Inaugural festival of song sees Aboriginal women’s choir perform in Central Australian desert

ABC NEWS (Australia)

When the Desert Song Festival announced it would sing its swansong last year, Alice Springs locals were devasted to lose its defining event, A Capella in the Gorge. The team behind the festival heeded their calls, and a scaled-back version called Kwarta Tuma was born.

Transcript

00:00Reverberating off glowing red rocks.

00:07The harmonies of the Kwaratuma Festival,

00:11a scaled back version of the former Desert Song Festival,

00:14wowed intrepid punters once again.

00:17And the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir is the main event.

00:23People have gathered here on the banks of Kwaratuma,

00:26or Ormiston Gorge, to be serenaded today.

00:29The cultural significance, the outstanding beauty, the antiquity,

00:34the incredible landforms.

00:36This particular thing here is a wonderful sound trap.

00:41We don't use amplification, we just use the voices, and it's magical.

00:46I'm from Murmondsburg.

00:49I'm from Ariunga.

00:51And what does it mean to be a part of this choir singing together?

00:54It is so beautiful, like, we get to travel together,

00:59and, like, pick one group choir.

01:04An event too beautiful to miss.

01:06One, two, three!

01:08It's a gathering place, and if it's surrounded by this wonderful ambience

01:13and wonderful music, it's probably the best thing that we can ask for.

01:16Particularly for the locals, so this is, like, smaller and warmer,

01:20and it's just such a beautiful environment.

01:23The landscape's incredible, these dramatic hills,

01:26and the gorgeous deep blue sky, and the sunshine,

01:30and you've got the breeze over the water.

01:32Absolutely spectacular.

01:33I hope we get to see them every year.

01:36So powerful.

01:38It touches you so deeply inside.

01:44A smaller festival, but with no less feeling.

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