While Australia has been debating the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in parliament, a dozen First Nations composers have been given their own voice in a superb album jointly enabled by the Ngarra-Burra artist development program and ground-breaking Sydney group Ensemble Offspring.

Troy Russell’s Nucoorilma (Apple Tree) is a bright and attractive earworm to open the collection, with its catchy riff featuring Lamorna Nightingale’s flute, Jason Noble’s clarinet, Claire Edwardes on vibraphone and Freya Schack-Arnott on cello. The tree is a prominent feature of the composer’s grandmother’s hometown and the piece tells how she moved across country to marry, forsaking her Aboriginal culture, only to return to it later as an activist. 

Brenda Gifford, Ensemble Offspring’s First Nations Composer in Residence in 2020, writes about the interplay between the seasons and the elements in her two pieces, Gambambarra (Spring) and Bardju (Footprints). “The music represents my journey and memories of country – what I have seen and heard. Everything from the sea and wind to the birds.”