Aviva Endean Residency

The Cloud Maker project began when you met Te Kahureremoa Taumata and Sunny Kim on another residency. What were you all working on at the time, and what do you think drew the three of you together as musicians?

Te Kahureremoa, Sunny Kim and I first met when we were all on residency at The Banff Centre for Creativity in Canada. I was there as associate artist for the Musicians in Residence program, and Sunny and Kahu were there as part of the Indigenous Singer-Songwriters program. At Banff there are many different creative programs running simultaneously which creates an environment where all kinds of artists, from dancers, writers, musicians and crafts people might end up sharing a table for lunch. I found myself sitting opposite Kahu, a strong and charismatic Maori woman who I immediately warmed to. I asked her about what she did, and when she told me she played Taonga Pūoro, the ’Singing Treasures’ including nose flutes, bone flutes and poi, I had to know more! Next time I saw her walking through the snow near my music hut I called her over to have a play together. Shortly after, Sunny walked past, and we called her over too.

Te Kahureremoa shared the story of the Maori moth goddess Raukatauri, which is also the creation story of the Putorino, a beautiful cocoon shaped flute which has three distinct ways of being played, which reflects the different characters of the story. We were entranced by the story and the sounds and very inspired to play together. We searched for more goddess stories from our own lives and our own cultures, and drew inspiration from those narratives to inspire further music making. We performed an improvised piece at one of the informal weekly concerts at The Banff Centre to an enthralled audience, and knew that this was just the beginning of a much longer story together.

Freya Schack-Arnott, Jasmin Wing-Yin Leung and Maria Moles join you in this UKARIA residency. Is this the first time the six of you have collaborated on a project together?

When the opportunity arose to apply for a residency at UKARIA, I thought this was an exciting chance to reunite with Kahureremoa and Sunny, but also to expand the collaboration to include some other incredible improvising musicians. Freya, Maria and Jasmin met Te Kahureremoa for the first time on day one of our residency at UKARIA and dived head first into the process with us. By the end of the week, sharing food, music and stories, we all felt like sisters!

Would you describe your musical training as ‘classical’? And do you think that ‘classical’ musicians should be generally more educated in a broader range of musical traditions?

A number of us within the ensemble (including myself) have had a classical training but now engage in many other modes of music making. Within The Cloud Maker project, the six musicians have a wide range of musical backgrounds, including classical, jazz, and traditions firmly rooted in cultural practice and story telling. But it was our shared practise as improvisers that allowed us to immediately collaborate and to connect to each other by going deep into sharing culture, stories and music. The music that we created together became more structured into songs as the residency went on, however all of the musical materials were arrived at through collective improvisation informed by the stories that we shared with each other.

I think everyone needs to find their own path with music, and being exposed to many different approaches can only broaden serve to broaden the horizons of how younger musicians can find their own way into a creative practise. For myself, I have found that developing a practice as an improviser has allowed me to discover my own musical voice, and to have the privilege to work with a wide range of musicians and artists across disciplines who I greatly admire, so I am very thankful for that!

What do you think is special about UKARIA as a place where new work is made?

UKARIA felt like the perfect place to develop this project. It is always a privilege to be creating music on Aboriginal land – land that has supported the practice and creation of music and culture for so many thousands of years. The generous structural design of UKARIA added to this feeling of being supported to dream up new music. Being able to play music in the incredible acoustic of the hall, while looking out of over the expansive views of the hills, and going back to Twin Peaks to share nightly feasts was a dream come true! I think that what we created at UKARIA was music that was a reflection of the generosity, vulnerability and power that we shared that week in the hills, and that this intensity was felt by our audiences at Nexus Arts (Adelaide) and at our concert at Chapter House (Naarm/Melbourne) presented by Australian Art Orchestra.

What’s next for The Cloud Maker project?

It definitely feels like just the beginning! There was a lot of interest from our audiences to keep expanding and developing the concept, I think there are still more goddess stories out there that can inspire and empower more music making! We’re all very keen to get over to Aotearoa, to meet Kahu’s Tāonga Pūoro orchestra, and to share this music with her community.

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