Yúya Karrabúra (Fire is Burning) was commissioned by Sydney Chamber Choir in 2018.
Dan Walker is a composer, conductor and performer. He has had works commissioned by the Sydney Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Gondwana Choirs and Halcyon. As a performer, Dan is a member of numerous professional vocal ensembles, including Luminescence Chamber Singers, The Consort of Melbourne, Cantillation, Pinchgut Opera and The Song Company. He sang as a member of Sydney Chamber Choir from 2002 to 2007. Dan is also a keenly sought-after conductor. He is Music Director of the Canberra Choral Society and Oriana Chorale.
About the piece:
Yúya Karrabúra sets part of a poem by Alice Eather.
Alice’s mother was a Gunibidji woman from Maningrida in Arnhem Land; her father, a direct descendant of a convict on the 1788 Second Fleet. Strong, intelligent, thoughtful, fearless, poetic and political, Alice was a teacher at the Maningrida school and fought for her mother’s country under threat from mining exploration. She lived her life between two worlds, living between Brisbane and Maningrida, speaking English and Ndjebanna. To use her words, ‘A split life, split skin, split tongue, split kin’.
Alice devoted an enormous amount of energy, love and activism in trying to inspire change and bring together these two cultures. Such was her magnetic appeal and personality, she was seen as a beacon of connection that inspired so many people across the continent… A powerful leader and living proof of what could be achieved.
Alice was also a person who struggled deeply. She suffered chronic depression and, in 2017, ended her life. She was 28 years old. In Alice’s poem she explains the dichotomy of her life and this country, and her vision and hopes for the future.
___________
I wear a ship on my wrist
That shows my blood came from convicts on the Second Fleet,
My father’s forefathers came
Whipped, beaten, bound in chains.
The dark tone in my skin,
The brown in my eyes,
Sunset to sunrise,
My Wúrnal mother’s side,
My Kikka, who grew up in a dugout canoe,
In her womb is where my consciousness grew,
Yúya Karrabúra.
I walk between these two worlds,
A split life, split skin, split tongue, split kin,
Every day these worlds collide,
And I’m living and breathing this story of black and white.
Sitting in the middle of this collision,
My mission is to bring two divided worlds
To sit beside this fire and listen.
Through this skin I know where I belong,
It is both my centre and my division.
Yúya Karrabúra.
Now I welcome you to sit beside my fire,
I’m allowing you to digest my confusion,
I will not point my finger and blame,
We’ve got to keep this fire burning
With ash on our feet and coal in our hands.
Teach barrarodjibba, them young ones, how to live side by side,
For tomorrow when the sun rises, and our fires have all gone quiet,
They will be the ones to reignite it.
- Excerpt from Yúya Karrabúra, by Alice Eather
___________
Sydney Chamber Choir
Sam Allchurch, Artistic Director
Singers in this video (L-R):
Soprano: Wei Jiang, Megan Cronin, Louisa Coussens, Kristen Butchatsky, Josie Ryan, Rose Trevelyan
Alto: Natalie Shea, Alison Lockhart, Allison Keene, Naomi Crellin, Vicki Kourkoumelis, Sarah Penn
Tenor: Murray-Luke Peard, Richard Sanchez, Malcolm O'Brien, Rob Hughes, Christopher Othen
Bass: David Cervi, Jesse van Proctor, Wei-Ju Chang, Christopher Matthies, Sébastien Maury, Ed Suttle
Recorded at The Neilson, ACO Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay, Sydney on 25 June 2022
Filmed and edited by Hospital Hill
Audio recorded and mixed by Bob Scott
The making of this video was supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW and the City of Sydney.