The Ltyentye Apurte Drummers are seeking Support!
The Ltyentye Apurte Drummers, a group of Aboriginal school kids from Santa Teresa in the Central Desert lands of the NT, will be making their first, musical journey interstate. They have been invited to perform on the mainstage at Melbourne’s Federation Square to celebrate the AFL’s Dreamtime at the G Football Carnival on 25 May 2013.
The Long Walk, the significant preceding event, links festivities at Federation Square with the Dreamtime at the G football match, traditionally played by the Richmond Tigers and the Essendon Bombers, and formally marking the AFL’s celebration of indigenous Australian footballers.
This invitation signposts a dramatic milestone for these 17 kids, aged 10 – 14 years, who have been learning the West African ensemble drumming style for the past three years at the Ltyentye Apurte Catholic Education Centre, based in Santa Teresa, 80kms from Alice Springs. They have steadily been gaining skills unparalleled by any other youth music ensemble to emerge out of a Central Desert school.
The Ltyentye Apurte Drummers have been gaining acclaim and a fine sense of achievement in their own Territory where they have opened major festival events in and around Alice Springs and won first place at the Centralian Eistedfodd two years in a row for the Open Percussion Section.
Another great triumph was embarking on their first ever tour in 2012 when they blazed a trail from the desert to the sea – accomplished via an overland camping journey of 3000+km to Darwin. They performed 12 shows in 12 days! Audiences everywhere were amazed, but most especially at the featured performance they gave at the Catholic Schools Performing Arts Festival at the Darwin Entertainment Centre, the pinnacle of the tour, where they performed their whole repertoire unassisted by Ba-Boom!
Achievements like these have created a real buzz in Central Australia. Now, the Drummers are about to embark on a whole new adventure; Traveling interstate for the first time and playing to huge crowds of football fans in Melbourne.
This invitation to perform at the Dreamtime at the G Football Carnival represents a golden opportunity for these young people not only to enjoy the appreciation of a greater, mainstream Australian audience, but also to develop and further their commitment to learning, to inspirational leadership and to open their eyes and minds to possibilities and experiences contained in big cities.
We wish all of you good luck in attracting interest and financial support in this latest, very exciting venture.
And check out all the material on The Ltyentye Apurte Drummers right here on this blog!