Fremantle SongFest will run workshops to teach all singers The Acknowledgement Song and three World Music Songs. These songs will be sung together at the Festival Club on Saturday night and again at the closing of the Festival on Sunday. Singers who are performing in the early part of the afternoon should attend the World Music workshop first (9:15am), then the Acknowledgement Song workshop (11:00am).
The workshops are open to all the public. Festival Pass holders are free and tickets are available at the door for $10 for anyone who wishes to join. (U18 free)
The Acknowledgement Song
Saturday 9:30am and 11:00am (45 mins) St Paul’s Church
As part of our World Music theme this year, we are starting right here at home in Western Australia with our First Nation heritage. It is customary to start events with an acknowledgement of our First Nation people, their culture and country. As this is a singing event, we would like to sing our acknowledgement. We asked Jemma King to come to Fremantle and teach us “The Acknowledgement Song” which she has specifically written for this purpose.
It is SongFest’s hope that all choirs will learn the Acknowledgement Song and sing it as a precursor to any concert they perform in. At Fremantle SongFest we hope to sing the song at every possible occasion.
The Song lyrics will be projected at the workshop. However if you would like your own printed score, visit https://www.acknowledgementsong.com/ where you can purchase your scored copy (there are three parts) for $1.00.
The Workshop will run twice on Saturday morning – at 9:30am and 11am – to give everyone the chance to participate. If your choir is programmed to sing early on Saturday afternoon (before 3:30pm) you should attend the World Music workshop first at 9:15am, then the 11:00am Acknowledgement Song workshop. This will enable you you to get to the first lunch sitting at approx. 11:45am.
Artist Profile
Jemma King is a nyidiyang yok (non-Indigenous woman), born on Whadjuk Noongar country of the Bibbulmun Nation, Western Australia. Jemma is a self-taught singer and 12-string guitarist who enjoys recording and editing sound in her studio. She has dedicated much of her energy towards collaborative projects that foster reconciliation, including oral history projects with elders, documentary making and guiding university students to produce Noongar Dandjoo TV. With a profound respect for country and culture, Jemma wrote The Acknowledgement Song to be sung for the purpose of acknowledging First Peoples, their culture and country.
World Music Songs
Saturday 9:15am and 11:00am (75 mins) St Paul’s Hall
Digby Hill is the director of both the host choirs – VoiceMale and Glyde Ins.
On Saturday morning he will run two identical World Singing workshops at 9:15am and 11:00am. This will allow everyone to learn both the World Music songs as well as the Acknowledgement Song in the parallel workshop.
Digby will teach three world music songs which use a variety of culture, rhythm and vocal style. They do not require any pre-learning. We aim to sing these three songs, along with the Acknowledgement Song, at the Festival Club on Saturday night and at the closing of the Festival on Sunday.
Artist Profile
Digby Hill is one of the best known directors in the Perth community choir scene. His ability to work with singers of all abilities and experience (often mixed together) is legendary. Digby is an avid student of World Music. He is reputed to carry 1,000 songs in 4 parts in his head. He has also been instrumental in getting his groups to engage in movement and body rhythm, something that has spread right through the choir network. Digby traveled with Voicemale to Georgia in 2018, a trip which extended his already vast musical knowledge.