Songs of Home

Songs of Home Anmatyerr and Kam singing traditions

Songs of Home celebrates the significance and richness of Indigenous song, and reminds us of the fundamental connections between singing and home. The project has brought together expert singers from Australia and China – Anmatyerr women singers from Ti-Tree in Central Australia, and Kam women singers from Liping county in Guizhou province, China. The two groups performed jointly during a week long visit to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, at the University of Sydney in April 2017.

This book provides a deeper background to the societies and cultures of Anmatyerr and Kam people. By generously sharing their songs and knowledge with us, these women and other members of their communities have provided us with an opportunity to better understand their unique musical cultures. The project has been a collaboration by Sydney Conservatorium of Music researchers Dr Myfany Turpin and Dr Catherine Ingram, drawing on the many years of research they have individually conducted within each community.

The book is structured in two halves, with each half describing the two different groups. The text is bilingual, written in both English and Chinese, along with Anmatyerr, Warlpiri and Kam song texts and key words.