Barayagal
H3.Barayagal 2022
Barayagal is an intercultural collective of singers that gathers to sing songs of culture and stories. Directed by Gamilaraay songwriter Nardi Simpson, we sing to the place we are in and to the places we all come from.
First Nations people and the Sydney University community are invited to join our choir. We welcome people who want to sing for the first time, and people who have been singing all their lives. Barayagal is a community choir, hosted by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Sydney University. Barayagal performs at festivals and cultural events. Come and join us for a sing.
We will meet each Wednesday evening 6pm -7:30pm during semester at the Old Darlington School, Camperdown campus.
This choir is administered by YARN Australia, the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and the Open Academy Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Barayagal sings to the place we are in and to the places we all come from. The choir aims to bring people of mixed cultures and 1st Nations people together to create a harmonious gathering place."
Kevin Hunt, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
All current University staff and students are invited to join whatever your previous singing experience. It’s free to participate so come, sing and share in this unique project.
The word Barayagal – meaning ‘Sydney sings’, with ‘baraya’ meaning to sing, and ‘gal’ connecting the singing to the lands of the Sydney region – was created for this project by Dr Jakelin Troy and Nardi Simpson. Cultural permission to name the choir Barayagal was then provided by The Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.
ABOUT THE BARAYAGAL TEAM
Nardi Simpson, a Yuwaalaraay writer, musician and performer from NSW’s north west freshwater plain, leads Barayagal as Musical Director, composing and developing a repertoire of five songs. One of the songs titled ‘You Gotta Know’ embodies the inspiration for the Choir – a message of shared identity, all our stories reconciled together.
Kevin Hunt, lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, jazz pianist and coordinator of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal musical collaborations, completed the musical arrangements with Nardi.
Warren Roberts, Founder of YARN Australia, will administer the choir business to the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander community in consultation with the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.
HOW TO JOIN
All current University staff and students are invited to join whatever your previous singing experience. To register your interest enrol using your University of Sydney email address.
If you are not a University member but are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent please register via Warren Roberts at YARN. info@yarnaustralia.com
