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'Singing from Country' aims to inspire songwriters, choirs and other community members to learn about, appreciate and celebrate country, reclaiming our love of land - through song. In the pilot phase of this project we brought together award-winning songwriters, indigenous knowledge-holders, naturalists and ecologists to share knowledge of Country.
This collaborative process led to the composition of songs, which were then unveiled by the songwriters at the Maldon Folk Festival in October 2016 and then arranged and performed by choirs in the Castlemaine State Festival, March 2017.
Thanks to local ecologists Geoff Parks and Andrew Skeoch who opened our eyes to nature. Uncle Rick Nelson and Rebecca Phillips brought us the wisdom of Dja Dja Wurrung language, culture and much more.
You can freely listen to mixes of these songs (below); you can also purchase the songs (including full score, lyrics, and MP3s of each part) as resources suitable for singing groups to learn (CMVic Members get 20% off the prices shown below). The 4 compositions here feature one song each from ARIA winning songwriters Neil Murray and Kavisha Mazella plus the songwriting flair of Eva Popov and Carl Pannuzzo. Carl arranged his own song and the other 3 were lovingly arranged for singing groups by the talented and much-experienced choir-leaders James Rigby and Jane Thompson (Sing It, Short Stuff, Victoria Sings).
Note on copyright: If you are a leader of a singing group you may make copies for use with your own group, but not for use by other groups or individuals.
The Singing from Country vision is to inspire local variations. There is no magic formula – just the hope that people can come together in groups to connect and share stores about land – leading to songs that will reconnect people to place. We hope you enjoy these singing resources.
