The Choir of Trinity College, Melbourne - Walking on Waves (2020)

Music does not simply spring up out of nowhere. Usually it is the result of long traditions imbued with the history of the local people. Music is often created to enhance a sense of belonging and to anchor people to place. The ancient peoples of many cultures developed songs and stories to illustrate their histories and bind their communities together. We continue to do this today.

In the great age of conquest, European cultures were transplanted to the new world, often extinguishing the indigenous arts but seeding new ideas along with the new inhabitants seeking comfort through familiar rituals and songs. Today we tend to think of music merely as entertainment, but it is usually much more than that; songs especially carry with them deep meanings and resonances.

Colonial expansion and later social dislocation, either through the forced deportation of slaves and convicts or by free migration of peoples fleeing poverty and war or seeking fortunes (or simply greener pastures), scattered European styles of music across the globe. Early colonists risked their lives on the seas for new lives in America, Canada, southern Africa, New Zealand and Australia. In all probability most left in fear but found comfort in faith and in traditions from home.

Many of the stories in the Bible talk about fear and suffering and of the ability of others, including God, to help in our time of need. The story of Jesus walking on the water, calming the waves to allow his disciples to bring their boat to safety, in one such, bringing a doubtful community together by providing relief to those in need. Countless generations before and since have sought out such comfort through music.

Folk songs are another constant source of remembering and comforting. Here we present songs from Ireland, Scotland and America arranged by a New Zealander, an Australian and an American respectively. The Scottish and Irish represent the major areas of 18th- and 19th-century migration from the old world to the new. Their songs continued cultural transplantation, revival and renewal. The United States, with its longer history of migration, has seen its own folk-song tradition develop, but much of this was often based on songs from “home”, suitably modified and varied to suit their new environment.

The other works are by Australian, American and English composers setting texts about those fears of the unknown or of dislocation of place, or simply by American poets, wonderfully expressing the shared culture that is the hallmark of music across the Western world. The final work, a Jazz standard arranged by an Englishman and sung by an Australian choir, shows just how universal this music is and how uplifting, comforting and nourishing it can be.