A Wonderverse of Music

Elisha playing in the Wonderverse

The incredible music in Wonderverse was composed by Elisha Umuhuri from Aboriginal hip-hop sensation DEM MOB. Elisha hails from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands.

“Being able to share song, dance and culture through music has always been a part of us, so to be able to do that in the theatre has been really cool. I’ve tried to implement a diverse variety of sounds, textures, percussion and lots of ambient sounds to really set the scenes.” Elisha Umuhuri

Music is Culture

In the Wonderverse soundtrack Elisha incorporates singing in Pitjantjatjara, one of the hundreds of First Nations languages in Australia. The lyrics are:

Mara katu, Mara, Mara, katula (Hands up, hands, hands, put them up)

Tjitji, tjitji, tjitji tjuta (Kids, kids, all the kids)

Discuss

Why it i important to sing songs in language.

  • How can singing help someone feel connected to their culture?

  • How might it feel for someone to hear their traditional language in a song?

  • Do you think songs are a good way to pass on knowledge?

  • What do you think can happen if we don’t sing or speak a language anymore?

Invite children to share the languages spoken in their family.

  • Do you know any words in languages other than English?

  • Do you or your relatives speak another language at home?

  • Do you have songs or words that have a special meaning in your family? How would you feel if these songs, words and languages were no longer used?

Explore more

Other songs in language include:

  • Baker Boy’s ‘Meditjin’ in Yolngu Matha

  • Aunty Cherie Watkin’s greeting song ‘Niina Marni’ in Kaurna

  • The Ripple Effect’s ‘The Little Crab’ in Na-Kara

You can find more songs in the Dhungala Choral Connection Song Book written by Jessica Hitchcock and Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO with children from around the country.

Activity: Music and Movement

Play this Wonderverse track and encourage everyone to move freely to the music.

Invite them to change their movements when they hear a new sound.

Take turns sharing a move for everyone to copy.

Explore

Ask children to draw the music as they listen.

  • How can you draw the voices?

  • What do the drum sounds look like in your imagination?

  • What colours do you hear in the music?

Activity: People and Movement

People can move through Wonderverse in different ways – slowly in the dark spaces, confidently from space to space, dancing and being still.

Explore different ways of moving

  • Have children stand up and spread out in the space

  • When you say ‘mountain’ children freeze to be as still as a mountain

  • Call out different ways of moving, saying ‘mountain’ in between “Leap from cloud to cloud, walk on ice, float in space, dance on stage…”

As a group, make observations about how different people navigate the world:

  • Who likes to move fast?

  • Who prefers moving slowly?

  • Who likes to jump in and be part of the action?

  • Who moves similarly to each other?

More activities to try

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