Produced by the Sydney Improvised Music Association, this double bill of modern Australian composition and performance has strong ties to country of origin, so it is appropriate that support act Yulugi are concerned with politics and place. The trio are made up of Gumaroy Newman (didgeridoo and vocals), Keyna Wilkins (flute, keys and vocals), and a dancer, Lisa Lawrence. The trio open the show in language before being interrupted by a mobile phone call. It’s pretty funny, but also a strange metaphor.

Gumaroy Newman and Keyna Wilkins. Photo © Shane Rozario

Descended from the Gamilaroi and Wakka Wakka nations of Northern NSW, Newman explains his family is from Cape York, and he’s a visitor in Sydney. He explains that many of the songs performed have ‘song lines’, or directions to different destinations, embedded in them. When they start to play, the low rumble of the didgeridoo and the clap sticks alongside the trilling of the flute immediately evoke the hot scrub and grasslands of the Australian bush, and the menace of space. The atmosphere is brilliant, instant, and while the dancer moves back and forth, imitating kangaroos and emus, we’re transported to that...