On Friday night a large audience gathered outdoors at the Wuggurrwil Dhurrung Centre in Wyndham to watch visiting Ngarluma artist, Patrick Churnside, perform Tjaabi-Flood Country.
Waddawurrung man, Ashley Skinner welcomed Patrick onto country where they took part in several cultural exchanges and Wyndham council provided audiences with a pre-show meal and an opportunity to connect.
The rain mostly held off as the show commenced outside the Wuggurrwil Dhurrung Centre, where chairs and cushion were arranged in front of the stage which was made of sand. Families filtered into the area for what can only be described as a very special experience.
Tjaabi is a unique song form, short compositions using crisp poetic language, set to melodies from across the Pilbara.
Each tjaabi has an original singer and comes from a specific place in the Pilbara, handed down to subsequent singers and family members, but culturally accessible enough to be listened to by indigenous and non-indigenous audiences.
Ten years in the making Tjaabi–Flood Country depicts the 21st Century as the globe warms and the climate changes.
Mr Churnside uses a mixture of music, narrative and humour to capture the many cultural and ecological pressures facing Aboriginal people in places like the Pilbara in the face of ever-increasing pressures for new minerals, rare earth, and more ore.
He said tjaabi had become one of his passions and life’s work.
“I pour my heart into it, researching, learning and performing,” Mr Churnside said.
“Through my commitment to awakening and sharing Tjaabi in this innovative intercultural project, I hope understanding and reconciliation will grow, greater awareness of country and stronger song, story and culture.”
Tjaabi–Flood Country is now headed to Canberra and NSW before heading back to Western Australia.
