Acknowledgement of Country is an important ritual and a vital reminder of the importance of the land we live in and its traditional owners. As such it should never feel routine, or worse an add-on. To ensure its ongoing vigour, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra is to perform a specially commissioned Kaurna Acknowledgement of Country at the start of all ASO concerts from now on.

This follows other arts organisations who are also presenting an Acknowledgement of Country before performances. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is performing Deborah Cheetham and Matthew Doyle’s Tarimi nuly – Long time living here, an Acknowledgement of Country performed in the Gadigal language, before all of its 2021 concerts. Cheetham has also worked with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and various language custodians and communities to develop a musical Acknowledgement using languages from across Victoria so that when the MSO is performing on Country, it will play tribute to the Traditional Owners on the land on which they are performing in the language specific to that nation.

The Acknowledgement of Country to be performed at the start of all ASO concerts, Pudnanthi Padninthi (The Coming and the Going), is a collaboration by Kaurna Narungga musicians and composers Jack Buckskin and Jamie...