A song for Joondalup
29 Jan 2025
Kalyakoorl, ngalak warangka. Forever we sing.
Paying homage to our unique and incredibly special part of the world, Joondalup Festival has proudly commissioned a song for our community and future generations to enjoy.
This special project, called Joondalup Warangka (Joondalup Song), brought together the talents of the West Australian Opera, celebrated singer-songwriters Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse, and acclaimed producer Boox Kid, with inspiration drawn from the stories and experiences of local residents. The result? A mesmerizing blend of traditional Noongar language and contemporary musical elements that pays homage to the significance of Lake Joondalup in Noongar culture and history.
ARTIST STATEMENT FROM GINA WILLIAMS
We acknowledge the beautiful, ancient lands of our Whadjuk moort (people) where we work, and pay our deepest respect to our elders, past and present. We were honoured to accept the commission from the City of Joondalup, and West Australian Opera to write a song about a place which has held such a special place in the hearts of Noongar people for thousands of generations and continues to do so for all of us today.
Lake Joondalup, “The lake that glistens” an evocative name which captures our imaginations as a place of magic and big dreaming. It was here that Djoondal left her footprints as she stepped up into the sky. It was the place where Yellagonga stood proud and tall. It was a place of nourishment and healing. It was a meeting place for many Noongar groups, where we once gathered, held ceremony and traded. Noongars understood the magic of this place. Even today, if you sit and close your eyes, you can sense the vibrations as this beautiful lake remains a gathering space for us to gather to picnic and enjoy its sanctuary in a modern context.
The song we have composed, we hope, captures the spirit and magic of this place. The moonlight casting a magical glow over the evening water. If you watch carefully you might catch a glimpse of Djoondal’s silvery strands of hair. And if you stop and listen you might hear the chant of our ancestors, or the soft padding of feet dancing in the sand. We believe that our past informs our present and secures our future and have tried to connect this by bringing old knowledge references which still exists in time and space, with the modern use of place. This work is a love letter to country, to community, to our past and our future. It is for those who want to call this place home in a beautiful new way. Again, we want to thank our allies for helping us to elevate our language and stories and we want all of us to access the language of this place. Because, as we have always maintained, it’s not enough to have just Noongar people speaking language on this land. For our language to survive, we need to have as many allies and others speaking and hearing Noongar. To us, this is a modern Dreaming song in broad daylight.
Kalyakoorl, ngalak warangka. Forever we sing.
– Gina Williams AM On behalf of Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse
