ngangwurra means heart

Black Arm Band & Melbourne Symphony Orchestra present
ngangwurra means heart
ONE SHOW ONLY
SATURDAY 30 NOVEMBER

Australia’s powerhouse of contemporary Aboriginal music Black Arm Band together with the virtuosic Melbourne Symphony Orchestra present the world premiere performance of ngangwurra means heart - the stunning partner to Black Arm Band’s internationally acclaimed dirtsong.

ngangwurra means heart will be performed at the Princess Theatre on Saturday 30 November at 7:30pm. Tickets are now on sale through Ticketmaster starting from $59.

A major new visual music theatre work created in collaboration with some of Australia’s most revered artists, ngangwurra means heart brings together more than thirty performers to present seven new musical works performed in five Aboriginal languages.

ngangwurra means heart evokes the forgotten memories of the history of Australian colonisation and sets out on a magical visual and musical quest to the heart of country and lore. Visually arresting, theatrically rich, poetic and playfully subversive, ngangwurra means heart distills an essence of Aboriginal identity, lauding the resourcefulness and optimism of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in contemporary Australia.

ngangwurra means heart features visual material from celebrated Aboriginal visual artist Reko Rennie, and photographer Ricky Maynard. Visual animators, Dave Jones and Al McGuiness combine this content into an immersive screen-based installation and backdrop to the music.

Artistic Director Lou Bennett (formerly of the highly successful three-piece folk band Tiddas), who co-wrote ngangwurra means heart with the Black Arm Band creative team including composer John Rodgers composer, musician Genevieve Lacey and creative producer Steven Richardson sees the piece as a celebration of the incredible beauty and ingenuity that characterises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Australia.

“Aboriginal identity is sometimes misunderstood in the wider community,” Bennett says. “ngangwurra means heart delightedly provides an insider perspective. We are not the same! We are a collection of nations of individuals. Each nation holds different language, country, ceremony and culture. The show is devised in such a way as to explore seven important moments in history for Aboriginal Australia…but from an internal empathetic point of view rather than a dry history lesson.”

The stellar line-up of musicians from Black Arm Band includes two of Australia’s finest Aboriginal singer/songwriters, Emma Donovan and Deline Briscoe, internationally recognised Yidaki (didgeridoo) player Mark Atkins, musical theatre and cabaret sensation Mindy Kwanten, contemporary dancer and classical violinist Eric Avery and director, composer, actor and performer Lou Bennett.

Black Arm Band collaborators include musical arranger John Rodgers (violin, bass guitar), Iain Grandage (cello, piano), Greg Sheehan (percussion), Genevieve Lacey (recorder), Karin Schaupp (classical guitar), James Crabb (accordion) – each highly respected award-winning musicians in their own right.

ngangwurra means heart is a dreamscape of possibility and inspiration for all of us.