Laid in Earth
In 2007 The Queensland Music Festival built the Musical Ship, a percussive playground for all ages, on the beautiful foreshore of Cooktown’s Endeavour River. In 2009, The QMF will revisit the Musical Ship with Laid In Earth, a newly commissioned work from celebrated composer Damian Barbeler, featuring multi award winning vocalist Sarah Blasko, Emma-Louise, Daniel Rojas and Kurrawong.
Using a cast of some of Australia’s finest musicians and performers, alongside community singers from Hope Vale, Rossville and Cooktown, Damian will create voicescapes of iconic European arias to reflect the earliest cultural exchanges between Europeans and Indigenous Australians.
This spectacular afternoon will begin with the massed percussion piece ‘Mothership’, performed by school children from the region. Following this, new songs from Indigenous Deadly Award winning band Black Image and Sydney’s Kurrawong Ensemble will lead into a sunset performance of Laid In Earth, to be introduced with a vocal blessing by the renowned Hope Vale Choir.
Cooktown is a place where history, cultures and geography are compressed together in a mix of intriguing coincidences. Supported by a stunning soundscape and visual projections, Laid In Earth will embark on a journey through the diversity, beauty and struggle of living in remote Far North Queensland.
This project is supported by the Australia Council, the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body, through its Community Partnerships Section.
Presented by Queensland Music Festival and Cook Shire Regional Council.
