The latest work, SONGS FROM THE HEART by the wonderful The Song Company is currently on tour. The performance was filmed at the Cell Block Theatre, the National Art School in Darlinghurst and was streamed by the Australian Digital Concert Hall.
It is a creative collaboration between The Song Company and Indigenous composers and singers Elizabeth Sheppard and Sonya Holowell ,with two songs co-written by another Indigenous woman, Rhubee Neale. Sheppard and Holowell worked together with Artistic Director, Antony Pitts, and seven of The Song Company’s Principal and Ensemble Artists to create a powerful, moving a cappella presentation and musical response to The Uluru Statement from the Heart. Hollowell and Sheppard’s music is incredibly energised and concentrated on the principles and text underlying the 2017 Uluru Statement. The voices are assured, accomplished, resounding and radiant.
It is divided into five parts – calling, (be)longing, beating, changing and (be)coming.
Directed and conducted energetically and enthusiastically by Artistic Director Antony Pitts,the cast were barefoot in their own concert blacks and wore a scarf that featured a design that Sheppard created. The group features two cast members with Indigenous back grounds – the composer Hollowell herself, a Dharawal/lnuit woman, who is a fine mezzo soprano, and tenor Elias Wilson, a Biripi man. Music stands are used, and the group, at intervals, form a circle around Pitts, or stand in an assertive, questioning line.
Sometimes the voices are strong, rich and have quite complex interwoven structure and rhythms. Or they bubble and have a sort of question-and-answer animated discussion. At other points they seem sorrowful and exhausted, demanding acknowledgement and recognition (‘how long have we been here?’). Other segments soar and tumble, or in contrast are sharp and spiky. The sounds of the land and environment are also caught. For one piece there is a vibrant snapping of fingers and swaying. The Noongar Prayer is flowing,ebbing and pensive.
The striking concert full of profound refinement and harsh passion concludes on a possibly hopeful note, looking towards the future.
Running time just under 90 minutes
https://watch.melbournedigitalconcerthall.com/#/home
Featured image : Songs From the Heart; Cell Block Theatre; October 2022. Pic Keith Saunders