MUSIC, movement and illustrations are bringing intercultural young people from Ballarat, Horsham, Nhill and Ghana together to creatively connect and collaborate.<\/p>\n
Coordinated by the Centre for Multicultural Youth, a virtual choir, band, art, and dance performance piece called Awa<\/em> is digitally uniting Africans with Australians \u2013 some of which are also Karen refugees, South Sudanese, and Indian or Filipino migrants.<\/p>\n CMY Ballarat team leader and project coordinator, Shiree Pilkinton said Awa<\/em> is the title of a traditional Ghanaian children\u2019s song that has been rearranged by musical director, Coco Sounds\u2019 Stella Savy.<\/p>\n Working with Savy\u2019s husband, Mishael Gyabeng, and a similar youth foundation he has links to in Ghana, CMY began facilitation of cyber-safe online rehearsals during the COVID-19 lockdown to introduce young people to other cultures and skills.<\/p>\n These sessions prepared them to film singing, instrumental, dance or artistic parts, which are being edited into one video, inspired by the Couch Choir.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to maintain contact and social connection with our young people and their families, keep spirits high, and help with any mental health and general wellbeing challenges, while being socially distanced,\u201d Ms Pilkinton said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had the perfect people, just in our mix, to make this happen through a virtual project, including production people, so I rang Stella.<\/p>\n \u201cShe chose the song and made it a little bit more contemporary, creating seven vocal parts, and multiple music and percussion parts for participants to choose from.\u201d<\/p>\n The lyrics express the excitement one feels to hug another person they have been apart from, and Awa<\/em>\u2019s new arrangement has made the collaboration accessible and inclusive for any young person that wanted to be involved.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a fairly straightforward rhythm, there are only two guitar chords to learn, and the singing parts match different vocal ranges.<\/p>\n \u201cFor those that didn\u2019t feel comfortable doing any of that, they could make a visual art contribution. One of the workers in Horsham had spent time working in Africa and suggested we could look at West African Adinkra symbols,\u201d Ms Pilkinton said.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople could create their Adinkra art and photograph it. These could be mixed in with the tiles for the final YouTube clip so there\u2019s visual and performance art.\u201d<\/p>\n Between 50 and 60 young people from age 12 to 25 have been part of the project along the way, and the Victorian performers are excited to see what their Ghanaian counterparts have produced.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve made videos, too, of dance and percussion, but their very weak internet connection has been a challenge, so we hope we find a solution to ensure their videos are mixed in,\u201d Ms Pilkinton said.<\/p>\n Ballarat Youth Advisory Group member, Abby Ashmore is a musician and Awa<\/em> project mentee.<\/p>\n She said week after week, participants have become more confident in Zoom rehearsals, while socially mixing with diverse performers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so nice to see so many different walks of life singing, learning, sharing and exchanging things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bit tricky to get people excited at the start because everyone needs to be muted while they rehearse at home and play in their own time, but it\u2019s improved a lot.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s nice working with Mishael. Since he is in Ghana, I don\u2019t get to talk to him much, but in this project I get to see him more which is great fun, because he\u2019s very talented.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Pilkinton said it\u2019s rare for a Ballarat collaboration to feature so many cultural perspectives in one piece of work.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s this whole mix of people coming together. Hopefully along the way, it\u2019s meant people are gaining a better understanding of each and everyone\u2019s journey, experiences and lives they\u2019re having wherever they now live,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n CMY is making a donation to the foundation in Ghana to express their gratitude for their input and skills.<\/p>\n