| OCHRES
Commentary by Composer, David Page "And the moon flamed like burning ice
guiding us to their new destiny." From Ochres - The Echo Spirit Song, (White)
 When I was writing the music for Ochres, the studio where I was composing was right next door to the dance rehearsal studio, so Stephen, Bernadette and I were constantly connected throughout the creative process. I love working with lyrics the most, but a lot of choreographers don't like working with them, but I persuaded Stephen and Bernadette to have lyrics in the show, especially traditional language. Ochres contains lyrics in both English and traditional language. A lot of the meanings of the lyrics reflect the connection of the Aboriginal people to the land. The traditional ochre song allows you to use ochre - or rather gives permission to use this sacred substance. In the section 'Pain', Djakapurra is singing, asking for help from his wife to help him through his emotional turmoil. In terms of my creative process, it depends on what inspires the work at the time. Lyrics might come to me first, so I will begin with that but mostly the music and other sounds are created first. Each section of Ochres developed a mood as the story evolved. I was aware of each mood so I found instruments and sounds to reflect that. I was fortunate enough to have the privilege to work with and utilise the traditional music from Yirrkala to use in this contemporary work. Djakapurra allowed me to fuse those two styles together. So most of the moods are pretty much inspired by the traditional elements featured in the music works. When using the yirdaki Djakapurra would improvise and then I would adapt its rhythm to contemporary sounds. In terms of the language groups that are featured in Ochres (ie the Yirragambeh and the Kala Kawaw Ya language groups) Yirrgambeh language is my language, so I was allowed to translate these meanings across. Kala Kawaw is from the Torres Strait Islands and I worked with Glenda Aragu and Pinau Gee, who are both from there. They helped with the translations and recording and are both featured on the soundtrack. back to top
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