technical society, made with a vision to ‘sound’ new contemporary music. The place where this research and collaborations occurred, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music is a modern music school, situated on the western ridge of Farm Cove, a place of Sydney where traditional Aboriginal corroborees took place. The rediscovery, re-composition and performance of the chants, is also presented within a contemporary music practice, as new music. It is a contemporary characteristic of today’s society that the recognition and enquiry into the Aboriginal way of life that existed before white settlement in Sydney, is important to the general national cultural awareness. Other contemporary issues of national identity, the ecology of the environment, and the diversity of cultures cohabitating in Australia each are associated with the need to recognise and collaborate with the first peoples. It is new in the Australian mainstream perception to recognise the Indigenous notion of being ‘in country’. In a recent radio interview, the popular Indigenous presenter-writer Stan Grant whilst musing on the recent book by Tim Winton ‘Island Home’445 stated that he believes we all have the potential to become Indigenous, if we are formed [informed] by the land, to feel we are ‘in county’ not in a country. He mentions white Australians who love the land in his opinion do become ‘Indigenous’
‘they become Indigenous…. the land has informed their lives’446
The musical settings of the historic chants in the Yabun Yaguna Wuganmagulya series have enabled my collaboration with Aboriginal musicians to be both cultural and musical. Even though the manuscripts were transcribed by Europeans and their authenticity is regularly questioned, the experience of working with these materials collaboratively was culturally beneficial to each of us.
These pieces have provided a musical environment for me to present the chants in an improvisatory manner, which suits the way I make music. The pieces signify my entry into collaborative performance and composition of Indigenous music with Indigenous musicians. The compositional ideas were established by improvising the chant melodies on Stuart & Sons pianos, with Indigenous performers Clarence Slockee, Richard Green, Matthew Doyle, Marlene Cummins and Brenda Gifford, in so-called rehearsal sessions. These sessions were really times of collaboration and learning. Musical sketches were jotted down when resonant connections occurred in the improvisations. The Indigenous musical vocabulary of Stuart piano sounds was developed to depict Indigenous contexts for the chant accompaniments. These sounds were developed into the complete compositions of Yabun Yaguna Wuganmagulya:
Ancient & New
Timelines
Barrabul-la Voices
Guyanalung Bayui , old people, future
Byal-la, to speak
The uniquely expanded ranges of tone, register and dynamics of the Stuart piano sound are deployed throughout Yabun Yaguna Wuganmagulya.
445Stan Grant,speaking on ‘Mornings’ Linda MottromABCRadio 702, 13th October, 2015.
446 Stan Grant,speaking on ‘Mornings’ Linda MottromABCRadio 702, 13th October, 2015.
