Noongar Song Project: Kawaar
The Vancouver Street Festival Noongar Song Project was assisted by the Australian Government through the Department of Communications and the Arts' Festivals Australia program, and is supported by the Department of Local Government, Sports, and Cultural Industries through the Community Arts Network’s Catalyst Fund.
Creative Coordinator: Matt Reuben James Ward
Based on a Dreamtime story retold by Averil Dean
Project Management: Marianthe Loucataris through the City of Albany’s Vancouver Arts Centre
Film by: John Carberry
Music Arranged by: Jonathan Brain
Performed at the 2018 Vancouver Street Festival Albany by:
Singers: Shantay Tidswell, Shayanne Tidswell, Rachael Colmer Rastrict, Rachael Theyer, Matthew Quicke, Rebekah Quicke, Peter Findlay, Danny Wassink.
Choirs: Eklektika (Denmark), Kojonup’s Southern Singers, The Lowlands Beach Community Choir, Mount Barker Community College, Parklands Primary School, Mount Lockyer Primary School, Woodbury Boston Primary School, Community singers
Strings: Jude Addison, Preston Clifton, Roll Addison, Tia Patterson, Emil Davey, Maya Davey- Lehmann, Dylan Grundmann, Taleah Ugle
About the Noongar Song Project
The 2018 Vancouver Street Festival Noongar Song Project was an exciting intercultural project about the Dreamtime story of the Kawaar. The story of the Kawaar, or red capped parrot, came from aunty Averil Dean's ancestors. As part of the project, song devising workshops were held and a new intercultural song was commissioned. In excess of 30 singing and cultural workshops were then held across the Great Southern in Kojonup, Gnowangerup, Mt Barker, Denmark and Albany. School groups and community choirs learned the new song, with 150 performers joining together from across the region for a performance in Albany in May 2018.
KAWAAR behind the scenes
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