Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists will come together in the musical broadcast Songs from a Stolen Senate.
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Canberra music group the Griffyn Ensemble commissioned, with the support of the ACT government, six Indigenous composers who work in diverse genres.
The composers are Aranda country music performer Warren Williams, Noongar singer-songwriters Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse, Norah Bagiri from Mua Island in the Torres Straits, Canberra-based composer Christopher Sainsbury from the Dharug nation and Yuin composer Brenda Gifford.
The ensemble's director, Michael Sollis, says the brief for the diverse group of composers was to take texts from words spoken into Hansard on a subject that was meaningful to them and rework the spoken words into songs.
Sollis says the composers' subject matter was diverse and ranged from the stolen generations and the rabbit-proof fence policy to youth incarceration and climate change.
Songs from a Stolen Senate was built on existing collaborations between the Griffyn Ensemble and First Nation artists including Sollis's One Sky Many Stories with Warren Williams.
Griffyn bassist Holly Downes and violinist Chris Stone regularly perform with Williams and Ghouse.
Songs from a Stolen Senate was to have premiered in May 2020, but was cancelled because of physical isolation. Through the support of Rise Canberra and the Where You Are Festival it has been able to proceed.
Sainsbury says, "My music sits somewhere between folk and jazz and contemporary classical."
He teaches composition at the Australian National University and heads the Ngarraburria Indigenous Composers Program.
His piece, Red Kangaroo Standing, was inspired by the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt. It's written for a female voice - one of the Griffyn Ensembler members will sing it - with violin, flute, mandolin and double bass.
Collaborator Melinda Smith adapted sections of Wyatt's first speech in Parliament into lyrics and Sainsbury composed the music.
Although the speeches were in the public domain, Sainsbury says he and Smith sought and received permission from Wyatt's family to use the minister's words.
"There were three parts we focused on," Sainsbury says.
They used words Wyatt spoke about himself and his family - his mother was one of the removed Indigenous women - as well as him talking about former prime minister Bob Hawke discussing the idea of a treaty with Indigenous people at Barunga.
Also incorporated were Wyatt's remarks about being the first Indigenous person elected to the House of Representatives and the first to be a cabinet minister.
Sollis says he is glad the music was workshopped and recorded at Mulligans Flat, a site that has significance to Ngunnawal people.
The Griffyn Ensemble, he says, "doesn't just play dots on the page" but collaborates with people - some able to read music, others not - to create musical pieces of many kinds.
Songs from a Stolen Senate is one example of such collaboration, this time with Indigenous composers working in different genres and with a range of interests.
Sainsbury says the Griffyn Ensemble "puts its money where its mouth is" when it comes to supporting Aboriginal musicians, collaborating with them and commissioning new works.
In addition to the free broadcasts of the performances, the composers will be available to answer questions and hear comments about the works.
Sainsbury says he might take part by telephone but has another important engagement on the second day.
"Saturday is my dad's birthday."