Dr Lou Bennett AM (Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung)—and joined by special guests Uncle Herb Patten (Ganai-Kurnai, Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri), Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy (Wurundjeri), Allara (Yorta Yorta) and Silo SQ.

Dr Lou Bennett, AM

Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung, Dr Lou Bennett AM is a former member of the internationally acclaimed trio Tiddas, and during her ten years with the band, Lou wrote a number of the group’s signature songs. Lou’s versatile work within the Arts industry over the past thirty years includes various roles as Performer, Songwriter, Musical and Artistic Director, Composer, Actor, Soundscape Designer and Academic. Lou was a member of the Black Arm Band and was an instrumental force in the company’s transformative journey from being a one-o" ‘special project’, into becoming an Indigenous performing Arts company. Lou completed her PhD in October 2015 and her dissertation discusses the importance and relevance of Indigenous language retrieval, reclamation and regeneration through the medium of the Arts to enhance community health and wellbeing. In 2017, Lou was accepted as the McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and was inducted onto the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll in 2017. In 2019, Lou accepted the appointment as a member (AM) of the Order of Australia for her significant service to the performing arts, particularly to music, and the Indigenous community. In 2020 Lou was chosen as a Westpac Research Fellow continuing her research program Sovereign Language Rematriation Through Song Pedagogy in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne.


ARTISTIC TEAM

Conceived for RISING as part of <a href="https://2021.rising.melbourne/festival-program/moving-objects" title="2021 MOVING OBJECTS event page">MOVING OBJECTS</a> (a collection of new work by First Peoples artists curated by RISING Artistic Associate Kimberley Moulton) wurukur djuanduk balag—Ancestors Are Calling makes its debut over two performances on Woi Wurrung, and <a href="/festival-program/ancestors-are-calling-bendigo">Dja Dja Wurrung Country</a>. 
Composed in multiple First Peoples languages by Dr Lou Bennett AM (Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung), the song-based work responds to the cultural belongings of First Peoples held in the Melbourne Museum collections. It speaks to the living culture of the objects, that are alive with the spirit and energy of the Country and the people from which they came.
Bennett, a co-founder of the iconic Black Arm Band, invited a broad range of collaborators: Uncle Herb Patten (Ganai-Kurnai, Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri), Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy (Wurundjeri), Allara (Yorta Yorta) and Silo SQ. The composition is a call to notions of family beyond the human, that nothing is inanimate; and for families to take the objects home, back to where they belong.

A close-up portrait of Dr Lou Bennett AM. She is wearing traditional white face markings which circles her eyes. Her eyes are closed and she is singing.

1. wurukur djuanduk balag—Ancestors Are Calling by Lou Bennett. RISING 2022. Photo: Eugene Hyland

Lou Bennett's hand, drammatically lit with red and blue, holds up a stone object from the Museums Victoria collection. The object is inscribed with the number 211.

2. wurukur djuanduk balag—Ancestors Are Calling by Dr Lou Bennett AM. RISING 2022. Photo: Eugene Hyland

Commissioned by RISING and Museums Victoria.

Supported by The Robert Salzer Foundation. 

Melbourne Museum 

Robert Salzer Foundation

Wurukur Djuanduk Balag — Ancestors Are Calling (Melbourne)

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Wurukur Djuanduk Balag — Ancestors Are Calling (Melbourne)

Dr Lou Bennett AM (Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung)

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