WHAT started as a seven-minute commission for two well-known artists has become an album-length story and now a part of the Music In The Regions tour taking in Robinvale, Mildura, Balranald and Broken Hill.
Robinvale Community Arts Centre will host the duo on Wednesday, June 26, at 7.30pm.
Didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton and dynamo violinist Véronique Serret blend song-lines and storytelling in a unique collaborative work inspired by the poetry of Mr Barton’s mother, Aunty Delmae Barton, in the program that aims to create opportunities for regional audiences to tap into rich cultural experiences in their own communities.
The late Aunty Delmae was a prominent Indigenous leader and opera singer, composer, writer, illustrator and cultural lecturer and widely recognised as Australia’s dreamtime diva.
Bringing together a unique pairing of instruments – the iconic traditional instrument of Australia’s First Nations peoples, the digeridoo, and the stalwart of classical European music, the violin – the two internationally acclaimed musicians pay tribute to the coming together of cultures.
The message of Heartland is of peace and love carried by an eagle spirit.
Music in the Regions is a NSW-based group bringing rich cultural experiences to the state’s three million residents who live outside metropolitan centres.
It receives much of its funding from the NSW Government.
In the three years since its inception there have been 14 tours with different artists on each tour, usually for a 10-day run.
General manager and producer Ian Whitney said the areas visited on this tour were all new territories for the organisation and it was important the geographic ambition matched the artistic ambition.
“A big part of our mission is equity of cultural access,” Mr Whitney said.
“That is where these tours come in.
“We do get to some pretty small and out-of-the-way places.
“Without the benefit of government subsidies it is just not achievable for classical musicians – economically it doesn’t work.
“We have been able to play a role in connecting communities and local partners and local venues with professional musicians in places they just otherwise would not be able to reach.
“Although we are a NSW organisation and that has been our focus, particularly along these border regions it just makes sense moving across borders – it is going to be increasingly more of what we do.”
The smallest community the group has entertained to date is Emerald Hill with a population of 120, more than half of whom attended the show.
Robinvale and Mildura are the furthest west the organisation has taken any of its performances.
Mr Whitney said the highlights of the performances were the intimacy with audiences and the strength of the performers.
“The music the performers bring is very personal – it’s very much about their story,” he said.
“One of the reasons the artists love doing these performances is that there is a real special intimacy between the performers and the audience which you just don’t get in metro venues.
“The nature of these performances is that everyone has a chat afterwards, which is really lovely.
“It is much friendlier.”
