Up the creek

Prayer for restoration of our rivers

Three Solos for Harpsichord

  1. Lacrymae (lament)
  2. Pound Bend, Yarra River, Melbourne
  3. Murray River, Pental Island, Swan Hill
  4. Goulbourn River, Goulburn Valley
  5. Wimmera River, Lake Hindmarsh
  6. Snowy River, Snowy Mountains

Three solos for Shakuhachi

  1. Sunday Creek,Kilmore East
  2. Dry Creek,Kilmore East, NSW
  3. Requiem for Koonung Creek, Melbourne

Three solos for Harpsichord

  1. Murrindindi River,Murrindindi
  2. Lake Toolooma, Waterfall, NSW
  3. Heathcote Creek, Waterfall, NSW

Authors

About the tunes

Up the Creek
Australian slang for "in great distress, lost, bewildered, wrong-headed" is an apt term for our national attitudes to water and the state of our abused river systems. The six-part suite reflects on the devastation wreaked by two hundred years of white settlement, but also seeks to encapsulate the special qualities, the living spirit, in each of the waterways.
Lacrymae
is full of tears - enormous sorrow and grief for the destruction of our beautiful waterways, and the land that depends on them.
Pound Bend - Yarra River
a meeting of European and ancient traditions. The water moves strongly with turbulence - there is collision and confluence of European and Aboriginal cultures, present time moving swiftly and changing, strongly challenging and reshaping. The harpsichord, deliberately reflecting European baroque style, converges with the fluidity of rapid interchange. Deep in the water is the reflection of trees - both European and indigenous - and rocks more ancient than any human influence, the bones of the earth - the shakuhachi represents depth; in water, in thought, in space, time and concept.
Murray River. Pental Island, Swan UM
"and over all forever Go sun and moon and stars" Reedy River Henry Lawson. The Eternal, the Ever-Present: reconciliation.Both shakuhachi and harpsichord reflect movement and stillness; water reflections, inundation hollows in brown earth, gunyahs on the river bank, chanting frogs, birds - clear cantors - benedictus of red river gums, far distant lines of trees, eternal arching sky. But the river falters - stops, criss-crossed by sand-bars, can no longer flow.
Goulburn River
shakuhachi is the free spirit of air, rising, far above the land, a living entity of love - embracing earth, air, sky and water. A spirit out of linear time, in complete freedom beyond human dimensions. Harpsichord is grounded in the stream of life flowing through the land; immeasurable in time, steady in acceptance, constant, renewing.
Wimmera River Lake Hindmarsh
Country is vast, wide, still, ageless. Wind blows through this movement - so strong it makes, very clearly, the sound of human voices. Between gusts there are lulls, when country is utterly still and quiet; bird song, scent of wattle, sunshine. Opening bars give rise to the first gusts of wind (shakuhachi) over the stillness of the land (harpsichord). As wind begins to blow the voices speak - uplifted voices, asserting custodianship, full of authority and confident in power, in tune with the land, at one with the earth. The river is the life-blood of the people, the earth and all creatures - unity and harmony above all.

Contrasting sections do not represent opposing ideas and feelings - they are different expressions of the same intense unity. Stern, enduring, masterful, peace-giving; love is absolute.

In the Tranquillo section wind drops completely; the world stands still, sunlight golden, birdsong crystal clear, all drenched in overpowering perfume of wattle. Fulfilment, completeness, consonance.

Snowy River
Just wild! Fearsome, rugged country, turbulent tempestuous water, energy, anger - drawing to a close, alarm bells are ringing, wake up, wake up, before it is too late! Return to the balance and peace of the past, acknowledge the harmony of country, land and water, at one with Spirit.
Sunday Creek
Solo Shakuhachi. An interlude of tranquillity in 19th century Australia when the land was settled, farmed and people had buried the knowledge of Aboriginal dispossession deep in their subconscious. A time when war and conflict, starvation and oppression seemed far away, in countries far distant; an illusory time of peace untouched by fear. We look back with 21st Century eyes through the mirror of a ferocious 2& century.
Dry Creek
Solo Shakuhachi A cheerful up-you little gutter sauntering at will through Mr. Anybody's property, under fences, over crown land, never heard of boundaries, titles and possession. But close in, treasures of remnant vegetation crowd its diminutive banks, hanging in there, waiting.
Requiem for Koonung Creek
Solo Shakuhachi Obliterated for the construction of the Eastern Freeway in North East Melbourne, so many plants and birds, water creatures and mini-beasts destroyed.
Murrindindi River
Solo Harpsichord Strong and free-flowing. The tree-fellers have come and gone, devastated the forest, lain down, died, while the forest has grown again over the bones of old rail-tracks and rusted machinery. Wise and enduring, the river flows freely and rejoices.
Lake Toolooma
Solo Harpsichord Calm, unknowable, in the heart of Tharawal country cradling secrets of infinity, peace of eternity, meditations of the Eternal Present.
Heathcote creek
Solo Harpsichord Anxious, restless, urgent, disturbed; where are you going, what are you doing? Brief consonance, followed by mystery deep as the night, untouchable as the stars.

About the authors

Dindy Vaughan has been involved in a practical way in many ecological issues - conservation, preservation and restoration.

This has included organising and taking part in field trips, study of scientific data and reports, attending seminars and countless public meetings, political lobbying, practical programs raising public awareness, and many hundreds of days of weed clearing, seed collecting, regenerating and replanting. She is also a composer.

Anne Norman was originally trained in flute, taking up shakuhachi in 1986 in Kobe under Nakamura Shindo. She later studied under Tajima Tadashi in Osaka, receiving a grant from the Japanese Government in 1990 to study shakuhachi with Yamaguchi Goro at Tokyo University of the Arts. Anne performs contemporary Australian music and collaborative fusions in ensemble with a variety of other artists. Her duo Questing Spirit (with harpsichordist Peter Hagen) performed at the International Shakuhachi Festival in New York in 2004.

Peter Hagen majored in piano and harpsichord at Melbourne University. He furthered his studies in the Netherlands, learning from Bob Van Asperan, Jacques Ogg and Ton Koopman. Peter has given recitals overseas and in Australia, performing in capital cities and regional centres as well as appearing in a number of Early Music Festivals. He has performed with, and directed, numerous chamber ensembles, and toured Queensland with Netherlands Baroque Ensemble.