Young ones give voice to old tongue (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Young ones give voice to old tongue

By Jo Roberts
December 12, 2006
http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/young-ones-give-voice-to-old-tongue/2006/12/11/1165685610958.html#

[photo inset - Youthful members of the Aboriginal Children's Choir.]

The February debut performance of the Aboriginal Children's Choir didn't
quite go as planned, recalls the choir's musical director, Belinda
Gillam.

The choir gave its first concert in its hometown of Healesville as part
of the Queens Baton Relay for the Commonwealth Games. Well, half a
concert, anyway. The children didn't realise there was more singing to
be done after interval, so they all wandered off home or to the nearby
skate park.

Tomorrow, when the choir performs as part of Federation Square's
Christmas Carols program, Gillam says there will be about eight adults,
including guest singer Lou Bennett, to keep an eye on the 20 or so
children. "Hopefully I'll be able to keep them all in the one place at
the one time," laughs Gillam.

The choir was formed by the Yarra Ranges Children's choir and the local
indigenous community as part of the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games,
but also as a way to give indigenous children the chance to learn
Woiwurrung, the language of the Wurundjeri people.

There are no fluent Woiwurrung speakers alive, says Gillam. "There are a
few elders who know a few phrases, but even Aunty Joy is learning
language back from written text."

"Aunty Joy" is Wurundjeri elder Joy Wandin Murphy, who was inspired to
help form the choir after seeing how a similar choir had helped revive
the language of New Zealand's Ngai Tahu Maori people.

She has written her own Christmas carol in Woiwurrung, Pirn Wandeat
Ngamat Ho (A Star Fell from Heaven), that the children will perform
tomorrow.

"My feeling is that we're never going to get people fluent in Woiwurrung
again because there's no one to learn it from," says Gillam. "But what
we're trying to do is reclaim as much of the language as we can."

The Aboriginal Children's Choir, with Lou Bennett, performs in
Federation Square tomorrow from midday to 1pm. For more information on
the square's carols program, which runs until December 22, go to
www.fedsquare.com