People from the traditional community of Oak Valley in the Maralinga Tjarutja Lands and singer songwriter Jeanette Wormald will share their music with city audiences this month in a special Inma event. For many from Oak Valley it is the first time they have travelled to Adelaide and performed publicly outside of the community. The Pitjantjatjara / Yakunytjatjara speaking people who called themselves Anangu (people of the western desert regions) will perform a special concert called Maralinga Inma or Maralinga Music, at the SA Folk Centre on Friday, November 30th. For the past six years, Mallee based singer songwriter, Jeanette Wormald, has been working the community developing self esteem and celebrating cultural identity through writing and performing original songs. Jeanette’s love of Anangu culture and the determination of community members will see this concert held for the third time in Adelaide in the past five years. Jeanette, who is celebrating the Top 20 success of her hit single Pukulpa Days, inspired by her work in Oak Valley, is travelling again to the community next week to prepare the musicians for the concert. “This project is long term and has developed according to the community’s needs. It’s been exciting to see their skills and confidence grow and to see their joy in expressing their own stories to a wider audience,” she said. Community members will need to undertake an arduous 1500km journey, which will take two days in a mini bus. The first day the bus will travel over red desert sands to get to Ceduna and then travel from Ceduna to Adelaide. Chris Dodd from the Oak Valley community is one of the driving forces behind the group, The Desert Oaks, who are performing on the night. “The whole community is looking forward to this,” he said. “We are all right behind it. Music is a perfect vehicle for us to celebrate our way of life and become ambassadors for the Anangu and indigenous people in general.” Maralinga Inma, featuring Jeanette Wormald and The Desert Oaks is on Friday, November 30th at the SA Folk Centre in Thebarton.
