wurukur djuanduk balag — Ancestors Are Calling

Dr Lou Bennett AM (Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung)
Allara Briggs Pattison (Yorta Yorta)

SiloSQ
Violin Jenny Khafagi
Violin Lynette Rayner
Viola Ceridwen Davies
Cello and Artistic Director Silo SQ Caerwen Martin

Original Composition by Dr Lou Bennett AM Arranged for String Quartet by Caerwen Martin 

Adelaide Festival regrets to announce that collaborator Uncle Herb Patten (Ganai-Kurnai, Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri) will not be performing in this work in Adelaide.

Commissioned by RISING and Museums Victoria.

Photo credits Eugene Hyland, James Henry, supplied

About Dr Lou Bennett AM

Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung, Dr Lou Bennett AM is a former member of the internationally acclaimed trio Tiddas. Bennett is a consummate performer, playing audiences worldwide. Bennett is a prolific songwriter/composer and during her ten years with Tiddas (1990-2000) penned some of the group’s signature songs.

Bennett’s work stretches over a vast area within the arts industry including her various roles as Performer, Songwriter, Musical and Artistic Director, Composer, Actor, Soundscape and Music Designer and Educator.

In 2006 Bennett was a co-founder of the iconic Black Arm Band and was an instrumental force in the company’s transformative journey from being a one-off ‘special project’, becoming an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governed, not for profit major performing arts company.

Bennett completed her PhD by project at RMIT Melbourne in October 2015. Bennett’s dissertation discusses the importance and relevance of Aboriginal language retrieval, reclamation and regeneration through the medium of the Arts to community health and wellbeing and explores the importance of Indigenous epistemology, methodology and pedagogy in artistic and academic contexts.

Bennett uses her own languages of Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung, extending to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages that can be retrieved, reclaimed and regenerated through songs, stories and performances.

Bennett received the McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the University of Melbourne and was inducted onto the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll for 2017. In 2018 Bennett accepted a member of the Order of Australia. Bennett received a Westpac Research Fellowship in 2021 and continues her research in Sovereign Language Rematriation through Song Pedagogy at the University of Melbourne’s School of Social and Political Science. Bennett was ministerially appointed to the RISING board in 2020 and in 2022 was appointed as the Chair of the Australia Centre at the University of Melbourne.

About Allara 

Allara is a powerful Yorta Yorta winyarr. She is a storyteller, composer, director, producer, musician and soundscape designer. With humour and integrity, Allara uses the double-bass and sound samples from Country to weave textures for healing in her work. She is the recipient of the Archie Roach Foundation Award for Emerging Talent, Music Victoria 2021. Allara is a founding member of Ensemble Dutala, driven by collaboration and improvisation, she is inspired to bring language and cultural practice to the forefront of her work.

About SiloSQ

Silo String Quartet was founded 1998 by cellist composer Caerwen Martin. SiloSQ has released 7 albums and appear on multiple ABC and independent releases. Their extensive catalogue reaches international audiences and media. Career highlights include Rising Festival with Dr Lou Bennett AM 2022, headline Melbourne International Jazz Festival with Ambrose Akinmusire and SiloSQ 2019, SiloSQ Carnegie Hall 2008, concert hall performances in Melbourne Sydney Perth Adelaide with the Vince Jones, Vika Bull and Joe Camilleri 2014-2015, Arts Centre with Meow Meow and David Chisholm 2014.