Yorta Yorta Language Songbook Update
Things have been busy on the Yorta Yorta Songbook Project front. Ebony has coordinated a number of song writing workshops with community members across Yorta Yorta Country in the past couple of months.
A productive three-day residency was recently completed in Echuca with Madi Colville Walker and James Henry, resulting in the creation of four songs, all with different focuses and messages.
A highlight of the residency was the collaboration with participants from the Njernda Youth Hub, who created a song to accompany a weaving dance they do. Language was carefully matched to the dance movements, strengthening the connection between cultural practice, storytelling, and language revitalisation. This approach created a meaningful learning experience for participants and reinforced the importance of embedding language within cultural practices.
A workshop was also done with three young people connected with Headspace. We were able to create a space where they could voice the challenges connecting to family and culture as young people.
A Moama workshop saw us working with two young women and completing an animal learning song for younger children.
Further songwriting workshops were hosted with Levi Power and family, Zane Howell and family, and Rumbalara Youth Hub.
The workshop phase of the project will be wrapping up with the final songwriting workshop being held at Morning Glory River Resort, hosting community living and working in the Cummeragunja/Barmah area.
All this work wouldn’t have been possible without our community and our musicians coming together to learn and create amazing pieces of work.
“We are so excited to be moving into the next phase of the project in coming months and compiling all the songs written throughout the workshops. We will keep you posted with more updates in our next e-news” shared Ebony Joachim, Language Songbook Coordinator.
