Tjaabi–Flood Country is a contemporary intercultural music and theatre performance led by Ngarluma man Patrick Churnside

Ten years in the making in the Pilbara, Tjaabi–Flood Country captures the urgencies of the 21st Century as the globe warms and the climate changes. Patrick captures the many cultural and ecological pressures facing Aboriginal people in places like the Pilbara in the face of ever-increasing pressures for new minerals, rare earth, and more ore. He does so through breathtaking music, profoundly personal narrative, and humour that cuts to the bone.

Tjaabi is a unique song form, short compositions using crisp poetic language, set to melodies from across the Pilbara. Each song captures stories, dreams, thoughts, moments, which can be ecological, profound, funny, sexy, or wistful. Tjaabi are culturally accessible and can be listened to by indigenous and non-indigenous audiences. Each tjaabi has an original singer and comes from a specific place in the Pilbara, handed down to subsequent singers and family members. The original tjaabi singers were men and women of great strength and power from many nations across the Pilbara. Patrick evokes these varied landscapes from the desert to the East, the grassy tablelands, to the flood country of Iremugadu/Roebourne on the western coast, where the desert meets the sea.

Tjaabi–Flood Country is scored and performed with composer and musician Aaron Hopper, whose emotive, nuanced, and intelligent work seeks to grow out of traditional Pilbara melody and motif. This creates a grounded space for Patrick’s own story to emerge. Aaron and his family lived and worked in the Pilbara for three years, immersing themselves in cultural exchange which has allowed this musical collaboration to grow.

Doors open 6:30pm, show begins at 7pm. Duration approx 60 mins.

Contact the host of Tjaabi–Flood Country, City of Melville