The 1975 Mazda ute has been transformed into a wall-of-sound instrument and canvas for Gija stories as part of a 12-stop production travelling from the Kimberley to Perth
hey appear out of nowhere. A series of rusted car wrecks baked into the red dirt flanking the Great Northern Highway near Warmun, a small Indigenous township in the Kimberley region of. Some are wreathed in a tangle of weeds, others so molten the earth might swallow them whole.
The ute has been remodelled into a sound sculpture by Jon Rose, who welded two bonnets on to the roof as ‘a cheeky wink to the Sydney Opera House sails’.As dusk settles, more than 400 people gather on the grass at Kununurra Picture Gardens on Miriwoong Country, excitedly awaiting the debut of this spectacle of music, dance and storytelling six years in the making.
“We call it rock’n’roll,” says Chris Griffiths, a Miriwoong cultural adviser and lead dancer in the production, alongside Miriwoong man Preben Nigarmara and Gija man Andrew “Pelican” Daylight. “The music, it runs through your body. That’s what makes the Wanga so powerful. This is the first time we are taking it beyond the Kimberley, to Port Hedland and all the way down to Perth.”
Beyond the old car, the musicians offer a rich score for the entirety of the performance, with rustic instruments made from corrugated iron, plastic tube and tins, alongside the cello and the clarinet. Yamatji man Mark Atkins, one the world’s best-known didjeridu players, delivers a haunting solo at the latter end of the evening in one of the night’s most affecting moments.
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