TRANSCRIPT
Around 300 school children from choirs around Victoria performing a traditional Torres Straits song about planting banana palms.
The children are part of The Boite Schools Chorus.
Each year its concerts have a theme.
Choir Director Stella Savy says this year it's the identity, culture and history of Torres Strait Islander people.
'Which is just beautiful, because how many kids down this way know a lot about the Torres Strait down in Victoria? So across the state now all the kids know all this stuff about the Torres Strait that they didn't know before.'
For Artistic Leader and Cultural Advisor Luke Captain the project is about sharing knowledge.
'I want really to, to give to Victoria a bit of the Torres Straits culture, because there's hardly any of us that live here. And so it's nice to actually see it presented on stage.'
Torres Strait Islander musicians collaborated with school teachers to get the students' performance ready.
Eleven-year-old Josephine Barnes says along the way she and other participants learnt about people and culture.
'I've learned about their language, and their dance moves, and how they tell stories. I love the concert. It's very fun and I love singing all the songs.'
The project is especially meaningful to Artistic Director Deb Lowah Clark.
Her 11-year-old daughter, Mercy, is taking part and together they're sharing their Torres Straits culture.
'I'm really proud of her, being able to own that space that she's in. She lives in two worlds. I live in two worlds, and we get to celebrate all of the things that are great about our culture through dance and song and the most important, which is storing, storing is all that we are.'
Twenty-one school and community choirs are taking part, with concerts in Melbourne on August 3 and Ballarat on August 26.
The performances are rich in culture and meaning.
