Sydney jazz and Tiwi singing - a powerful fusion in Darwin
Fusing jazz and the traditional song of the Tiwi Islanders proved one of the outstanding hits of this year's Darwin Festival. The unlikely coupling came about after Sydney jazz musician Genevieve Campbell came in contact with some Tiwi women and noted the parallels between jazz and the traditional Tiwi songs. With the Gai Bryant Ensemble and a couple of Darwin performers, Campbell paired up with 22 Tiwi women of all ages to perform two sell-out performances of Ngarukurwala project - We Tiwi Women Sing Songs.
Darwin Festival general manager Anne Dunn says the performance followed several workshops and 'get-to-know-you' sessions during the lead up to the festival. "One of the particularly exciting things was to see so many women performing together. Often there's not such a focus on Indigenous women's performance," says Dunn. She said the Tiwi women created their own stage costumes using traditional screen prints.
ABC TV broadcast the collaboration. Dunn says there are now plans to tour the show through regional Northern Territory - and further afield if possible.
