Sunday, March 16, 2008

Concert & Recording Session Success

Well after a lot of work and organising by a lot of people the Stories and Songs from the Inala Yarning Place concert and recording session on Saturday the 15th was a complete success. The Inala Community Hall was as full with as many people as we could comfortably fit. There was a great participatory energy and much enjoyment by all. We set up with the band (AZITIZ) and the choir in the middle and the audience arranged around them in a big semicircle. This also left room for a projector and screen to put up images from the project workshops, the history of Inala and a set for each of the new songs. We were fortunate enough to have on loan a full sound desk, microphones and recording gear so with the support of Bagginz Entertainment Services.

The first half got underway with some stunning didjeridu playing by Stephen Bond. The Welcome to Country was performed by Kerry Charlton and the concert was opened by Brisbane City Council Community Arts Officer, John Jeffrey.

The first performers were the 'Yarning Place Singers' with two numbers from their much appreciated repertoire - 'Dreamtime' and 'Yanundaar - Murri Boy'. Next came Marie Dao from the Vietnamese community who sang 'Lang Toi' (My Country).

There was a dramatic change of style with the Inala Tongan Youth singing 'Fakamalo' (Thank You For Life). Their wonderful harmonies entranced us all. The Yarning Place Singers and Songlines joined together to sing the last two songs of the first half with 'God Gave Us Mothers' and 'Strong Black Women'.

The interval was a bush tucker delight thanks to Dale Chapman from 'Dilly Bag Catering' who provided some catering training for local youth and some great food for us all.

InalaYPconcert039.JPG


In the second half we recorded the five new songs:
  • 'Biota Street'
  • 'Fresh'
  • 'We Can Be Strong'
  • 'My Town' and
  • 'The Word'.


Here's 'Biota Street'



One of the pleasant surprises for the recording was Hola from the Tongan community turned up with a Tongan version of 'My Town'. It meant we were able to record English, Jagera, Vietnamese and Tongan versions. It was an example of the many different ways in which people have contributed so generously and thoughfully to this project.

I've uploaded some photos to my flickr page and they can be viewed here or you can see them as a slide show here. Next comes the sound and video editing and the DVD and booklet creation. We'll let you know how they are progressing.
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