Clancestry 2013 Headliner Black Arm Band Tickets Now On Sale

Black Arm Band the headline act for the Queensland Performing Arts Centre's (QPAC's) brand new event Clancestry is now on sale; Clancestry is a festival celebrating the arts and cultural practices of the worlds' First Nations' peoples.

Black Arm Band will perform their highly acclaimed and most recent production, dirtsong, in QPAC's Concert Hall on Saturday 2 March as part of the weekend's activities for Clancestry 2013. Featuring artists such as Archie Roach, Emma Donovan and Lou Bennett along with special guests Something For Kate's Paul Dempsey and Blue King Brown's Nat Pa'ap'aa.

Dirtsong is inspired by the words of Miles Franklin award-winning author Alexis Wright and is performed in 11 different traditional Aboriginal languages.

Many of the pieces within dirtsong are structured as musical "conversations" between the collaborating artists reflecting on country, conjuring not only as a sense of geographical place but of memories, obligations, nature, encounters, and community.

Drawn from Aboriginal Australia, dirtsong mixes traditional approaches and contemporary songs, existing repertoire and newly commissioned music to create something entirely new.

QPAC Chief Executive John Kotzas says the driving concept of Black Arm Band and the ensemble's way of working resonate with the principles that underpin QPAC's development of Clancestry.

"At its heart Black Arm Band is about creative collaboration, coming together to share, learn and celebrate through the contribution of Aboriginal music to Australia. The ensemble embodies the idea that art and culture are evolving and changing and so too are their role in our lives," he said.

Black Arm Band have become a formidable touring force, representing our First Nations people globally and showcasing some of Australia's premiere Aboriginal musicians at such events around the world as The Lift Festival in London and an upcoming tour of the USA. Black Arm Band is a flexible ensemble of artists and a creative meeting place for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists and producers to develop, perform, promote and celebrate contemporary Australian Aboriginal music and to interrogate Australian culture.

The company's repertoire includes murundak (2006) and Hidden Republic (2008), which have toured extensively in Australia and internationally and the two major international collaborations Seven Songs To Leave Behind (2010) and Notes From the Hard Road and Beyond (2011). dirtsong was first presented to sold out audiences at Melbourne Festival in 2009 and is the third major production of Black Arm Band.

Don't miss securing your tickets to dirtsong, on sale now via qpac.com.au or call 136 246. More information on Clancestry including FREE events, to be announced.

Clancestry is a QPAC initiative supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and Arts Queensland's Backing Indigenous Arts initiative.

Bookings: qpac.com.au or 136 246