ancient-songlines","9":"tag-ancient-songlines-with-orchestra","10":"tag-arnhem-land","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-banula-marika","14":"tag-darwin","15":"tag-darwin-symphony-orchestra","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-musical-collaboration","18":"tag-north-east-arnhem-land","19":"tag-nt","20":"tag-yolnu","21":"tag-yolnu-songlines"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}