What are the sounds of grief? For me, growing up in Papua New Guinea (PNG), it was women keening. This word is also used to describe the wailing which accompanies funeral rites in the Gaelic-Celtic traditions.

At the tiny airport in the PNG town where I grew up, the arrival of a deceased person on the plane was greeted with a heartbreaking chorus of women’s voices. The collective agony was palpable, as, no doubt, were the effects of the crying on the women’s vocal cords, especially because the haus krai, as the gathering for a funeral is known, lasts for days.

At the most recent funeral I attended in Melbourne, grief was expressed alongside celebration –through hymns and the tunes of Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra, the latter of whom is apparently a popular choice.

In the Chinese tradition, one of the primary instruments used at funerals is the suona, a high-pitched double-reeded instrument.

At Mindy Meng Wang and Monica Lim’s Opera for the Dead on Saturday evening, there was not a suona to be heard, however.

Perhaps this is not surprising, given that both artists are known for pushing musical boundaries – Wang through her guzheng performances...