nyilamum song cycles is a concert experience featuring string quartet and voice that intertwines ancient stories and a celebration of language with contemporary reflections on land, identity, and resilience showcasing music from Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung Dr Lou Bennett AM, and Paul Stanhope.

Two works composed and performed by Dr Lou Bennett AM open this concert; jaara nyilamum is a sacred story of life, loss, and rematriation after 99 years of separation from Country. baiyan woka, which translates from Yorta Yorta language as ‘singing for country/land’, is birthed from the understanding that we are all connected.

Dirrari Lament comes from Paul Stanhope’s String Quartet No.3 From the Kimberley, written after a multi-year collaboration with the Bunuba Community in the central-west Kimberley region of Western Australia. 

This program culminates with nyilamum song cycles, a collaborative First Nations-led work by Dr Bennett and Paul Stanhope.