The Freedom Collective – a burgeoning assemblage of Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi artists – have announced the release of their debut album ‘Songs For Freedom’, which they hope will raise awareness for the disproportionate incarceration rates of Aboriginal children.
The album, due out next Friday (February 17) via Remote Control Records – in tandem with arts and social justice org Big hART – was directed and produced by Grammy-winning artist Lucky Oceans.
In addition to The Freedom Collective’s core group of songwriters, musicians and other creatives – all hailing from the Pilbara town of Roebourne – it features a sprawling cast of guests including Naomi Pigram, Vikki Thorn (The Waifs), Kendall Smith, Kankawa Nagarra (Olive Knight) and John Bennett.
Shared alongside today’s (February 9) announcement is the album’s quasi-title track ‘Songs Of Freedom’, which features lead vocals from Yamatji man Fred Ryan. In a press release, Oceans explained that Ryan first pitched the track at a songwriting workshop where “the Elders loved i””.
He continued: “The lyrics contained the line, ‘There’s a song for this land, girt by sea’. I wondered, ‘why repeat the worst line of the national anthem?’, but Fred explains in the next line ‘I want to hear a song for me’, highlighting how a national song could mean so much more for him and other Aboriginal people. This song has now become an anthem in its own right.”
Have a look at the accompanying music video for ‘Songs Of Freedom’ below:
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‘Songs For Freedom’ was recorded over eight months between April and December of 2022, with sessions split between Roebourne and Perth. It comes after more than a decade of work, however, with The Freedom Collective being formed by proxy of artistic workshops held since 2011 in Roebourne’s prison, school and community.
Those workshops come largely thanks to the family of John Pat, whose 1983 death in Roebourne triggered the Royal Commission into deaths in custody. In the aforementioned press release, it’s noted that ‘Songs For Freedom’ comes in tandem with “a simple and urgent purpose”, being “to raise awareness and push for a change to the shockingly disproportionate number of Aboriginal young people caught up in the justice system”.
The album’s title nods to the ‘Songs For Peace’ concert series, which has been held annually in Roebourne since 2018. This year, a series of concerts also dubbed ‘Songs For Freedom’ will be held across the country, with the first two being held in Hobart (as part of this year’s Mona Foma festival) on Thursday February 23 and Perth (on March Sunday 5) as part of this year’s Perth Festival.
A hometown Roebourne show will be held on Saturday September 23, with more dates – in both capital cities and regional centres – still to be announced. Tickets for the Hobart and Perth shows can be found here and here, respectively.
Oceans described the ‘Songs For Freedom’ concert as “a full-hearted collaboration – an ongoing process of creation with the community of Roebourne for more than ten years”. He added: “The people of Roebourne have shared their voices, music and songs so generously and really bring a sense of community to the stage. It’s a unique and inspiring thing to be a part of.”
Take a look at the cover art and track-listing for ‘Songs For Freedom’ below, and find pre-orders for the record here.
1. ‘Sunrise Tjaabi’
2. ‘Songs Of Freedom’
3. ‘Elders Of The Past’
4. ‘Sweet Desert Flowers’
5. ‘Wanjilla Ba (Ngarluma Lullaby)’
6. ‘Tribute To My Family’
7. ‘Little Girl On A Train’
8. ‘Little Town, Big Heart’
9. ‘Country Rising Tjaabi’
10. ‘Garrigu Yarjilba (Standing Alone)’
11. ‘Money’
12. ‘Cooling Waters’
13. ‘Justice Has No Plan’
14. ‘I Have Been Fighting For Freedom’
15. ‘Long Way Home’
16. ‘Sunset Tjaabi’