Spinifex Gum: the girlsâ choir that has put Pilbara life on stage
By Cat Woods
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The haunting choral harmony that breaks the dark night, ethereal and resonant, wields the power to silence the audience and, seemingly, to transcend time and place. From the Sydney Opera House stage, 18 Indigenous girls holding microphones look assuredly to the audience.
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Since the dreaming began, our ancestors have taken care of country, and we continue their caretaking of the land and sea. We thank you for inviting us on to your country to share our stories, share our songs,â sings the Marliya Choir.
Live at the Bowl just added heaps more gigs to its 2021 program MaRLo
Words by Tom Parker
Featuring performances from the likes of Archie Roach, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, The Meanies and more.
Sidney Myer Music Bowl’s new Live at the Bowl concert series has been a revelation so far, reinvigorating Melbourne’s live music scene with a host of stellar gigs in the beloved open-air arena.
Now, they’ve arrived with more names on the lineup, and punters can expect appearances from pub rock kings, Aussie music legends, electronic wunderkinds, indie favourites and some comedy legends.
What you need to know
Spinifex Gum is ready to work its magic again
By Catherine Lambert
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A vision to create a choir that would turn the genre on its head now seems like a modest starting point for Felix Riebl.
As creative director and composer for Spinifex Gum, Riebl and his oldest friend and Cat Empire collaborator Ollie McGill could not have predicted the impact of the all-female Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander choir.
The Spinifex Gum choir performances are captivating.
Riebl knows their work has an element of magic to it. At the very least they make spines tingle and there is quite often a much more emotional response to their work.
Words by Benjamin Lamb
Spinifex Gum will perform as part of Live at the Bowl on Friday January 8.
Spinifex Gum began as a musical collaboration between The Cat Empire’s Ollie McGill and Felix Riebl with the Marliya Choir. Following an invitation to Western Australia’s Pilbara region and an encounter with a group of wonderful vocalists, Spinifex Gum was born.
“I was invited to go the Pilbara and meet this group of young singers, who would go on to become the Marliya Choir, and front Spinifex Gum,” Riebl says.
In a year where there’s been so little on the live music front, 2021 is going to start with a bang when Spinifex Gum take the stage as a part of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl’s ‘Live at the Bowl’ concert series. This run of shows has materialised as part of a joint effort from Arts Centre Melbourne and the City of Melbourne to rejuvenate the local live music industry.
Sampa The Great, Hannah Gadsby and more announced for epic outdoor performance series Sampa The Great
Live at the Bowl will feature live music, comedy, festivals and more.
As part of the Victorian government’s roadmap to recovery in collaboration with City of Melbourne and Arts Centre Melbourne, a massive program of open-air performances is coming to Sidney Myer Music Bowl this summer.
Titled Live at the Bowl, the mammoth performance series aims to help revive the creative, events and hospitality sectors with COVID-safe events celebrating Melbourne’s incredible music and arts communities.
Taking place across the summer months, the first Live at the Bowl lineup announcement has arrived and it is a bloody doozy. Featuring live music, comedy, festivals and more, you can expect performances from the likes of Sampa The Great, Human Nature, Running Touch, Busby Marou, Daryl Braithwaite, Hannah Gadsby, Zoë Coombs Marr, Missy Higgins, Northeast Party