Crossing Roper Bar - Volume 1

The Manikay (song cycles) of the Yolngu represent one of the most affecting performance traditions from the oldest living culture on Earth. Since 2005 Benjamin Wilfred and the Young Wagilak Group have worked closely with the AAO to develop contemporary renderings of endangered cultural artifacts extremely precious and significant to Yolngu culture.

This album, recorded at Alan Eaton Studios during the 2009 Melbourne residency, is another exciting step towards the project’s goals to offer wider audiences a unique insight into their culture while showing a way forward for young people wishing to engage with the traditions of the living Elders and their ancestors.

Crossing Roper Bar is a visionary exploration of the musical traditions of Australia’s first people by the Australian Art Orchestra in collaboration with the Young Wagilak Group. The Wagilak speaking songmen of South East Arnhem Land are custodians of one of the oldest continuously practised cultures on Earth. Their songs are performed regularly in Ngukurr, Numbulwar, Groote Eylandt and surrounding areas where the Wagilak are admired for their strong culture.

The Australian Art Orchestra began collaborating with the Young Wagilak Group in 2005. Based on an equal exchange of knowledge that began as a dialogue centred on music, Crossing Roper Bar developed into a process of collaborative composition that retains the beauty and dynamism of both traditions. The Young Wagilak Group have worked closely with the AAO to create a contemporary interpretation of ‘Wild Blackfella’, a song cycle which traces the journey of the ancestor through his country as he calls up and names things.

An electrifying marriage of the very old with the very new, Crossing Roper Bar is a celebration of country, of ceremony, and of the power of music to build enduring bridges across cultures, time and space.

Credits

released in 2010

Traditional Wagilak songs (from remote SE Arnhem Land) arranged collectively by the performers.

Alto Flute, Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, Flute, Piccolo Flute, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Tony Hicks (3)
Co-producer – Nikolaus Schäuble
Didgeridoo – David Wilfred*
Didgeridoo, Percussion, Vocals – Benjamin Wilfred
Double Bass – Philip Rex
Drums, Percussion – Nikolaus Schäuble
Electric Guitar – Stephen Magnusson
Engineer – Ross Cockle
Keyboards – Paul Grabowsky
Mastered By – Philip Rex
Mixed By – Nikolaus Schäuble
Percussion, Vocals – Roy Wilfred
Producer – Paul Grabowsky
Viola, Violin – Erkki Veltheim
Vocals – Wesley Wilfred