Brenda Gifford Explained

Birth Place:Australia
Genre:Classical
Occupation:Composer, music archivist

Brenda Gifford (born 1968) is a Yuin classical composer, saxophonist and pianist. She was a member of the Australian rock band Mixed Relations[1] and is an archivist in the Indigenous Collection Branch of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA).[2]

Career

Gifford was born in 1968 and grew up in Sydney and Wreck Bay, near Jervis Bay, New South Wales.[3]

Beginning in the late 1980s Gifford played saxophone and piano as a member of the band Mixed Relations with Bart Willoughby.[4] During the 1990s she contributed to Kev Carmody's 1991 album Eulogy (For A Black Person),[5] and taught music at Eora College in Redfern, New South Wales. She left her teaching job to focus on the band as it became more popular.[6]

Mixed Relations toured internationally and gained local success when their single Aboriginal Woman reached #89 on Triple J's Hottest 100 in 1993.[7] The group disbanded by the end of the 1990s, and after a break of several years, Gifford began a new career as a composer.[8]

In 2016, Gifford participated in the AMPlify Indigenous Composer Initiative pilot program, which aimed to support the creation of new work by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers.[9] The works were then performed by Ensemble Offspring in concerts between 2017 and 2018.[10] This led to Gifford being commissioned by Canberra International Music Festival to create her Gambambarawaraga suite. The nine part suite, which takes its name from the word for seasons in the Dhurgha language, was performed at the festival in 2018.[11] [12] Songs from the suite were later included on the album Music for the Dreaming which was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Children's Album in 2019.[13] The album contained new versions from Gifford's Gambambarawaraga suite performed by Ensemble Offspring with Kamil Ellis.[14]

Gifford took part in the 2018 Composing Women Program with Sydney Conservatorium of Music where Claire Chase worked with Gifford and four other Australian composers in creating new works. The five composers then travelled to New York where their work was performed with Chase. Gifford's Mungala (Clouds) featured Chase on flute accompanied by traditional clap sticks played by percussionist Bree van Reyk.[15] Gifford was also included in the 2020-2021 program and developed a new project with Sydney Dance Company.[16] [17] As part of her work she scored dancer Joel Bray's Wagan (Wiradjuri for 'Raven') which was performed in 2020.[18] [19]

In 2020, Gifford worked with Ensemble Offspring again when she became their inaugural First Nations Composer in Residence.[20] In the same year she was also commissioned to create a new work Djiribawal to open the Canberra International Music Festival 2020. The work was later reimagined for performing with additional instruments and electronic soundscapes in 2021 and 2022.[21] [22] [23]

All concerts by Sydney Chamber Choir in 2021 opened with a performance of Gifford's Mother Earth/Minga Bagan, an acknowledgement of country commissioned by the choir.[24]

In her work at the National Film and Sound Archive she has curated notes and blogs for the NFSA website,[25] and her work was used as liner notes for a reissue of Vic Simms' album The Loner.[26]

In 2023, Gifford was the recipient of the Merlyn Myer Music Commission.

She was awarded the First Nations Fellowship, at the 2024 First Nations Arts and Culture Awards.[27] [28]

Selected works

2021 - Dharawa Miriwa (night sky) - Commissioned by PLEXUS[29]

2021 - Minga bagan

2020 - Djiribawal[30]

2020 - Wagan

2018 - Mungala (Clouds)

2018 - Gambambarawaraga

References

  1. Web site: 2018-07-06 . Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples composers to watch . 2022-03-03 . ABC Classic . en.
  2. Web site: Curators on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online . 2022-03-04 . aso.gov.au.
  3. Web site: 2018 . Canberra International Music Festival Program 2018 . Issuu.
  4. News: 1989-12-13 . Mixing relations for a new tomorrow . Tribune . 2022-03-04.
  5. Web site: 2018-07-06 . Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples composers to watch . 2022-03-04 . ABC Classic . en.
  6. Web site: 2017 . From Mixed Relations to music composition . The Australian National University, Canberra.
  7. Web site: 1993 | History | Triple J Hottest 100 – 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141203191610/http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/history/1993.htm . 3 December 2014 . 10 April 2017 . Triple J (Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)) . dmy-all.
  8. Web site: Dow . Steve . 3 March 2020 . Classical Songlines . 2022-03-04 . Limelight . en-AU.
  9. Web site: 13 December 2016 . AMPlify Indigenous Composer Initiative in full swing . 2022-03-03 . Australian Music Centre.
  10. Web site: 18 April 2018 . River Life – Baiame's Ngunnhu Festival in Brewarrina . 2022-03-03 . Australian Music Centre.
  11. Web site: Australian Music Centre Online : Breaking Sound Barriers . 2022-03-03 . Australian Music Centre.
  12. Web site: Cerabona . Ron . 2018-04-19 . 2018 Canberra International Music Festival, from Beowulf to Baroque to Bernstein . 2022-03-03 . The Canberra Times . en-AU.
  13. News: 2019-11-27 . Agro the puppet makes an ARIAs appearance … and things get weird . en-AU . ABC News . 2022-03-04.
  14. News: 2018-08-13 . How ABC KIDS listen produced a live show and podcast to bring Indigenous music and stories to a young audience . en-AU . ABC News . 2022-03-04.
  15. Web site: Paget . Clive . 2 October 2019 . The Composing Women Project with Claire Chase (National Sawdust, Brooklyn) . 2022-03-03 . Limelight . en-AU.
  16. Web site: Composing Women line up for 2020-2021 announced . 2022-03-03 . The University of Sydney . en-AU.
  17. Web site: McPherson . Angus . 23 October 2019 . Composing Women line up for 2020-2021 announced . 2022-03-03 . Limelight . en-AU.
  18. Web site: 2020 New Breed . 2022-03-03 . Sydney Dance Company . en.
  19. Web site: Litson . Jo . 24 November 2020 . Joel Bray and dancers flock to New Breed . 2022-03-03 . Limelight . en-AU.
  20. Web site: 2020-05-29 . Music in the time of plague and First Nations composer Brenda Gifford . 2022-03-04 . ABC Radio National . en-AU.
  21. Web site: Jacobs . Genevieve . Canberra International Music festival gives voice to remarkable sounds . 2022-03-04 . Riotact . en.
  22. Web site: 2021-05-03 . Music review: Opening Gala, Canberra International Music Festival . 2022-03-04 . ArtsHub Australia . en-AU.
  23. Web site: 2022 Meeting Points Series - Djiribawal (Brenda Gifford) . 2022-03-04 . Australian Art Orchestra . 19 February 2022 . en-GB.
  24. Web site: 2021-06-25 . Get off the beaten track to discover hidden gems of Indigenous history and culture in NSW . 2022-03-04 . ABC Classic . en-AU.
  25. Web site: Titles curated by Brenda Gifford on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online . 2022-02-18 . aso.gov.au.
  26. Web site: 2017 . Brenda Gifford AustLit . 2022-03-04 . Aus Lit . en.
  27. Web site: First Nations Arts and Culture Awards . 2024-06-07 . Creative Australia . en-US.
  28. Web site: The 2024 First Nations Arts and Culture Awards . 2024-06-07 . Limelight . en-AU.
  29. Web site: Magazine . Canberra Symphony Orchestra . 2021-12-01 . Dharawa Miriwa (Brenda Gifford) . 2022-03-04 . Canberra Symphony Orchestra . en-US.
  30. Web site: Plush . Vincent . 1 May 2021 . Opening Gala ★★★ . 2022-03-04 . Limelight . en-AU.

External links

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