Workshop: Arrkanala Lyilhitjika – The Joy of Singing!

Since their epoch-making tour of Germany in 2015 — celebrated in the award-winning documentary The Song Keepers — The CAAWC has become a musical tour-de-force across Australia and internationally presenting their stirring harmonies, unique tonality and that intercultural combination of Romantic era and Baroque musical arrangements, German sacred poetry (hymns) and 60,000 years of language practice. 

Come and meet these remarkable First Australians on their return to WOMADelaide; hear this talented group of Song Women, elders and artists from remote Central Australian communities present their incredible story; learn something new about your country – and yourself — and leave with the memory of one beautiful tune, and some words from two of the most ancient languages in the world.

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Awakening audiences with sacred songs in the Western Arrarnta and Pitjantjatjara languages, the CAAWC has built a significant following, well beyond its Central Desert home. The choir’s unique practice is the consequence of the meeting of German Lutheran mission pioneers and the Western Arrarnta People in the 1870s. Through adoption and adaptation, the community added a ‘new’ choral practice to its musical traditions, creating a unique confluence of baroque and early romantic era choral arrangements, Lutheran hymnic poetry and centuries-old sacred songs in ancient Aboriginal languages. Now seasoned international performers, the choir has performed at leading concert halls, including Elisabeth Murdoch and Hamer Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.