Apr 3, 2023

MW Copy Cheryl Davison is a Walbunja, Ngarigo woman who has studied and taught visual arts, graphic arts and printmaking and has exhibited nationally and internationally. File picture The Four Winds Music Festival is featuring two creations by renowned local Aboriginal artist Cheryl Davison. Her large-scale installation, Wonga and the Waratah, which was displayed at Moruya's Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre in January will be on show at Four Winds as audiences arrive on Good Friday at 4pm. What will make it so special is the accompanying soundscape in which Ms Davison played an instrumental role. When Ms Davison applied for the role of Four Winds Aboriginal Creative Producer in 2018 one of the things she wanted to do was to talk about her people's Dreamtime stories. READ ALSO: They started singing covers and then progressed to writing their own songs. Djinama Yilaga is an intergenerational Yuin choir, established in 2019 by Cheryl Davison in her capacity as Four Winds Aboriginal Creative Producer. Picture by Elise Idiens. Choir singing in Dhurga language "For me it was not enough just to write songs about our stories and then I started thinking about language. "There were songs in Bran Nue Dae and that Christine Anu and others were singing in language and they were really good," Ms Davison said. However bushfires and COVID saw the 14-member choir's numbers dwindle until it was just Ms Davison's immediate family and cousins. They sounded great but Ms Davison had always wanted the choir to be bigger, particularly after their songs had been orchestrated. Wonga and the Waratah is a local dreamtime story presented in visual and sonic form that traces the Wonga pigeon's journey back to her nest after an encounter with a hawk. Hopping from flower-to-flower, Wonga turns each white waratah flower to red with blood from her broken wing. Picture supplied. Second choir formed She successfully applied for funding to get Aboriginal musician and academic Dr Lou Bennett AM to run workshops in Nowra, Ulladulla and Tanja. "From those workshops we had 14 women, mostly Nowra women." They formed their own choir, with the support of Four Winds, and every week practiced singing the songs in Dhurga language. The Djinama Yilaga choir and South Coast Yuin choir are separate groups "but when we come together we are Garraywaa", which translates as Milky Way. At the Four Winds Music Festival at 4pm on Friday, April 7, the public can see Garraywaa's first public appearance, performing the soundscape to Wonga and the Waratah. "The choir sounds beautiful, it is going to be so awesome," Ms Davison said. At 10am the following day, Djinama Yilaga and some of the Nowra women will perform in Madhu, with the Australian String Quartet. One of the songs they will sing is Walawaani which featured in the film Home Stretch that paid homage to the iconic Tathra-Bermagui road. More information about the three-day program of performances and ticket packages can be found here . Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: