Farewell to Pukatja! The last piece of music to be captured by the incredibly popular Kane Hall based recording studio was four hours of a live concert featuring many of the musicians who have been laying their tracks down over our three and a half week stay. Over a hundred Pukatja kids and adults shook their mana-s surrounded by the halls wonderous day-glow designs and the sweet desert reggae sounds. Thanks to all the musicians - Mervin, Chriswell, Winmati, Clarence, Sandy, Phillip, Jacob, Wanyima, Lachlin, Jamie, Mawatji, many more, and Joseph Tapaya, who also gave us a lovely thank-you speech.

Many long days and nights spent recording with many young musicians from Pukatja and some from further afield (Kalka, Pipylatjara, Amata and Fregon) has borne a compilation album bursting with dynamic new tracks. Some youngfellas worked closely with Steve to refine the mixes and we gathered outside the hall for an album-cover photo shoot. We are currently deciding on the best way to distribute the compilation but through musicians and friends it can already be heard blasting out of car stereos across Pukatja and beyond, and will soon be making its way to Central Australian bush-radio networks. The great music also inspired some of the young women to grab Batesy to make a booty dancing video clip in the hills.

In addition to the reggae compilation, three gospel albums have been recorded including a Christmas album featuring beautiful Pitjantjatjara hymns, a collection of original tracks by Alison Munti of Amata and another from Pukatja gospel singers Rhoda Tjitayi, Makinti Minutjukur, Unurupa (Nami) Kulyuru, Pantjiti Lewis, Renita Stanley and Tjunkaya Tapaya. Many of these gorgeous voices will be joining us for the Sydney Festival season in January. There are plans to distribute these albums through Tracks of the Desert, in case you want to get your hands on a copy.

The afternoons of our final week were spent recording the Ernabella Anangu Schools Childrens' Choir which is conducted by school principal Sam Osborne. Long-time Ernabella Choir (now Pitjantjatjara Choir) member and conductor Gordon Ingkatji initiated the re-emergence of this tradition at Ernabella. With the assistance of an older generation of skilled part-singers (who are also grandparents to many of the children in the choir) and a carefully dedicated approach to learning, the choir is now achieving fantastic results. The choir recently amazed Adelaide audiences with their multi-lingual set-list and touched the hearts of many former Mission and Community staff.

One Saturday in Pukatja Steve and Batesy picked up their film and recording gear and shifted to the comfortable surrounds of Ernabella Arts centre where gathered an older generation of singers who came together to record inma ngalpa-ngalpa irititja tjuta (or "play songs from the past"). The group of ladies (and one tjilpi!) sat recounting stories of their youths and recalling the many funny and inventive songs they used to make up while on camel and donkey walkabouts with their parents and playing on the rocks around Ernabella Mission. Some of these songs have been developed into the Ngapartji Ngapartji theatre show and so it was beautiful to hear their original contexts explained in further detail. These songs capture the Pitjantjatjara language being used differently to contemporary use and Nami has plans to teach some of these inma to the children attending the pre-school where she works. Hopefully we can feed some of these songs and stories into the ninti site. 

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Beth, Dani and Batesy took a group of talented young women through the song writing process which resulted in a cute reggae number sung by Jennifer Wells, with Janice Stanley on drums and other little girls singing the chorus. Go kungka tjuta! Batesy filmed the song writing and recording process, and there are plans for a video clip for this song too.

Big kudos to Steve for the long hours he has put in which enabled us to achieve as much as we did. Thankyou to everyone in Pukatja for being so welcoming, and a special thankyou to Nami who has selflessly offered so much time and support to Ngapartji Ngapartji. Also special mention to Mervin Adamson who has worked very closely with Steve and Beth, not only recording his own music but assisting the skill development of younger and less experienced musicians. 

Pantjiti, Amanyi, Jennifer and many of the Ngapartji Ladies have been at Law and Culture at Apankanu over the last week and Batesy, Beth and Jane were lucky to camp out a few nights with them there – womens’ business - enough said! 

 Dani is esconsed in a castle in Salzburg, Austria attending the Salzburg Global Seminar, a think tank of creative ideas on global issues from different cultures and institutions around the world. The title this seminar is Cultural Institutions Without Walls: new models of arts.
Presentations and discussions have so far been provoking thought and response to issues across the areas of youth and education, community engagement and development, cultural policy and creative industries and now mid-way into the seminar, participants are about to split into smaller workshop groups where some of these topics will be entered in more depth.

So now Beth and Batesy are back in Alice wrapping up things from the Pukatja project, waiting for Alex to escape Port Augusta and join them (when a truck part arrives) and looking foward to touching base with the town mob! 

Palya-kutu!