00:00A break from routine for these students in Roeburn.
00:08The town's biggest concert of the year is just days away and they've been tasked with
00:12writing, producing and performing their own music.
00:15I mean it feels really exciting, like you get to know a lot of people, to get to know
00:21new.
00:22You get a little nervous but after you get done with it, it doesn't really matter.
00:29For 14 years the Songs for Freedom concerts have given local artists a platform to express
00:34themselves as well as heal from past traumas, including the death of local teenager John
00:39Pat in police custody in 1983.
00:45Today many of the songs touch on political themes, but for Kenton and Isaac it's the
00:50simple beauty of WA's Rugged North they like to sing about.
00:53To me I think it's about the future, it's about Roeburn, like the huts, like Red Dusty
00:59Dirt and stuff.
01:00Showing all the people around the country the talent from this little town with a big
01:05heart.
01:06Hey, deadly I reckon.
01:08The children aren't alone on stage, they've got the support of musicians from around the
01:11country who they've been working with all week on their songs as part of the program.
01:17I think I'm always taken aback by the beautiful imagery that kids can offer.
01:23One of them was waiting for birds to come to you with seeds out on your arms.
01:29I was like, it's just so stunning.
01:34This is the last concert of its kind.
01:36Organisers say the labour intensive events will now make way for new artistic projects
01:40in Roeburn, but the town's youth say the concerts have inspired them to keep singing.
01:46Metro audiences will have a chance to see the concert when a one-off performance of
01:49Songs for Freedom is staged in Perth next month.
01:53Charlie McLean, ABC News, Roeburn.
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