Pemulwuy! National Male Voice Festival is a triennial event based in Brisbane, Queensland. It aims to encourage males throughout Australia and visiting choirs from overseas to engage in singing at whatever level of experience they find themselves and to build networks between conductors and artists who work in this unique field. In 2023, the festival will take place from 7 - 9 July 2023.
“Journey through Song”
Unite through the celebration of music in this place
together, and discover connection and self-expression.
The festival takes it’s name from a piece of music written by Australian composer Paul Jarman about the Bidjigal warrior Pemulwuy who led resistance against the colonial settlers in the Eora nation (Sydney area).
In 2006, the Australian composer Paul Jarman wrote the popular choir song ‘Pemulwuy’. Pemulwuy was the strong and fearless Eora man and leader who defended his Country against the invading British in the late eighteenth century. However, as Paul remembers, there was little known about the story at the time. Paul was passionate about Australian history and had been writing projects about interesting Australian histories such as Irish Settlers, Chinese and Jewish immigrants.
He was conscious of the absence of Indigenous histories in compositions. He had been touring and working with Indigenous people and visit communities, as well as working as musical director for the Deadly Awards. Paul also worked in collaboration with Gai-mariagal author and academic, Dennis Foley (author of Repossession of Our Spirit). They got together and inspired school children from all over the Northern Beaches of Sydney to learn more about the local Indigenous history. With Dennis guiding him, Paul wrote three pieces that were sung by schools in that area.
Paul was given Aboriginal scholar Eric Willmot’s book Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior (1987), which had inspired him to write the song. Paul said, ‘I felt passionate about getting a history out there about Australia’s first freedom fighter, an Indigenous hero. I felt slightly ashamed that our country had chosen in a way to ‘erase’ his existence - that is the main reason I wrote the piece.’
In 2006, Paul was commissioned to write a song for a small choir group in Canberra. Paul wrote a choir song about Pemulwuy, with lyrics that included some traditional language words. Paul researched extensively and consulted Aboriginal people about his work who gave him feedback to improve the song. The song’s first performance was in a church close to Parliament House. The song has been performed by choirs across Australia and overseas. It opens up on a history that had been hidden. The story of Pemulwuy reaches a wider audience so that Pemulwuy the resistance fighter, is remembered, honoured and celebrated.
Extract from True Tracks - Respecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture Author Terri Janke