Ben Fox was one of the delegates at the iNTune Music Conference in Alice Springs. He travelled a long way to be a part of this event, representing Wilurarra Creative Centre from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands at the tristate intersection of the NT, SA and the Warburton Community in Western Australia. (Jody Brown from Wilurarra Creative also attended iNTune Alice with colleague Ben Fox.)
Ben works as Artistic Director for Wilurarra Creative, and recently sent through some news about a great music event at Warburton Park on September 22, 2010.
Manual Ngulupani Dhurrkay performing at Sand Tracks Tour, Warburton Community. Photo by Jody Brown.
“The recent Sand Tracks Concert with Saltwater Band’s Manuel Ngulpani Dhurrkay, Iwantja, Warburton Band – and opened by the local ladies singing and dancing Turlku – was a very big hit last Wednesday with 623 people attending,” he says.
He continues, “the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku Community Development Team, Country Arts WA and Wilurarra Creative partnered for this event. Music professional development sessions for 50 adults were at full capacity. A big thanks to Warburton Community and Staff, Police Snr Sgnt Kim Trew and his team, Shire Youth Team, Mily Store, Skinny Fish, Carclew.”
The Country Arts WA webiste defines the Sand Tracks tour as a “remote Indigenous contemporary music touring program” which involves a number of NT artists given performance opportunities in remote WA communities.
This year Iwantja Band And Manuel Ngulpani Dhurrkay (front man of Saltwater Band) and his band are currently touring as part of Sand Tracks. Sand Tracks is an initiative of Country Arts WA – who was also represented at iNTune Alice. also on their website, Country Arts WA state that the “touring program was born out of a desire by Country Arts WA to have a more frequent and greater involvement with remote Indigenous communities. The program has a strong focus on skills development for both remote Indigenous communities and for the touring bands.”
Delvina, Lisa, Sherma pictured at a workshop at Wilurarra Creative. Image courtesy of Wilurarra Creative.
And a bit more about Wilurrarra Creative… At the Centre “people work on a range of different practices, including music, fashion performance, land & cultural practice, digital media, print media and art and project consulting… Since inception in 2004 (as Warburton Youth Arts) Wilurarra Creative has engaged Warburton Community’s younger people through emphasis on new media.” The music output Wilurarra Creative is pretty prolific, with “the average number of music tracks recorded weekly in the studio” totalling “5 tracks”!!
Thanks for the info Ben – look forward to hearing more news from Wilurarra Creative!
Visit the Wilurarra Creative website to find out more, and visit their photo gallery to see more images from the Sand Tracks Tour to Warburton Community.
Find out more about Sand Tracks here.
Words: Megan Spencer.
