Art orchestra and Arnhem Land performers at ANU

Member of Crossing Roper Bar, Benjamin Wilfred.

A groundbreaking project bringing The Australian Art Orchestra (AAO) together with Indigenous performers from Arnhem Land is the recipient of the 2010 HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship at The Australian National University.

The Fellowship, awarded each year by the Research School of Humanities at ANU, aims to encourage creative arts in Australia through a residency at the University. As this year‘s recipients, AAO ’ led by renowned jazz artist Paul Grabowsky - will bring their collaborative Crossing Roper Bar project to ANU with a series of workshops and a concert at the ANU School of Music on September 22.

Crossing Roper Bar is a collaborative project between the AAO and the Young Wagilak Group of the Wagilak people from Ngukurr in south east Arnhem Land. It began in 2005 with a series of workshops and has since evolved into an ongoing collaboration of the contemporary jazz of AAO with the traditional song and dance of the Young Wagilak Group.

Head of the ANU School of Music Professor Adrian Walter said he was pleased to see the Fellowship go to this innovative project.

?I have long been an admirer of the work of Paul Grabowsky having got to know him in the ‘Top End’ as a great supporter of Indigenous musicians and Indigenous education,? said Professor Walter. ‘He is undoubtedly one of Australia’s pre-eminent jazz pianists and composers. However, it is his extraordinary energy, vision and breadth of musical knowledge that sets him apart from most musicians of his generation.

?In establishing the AAO, Paul has brought together an astonishing group of musicians who share his passion for collaboration, improvisation and the exploration of new creative realms. The Crossing Roper Bar project, which fuses experimental jazz and traditional Yolgnu manikay, is evidence of the brilliance of Paul‘s and the AAO’s creative vision. The staff and students of ANU School of Music are very excited to be hosting this innovative and culturally significant residency.’

The HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship was established in 1965 by Dr HC Coombs, while he was ANU Pro-Chancellor, to encourage creative works in the arts in Australia. The Fellowship has supported Australian artists including Judith Wright, John Perceval, Arthur Boyd, Fiona Hall and Robyn Davidson. The invited Fellowships are offered to visual and performing artists and writers on a rotation basis.

Professor Howard Morphy, Director of the Research School of Humanities at ANU, said: ‘The Fellowship is an important and highly valued element of the University’s cultural life and one of its features is the interaction, both formal and informal, between the recipient and the students and staff at ANU. We‘re all looking forward to seeing the results of this exciting link between ANU and AAO.’

For interviews: Professor Adrian Walter - 02 6125 5733
For media assistance: James Giggacher, ANU Media - 02 6125 7988 / 0416 249 241

The Crossing Roper Bar CD is available online at www.aao.com.au