As WA travel restrictions ease, music restarts in the Kimberley
“We didn’t think we’d be up here at all,” says Tura New Music’s Tos Mahoney.
Like many Australian arts organisations, Perth-based Tura New Music had come to see 2020 as a write-off by postponing much of its activity until next year, after COVID-19 played havoc with its plans.
But with the easing of Western Australia’s internal travel restrictions, and after recently securing some new state funding to cover an annual trip into the state’s Kimberley and Peninsula regions, Tura’s artistic director Tos Mahoney and his colleagues pulled together an itinerary of performances and workshops in a matter of weeks.
“We didn’t think we’d be up here at all,” said Mahoney on the phone from Warmun, 2800km northeast of Perth. “Right now, it certainly does feel like a miracle to be able to do this specific work with these artists and with these communities. Hopefully it’s not just a window, and it can keep going on for others, as well.”
The tour, dubbed Sonus2 — based on the Latin word for sound — features singer-songwriters Kankawa Nagarra (Olive Knight) and Stephen Pigram with an ensemble of instrumentalists including Iranian percussionist Esfandiar Shahmir, cellist Tristen Parr and Mahoney on flute.
“This is the first time the five of us have played together, and there’s a lot of joy and a lot of connection happening,” said Mahoney. “The word ‘organic’ is overused, but it’s an organic mulching that happens on these tours, and the music grows and develops as well.”
As artistic director at Tura New Music, Mahoney has overseen 18 such trips into the Kimberley across almost as many years. His first venture in 2005 was tentative and respectful of the remote communities he and his musical colleagues were seeking to enter.
Bonds of music and friendship have strengthened over time, and Tura’s northern visits are now warmly received and eagerly anticipated. Their first concert last weekend at the Waringarri Aboriginal Arts and Culture Centre in Kununurra attracted about 250 people.
“The communities are using the tour as a moment to celebrate some opening up, as it were, and coming together — which hasn’t happened for six months now,” said Mahoney.
Following concerts in Kooljaman, Djarindjin and Beagle Bay, the tour will conclude at Broome’s Sun Pictures outdoor cinema on Saturday September 5.
“I do love being on this country,” said Mahoney. “This feels a bit more like home than anywhere else, and the people that I’ve made relationships with are wonderful, wise, welcoming and inclusive. It’s just such a pleasure to come back.”
More Coverage
