kwatye urrewe
"I love the sounds of the ancient world. I like to listen to the deep sound of the old chanting songs. It connects me back to the timeless land, the land that only the spirits walk. It teaches me to listen with my heart. My heart opens and releases my spirit, deep into the land. It sings and dances as it goes deep into the land. The knowledge fills my heart, songs of the land. The songs make me dance with the wind. ”
— Theresa Penangke Alice, “Listen”
kwatye urrewe is a collaboration between GARUWA and Running Water Community Press, tracing the stories of five poets.
Be transported to the heart of the desert with Marie Elena Ellis (Arrernte and Warlpiri) as she sings to the beautiful, ancient Country where she grew up in Inteye Arrkwe (Ross River).
Join Theresa Penangke Alice (Arrernte) to bathe in the beauty of Urremerne and dance with the wind to heal the land on Eastern Arrernte Country.
Listen to the landscape in an ode to the creeks, rivers and waterholes with Tisha Perrurle Carter (Anmatjere) of her homelands at Petyale on Anmatjere Country.
Meet Maureen Nampijinpa O’Keefe as she longs for her Mother’s lost songs on her great, great, grandmother’s homelands at Karlu Karlu on Kaytetye Country.
And, walk with the grandsons of late author Frank Byrne, Stanley and Desmond honour their ancestors at Twetye block, Iwupataka on Arrernte Country.
Credits
Storytellers: Marie Elena Ellis (Arrernte and Warlpiri), Theresa Penangke Alice (Arrernte), Tisha Perrurle Carter (Anmatjere), Maureen Nampijinpa O’Keefe (Kaytetye and Warlpiri), Desmond Byrne (Gooniyandi and Arrernte) and Stanley Byrne (Gooniyandi and Arrernte)
Director & Executive Producer: Kieran Mpetyana Satour (Gurindji/Malngin, Pertame Arrernte and Worimi)
Executive Producer: Ramona Telecican
Producer: Jamie Lee Bolger (Noonuccal)
Associate Producer: Olivia Nigro
Director of Photography: Ryan Andrew Lee
Editor: Rah Dakota
Music Composer: Laughton Kora (Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Pūkeko)
Sound Recordist: Nic Carson
Translations: Theresa Penangke Alice (Arrernte)
Illustrations: Oumoula Mckenzie (Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Warumungu and Warlmanpa)
Communications: Simone Mugavin
POEMS
Theresa Penangke Alice “Listen”, Arelhekenhe Angkentye Women’s Talk, Running Water Community Press, 2022
Marie Elena Ellis “Calm within the storm”, I Am The Desert, Running Water Community Press, Forthcoming
Tisha Perrurle Carter “Something I felt”, Arelhekenhe Angkentye Women’s Talk, Running Water Community Press, 2022
Maureen Nampijinpa O’Keefe “Mother’s Lost Song”, Originally published by Red Room Poetry
Frank Byrne (Gooniyandi), Extract, Living In Hope: the complete memoirs of Frank Byrne, Running Water Community Press, 2022
SONG
Mona Nungarrayi Haywood (Kaytetye, Warlpiri), Ngappa Kurra manda manda
Created by GARUWA and Running Water Community Press
kwatye urrewe was proudly supported by the Australian Cultural Fund, Blak & Bright, The Readings Foundation and Northern Territory Government Community Benefits Fund
Thank you to the generous donors and members of our communities who supported the kwatye urrewe — uplifting desert stories fundraising campaign.
Special thanks to the community of Mparntwe, Alice Springs; Blak & Bright First Nations Literary Festival team, including Jane Harrison, Tahli Corin and Skye Cusack; Tony Duke; Running Water Community Press and the GARUWA team.
Filmed on the lands of the Arrernte, Anmatjere and Kaytetye Peoples in the Northern Territory. Always was, always will be.
A preview of kwatye urrewe was shared at Blak&Bright Festival, Naarm/Melbourne, in March 2024.