Indigenous Kam women of China unite in 'Big Song' with Aboriginal Anmatyerr women

In a rare exchange of cultures, Indigenous women from highly remote communities on opposite sides of the world will be united in song as six ethnic Kam women travel across the world from their remote community in rural China to sing with seven Anmatyerr women from central Australia.

Source: By Jason Liu

Six Kam women from south-west China, adorned in traditional embroidery costumes and tinkling silver accessories, visited SBS last week, as part of their cultural exchange tour. When they started singing, staff across SBS came to a standstill to watch.  

The six Kam ladies were invited to SBS to give a special preview of a rare concert next week, organized by the Research Centre for Musical Diversity at the University of Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music. Their song genre was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.

Seven Anmatyerr women from central Australia will also join them to perform at the concert, where these two contrasting indigenous cultures from highly remote regions on opposite sides of the world, both share special connections to their distinctive homelands meeting together for the first time in an Indigenous Australian-Chinese music exchange.

Catherine Ingram in Guizhou province ( Photograph by Xie Zi-chong) Source: Photograph by Xie Zi-chong

The Kam (Dong, in Chinese) people, with a population of around 3 million, mostly live in the Guizhou and Hunan Provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in south-west China. They are one of 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China.

Kam, the first language of many Kam people, is related to Thai, which is entirely different from Chinese and has no widely used written form. Songs therefore provide a crucial means for recording and transferring language and culture.

Kam women are renowned for their multi-part choral song, unlike other parts of China where vocal traditions are based on single melodies. Their songs are known in English as ‘big song’ that describe Kam philosophies about their approach to life and social relations. Other songs may celebrate a wedding, the Lunar New Year, or a visit from important guests.

Source: By Jason Liu

The Kam women invited Dr Catherine Ingram, Sydney Conservatorium of Music Research fellow and co-organiser of the event, to join them in their showcase at SBS, to perform one of their most significant songs, which indicates their understanding of life and death. 

As the first non-Chinese to complete substantial research into Kam minority song, Dr Ingram explained the meaning of this famous song:

"If the mountain peak falls and covers the stream, we feel very sad. If the rocks fall down and block the water, the water can go around. But for us as people, we can't go around. We just moved toward death."

In recent decades, Kam communities have faced massive social transformations, largely due to youth migrating to China’s eastern seaboard for jobs.

“Performing in Sydney is a significant form of encouragement for these women and their communities in maintaining these historic musical forms and cultures,” says Dr Ingram.

The concert at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music will also mark the launch of a book, Songs of Home, about the two old Indigenous cultures and their music. A Q&A with performers from the two cultures will follow the concert, hosted by Indigenous Australian actor and performer Kylie Bracknell.

Event details:

What: Songs of Home: Anmatyerr and Kam Singing Traditions

When: 12 April 2017, 6.30pm (launch of book at 6pm)

More information please check with University of Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music

(Source : University of Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music).