Above: Yuwaalaraay composer Nardi Simpson and Biripi composer Troy Russell in discussion following the concert. Featured Image: Lamorna Nightingale, Jason Noble, Freya Schack-Arnott and Artistic Director Claire Edwardes from Ensemble Offspring. Photo Credit: Daniel Boud.
Sydney’s Ensemble Offspring, led by percussionist and artistic director Claire Edwardes have championed the process of workshopping new compositions with composers for many years. The resulting premiere-filled concerts and bonds formed with writers of new music for this group’s shape-shifting ensemble have been strong.
One ongoing project over the last 5 years has been Ngarra-Burria : First Peoples Composing Programme. Ensemble Offspring’s link through this initiative with a diverse range of First Nations composers has been obviously a deep and rewarding one.
The individual voices of participant works chosen in this showcase at the Opera House blended well to make beautifully unique joint statements with Ensemble Offspring.
Above: Ensemble Offspring flautist Lamorna Nightingale performed an arrangement of Brenda Gifford’s ‘Mungala’ (Clouds) for flute and percussion. Photo credit: Daniel Boud.
As evidenced in the passionate performance and feelings expressed in the after-concert Q & A, there have been many benefits to reap on both sides of the project. Such a thorough and respectful process of sharing, inventing, improvising, arranging and performing is one all musicians and Australians need to endure.
Ensemble Offspring’s workshopping over the past five years of Ngarra-Burria and also for this concert morphed previously performed works for solo timbres or ensemble. It also welcomed soundscapes especially written new for its possibilities.
Above: This concert featured works by composers Eric Avery and Brenda Gifford.
This concert’s instrumental line-up transported us to amazing sonic locations using flute/alto flute (Lamorna Nightingale), clarinet/bass clarinet (Jason Noble), cello(Freya Schack-Arnott), vibraphone (Claire Edwardes) and voice(all instrumentalists). The chance for Ngarra-Burria composers to have their soundscapes introduced via such a unique and expressive instrumental blend made it all the more interesting and special.
And special moments repeatedly resulted throughout this showcase of the last five years of Ngarra-Burria. The pleasing variety of compositional approach, styles and inspiration was unified by an impressive clarity and directness in the new music presented in this showcase.
These shared and much developed songlines have benefitted from the history of collaboration between composers and the ensemble, and reached us with engaging freshness and vivid joint voice.
Above: Composer Troy Russell and Ensemble Offspring Artistic Director Claire Edwardes discuss their involvement with the Ngarra-Burria project in a post concert Q & A session, hosted by Beau James. Photo credit: Daniel Boud.
From Nardi Simpson, beautiful narratives were comfortably woven across the ensemble and with nice effects and in the works Of Stars and Birds and Wulga’s Last Dance. The fusion of backgrounds and styles in the dynamic exploration that is Blacktopia was also intimate, honest deliciousness when delivered by this ensemble in the closeness of the Utzon Room venue.
Eric Avery’s poignant perpetuum mobile, Gliding, translated fluid imagery from birds in nature, his affinity with choreography as a dancer, semiquavers from violin practice and rhythmic material in fives from busking with didjeridu into a compact whoosh for this capable ensemble. The gentle heart wrench in the central song interlude shows a lot of promise and dramatic, communicative skill from this composer.
Biripi man Troy Russell delighted us with the integrity of his songlines in the arrangement for these instruments, so achingly suitable for instant soundtrack use. His homage to family story and events were voiced with exquisite delicacy by him and the ensemble to convey some intricate emotional landscapes with exciting hues and momentum. Hymn (2018) for vocal quartet now heard on vibraphone was a very successful moment, and proof of the enduring nature of his writing as well as the creative extension possible through this project.
Above: Rapper, drummer and Ngarra-Burria composer Rhyan Clapham (Dobby)
Rapper Rhyan Clapham (who performs rap as ‘Dobby’) was represented by an innovative driving work, Pitara Yaan Murawariki (2017). It combined sections for rhythmic spoken word counterpoint from the instrumentalists before they launched into the complex but joyous rhythms of his innate and energetic musical sensibility, well shared and sung through this lively group.
To conclude the performing at this event, music from the popular and prolific Brenda Gifford washed over us with more beautiful references to story from direct surroundings and the rhythms or shapes of the environment we must harmonise with. Both Plover Bird and Munguala (Clouds), composed three years ago, are exciting portraits employing modern performance and compositional techniques to revisit older stories and scenes, in secure hands here with Ensemble Offspring.
As with all works on the programme we were helped by the virtuosic Ensemble Offspring to easily, excitedly receive and trace the musical lines and pictorial effects of delicate complexity in the Utzon Room space at the Sydney Opera House. This was done and witnessed with full heart, inspired ears and heads full of hope for the future of a new, enriched local music in this country.