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@ngaiire

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Singing caracal in between wrlds Goroka x Syd 🦅⛰️
CR3ATOR MUSIC M4KER
New Single ‘Afar’ OUT NOW
Founder of @musik_blok_png

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Rehearsals for Aaron Choulai's new work Saltwater, Sugar have begun this week.

A scored narrative performed by @ngaiire and @joelistics alongside 17 increadible improvising musicians, this music weaves through wild swing, Pacific hymns, gripping dialogue, sung melodies and adventurous improvising at an epic scale.

A work that tells a love story set in a sugarcane plantation in Queensland during the time of the Pacific slave trade known as Blackbirding, Saltwater, Sugar brings to light and often forgotten part of Australia's history, focusing on the intersection of Pacific Islander, Chinese and Australian First Nations people's at that time, and the ultimate act of resistance, love.

Saltwater, Sugar premiere this Wednesday 21st October 730pm at Bunjil place as part of Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

Tickets through the link in our bio.

Photos by Ruby Song.

#jazz #melbourne

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🚨 MUSIK BLOK IS HEADING TO WOMADELAIDE 2027! 🇵🇬🔥

From Goroka to the world!

We are beyond excited to announce that our 7 incredible Musik Blok lab artists will be making their WOMADelaide debut on March 7, 2027!

Kazibuda, Roz, Tina Kara, MXV, Mr. Whoo, Brendan Lahui and Lamoa of Tora — will travel from PNG to take to the stage and perform original music born out of our inaugural songwriting and production lab in Goroka. The crew will perform alongside the likes of @anginedepoitrine @leonbridges and @tinariwen amongst others.

With mentor and producer @setwun returning as Musical Director, this marks a huge milestone for Musik Blok and the beginning of something much bigger.

Musik Blok was built for this very thing - creating pathways, amplifying voices and showing the world what PNG has to offer. And this wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our small community and the work and energy the artists mentors Nai Palm, Cazeaux O.S.L.O. , SETWUN, Ariel Blum and Ant Enoch devoted to them.

Big love for having us WOMAD! We can’t wait!

📍 WOMADelaide, Adelaide
📅 March 7, 2027

Hero 📷 @shot.by.greggy | produced by @lottie.world
2,3 📷 @ziggytow

#MusikBlok #WOMADelaide #PNGMusic #papuanewguinea🇵🇬

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@ngaiire takes us behind the music, stories and collaborations that shape ‘Saltwater, Sugar’. 🎤

Bringing together @australianartorchestra, @joelistics and @aaronchoulai, this powerful new work blends spoken word, soaring melodies and adventurous improvisation to explore friendship, resistance and overlooked stories from Australia’s colonial past.

📅 Wed 21 Oct
🕢 7.30 pm – 9.00 pm
📍 Bunjil Place Theatre

Presented in partnership with @melbjazzfestival and Australian Art Orchestra.

More info via link in bio.

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@dingofestival was an absolute dream. Thank you to @harryjamesangus for inviting me to come and play alongside such an incredible group of musicians - truly a pinch me moment

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A few captures from the amazing Free Sunday at @dingofestival 📸: @carnivalcinema #musicfestival #madebyhumans

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Saltwater, Sugar.

For the past few weeks I’ve had my head buried in the history of the Australian slave trade known as ‘blackbirding’ whereby over 60,000 pacific Islanders were kidnapped, coerced and tricked in to working on the Sugarcane Farms in North Queensland between 1860 - 1906.
Read that again. The Australian Slave Trade. Men, women and children forced on to ships and then lined up and sold on the wharfs of Sydney and Brisbane under the euphemism of “passage money”. Children as young as 6 yrs old sold for 7pound a head.
This practice was regulated by the very men who had the most to gain - the cane farmers and plantation owners. ‘Blackbirding’ underscored the wealth of John Fairfax (Fairfax Media) and Robert Townes for whom Townesville was named, and many others whose wealth has stretched on for generations. It is both shocking in it’s immensity and in how little it is spoken of.
And as Faukner points out “The past is never dead. It’s not even past”
It is with this in mind I approached the work Saltwater, Sugar - A long form narrative musical piece with @australianartorchestra featuring @ngaiire music composed by @aaronchoulai for a 17 piece Jazz orchestra and libretto written by me, premiering at Bunjil Place next week.

It might be a big ask if you live in the city to make it out to the show but I hope you do.
I think it’s gonna be something very special

https://www.bunjilplace.com.au/events/saltwater-sugar

Also, for further reading on the subject, check out Ryan Butta’s amazing and comprehensive book ‘Blackbirding’

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DINGO!! This is but a snippet - YOU WERE A VIBE!
🐾🪩☕️❤️‍🔥

A joy to be a part of… one love, more music, miss you already ✨

@dingofestival
@timbre.lismore

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#northernrivers #dope #music #lovelocal

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Queen @artykarateparty what a boss 💖

@ngaiire & @musik_blok_png so inspiring ✨

Rhythm king @greg.sheehan 🎶

@finnrees 🎹

Yesss @dingofestival !!!

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The premiere of Saltwater, Sugar is fast approaching! Hear what composer Aaron Choulai and librettist and vocalist Joelistics have to say about the work.

Drawing on the sound world of Duke Ellington, the work brings the Australian Art Orchestra together as a large jazz orchestra, with Ngaiire and Joelistics joining the ensemble. Watch Aaron and Joel share the story behind the work and the voices shaping its sound.

📍 Bunjil Place Theatre, 2 Patrick Northeast Drive, Narre Warren VIC
📅 Wednesday 21 October 2026
🕢 7:30pm

For tickets, visit the link in our bio.

#bunjilplace #MIJF2026 #creativemusic #australianmusic

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Take a breath from the festival at NOWE Studio (Box Office) — a free series of conversations on culture and creativity. Hear from Hiatus Kaiyote’s Nai Palm and Perrin Moss, Barney McAll, Ngaiire and Musik Blok, The Returning, local artists and arts leaders, with Kwila coffee, suggested reading from the Blackfulla Book Club and a weaving workshop from @the_returning_ alongside

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Welcome to Paris from the land of a thousand cultures! 🌺🌊✨🇵🇬

🇵🇬 Papua-Nova Guiné será representada por Ngaiire

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Not long now till the world premiere of Saltwater, Sugar! Hear a little more about this ambitious piece from composer and AAO Artistic Director, Aaron Choulai.

Composed for the Australian Art Orchestra as a 17-piece ensemble alongside Australian music luminaries Ngaiire and Joelistics, this hour-long work isl a scored narrative that tells a love story set on a sugarcane plantation in the time of Blackbirding.

An ambitious musical composition of scale, Saltwater, Sugar traces the friendships and resistance that formed across the very divisions colonial Australia depended on.

📍Bunjil Place Theatre, 2 Patrick Northeast Drive Narre Warren, Victoria
📆 Wednesday 21 October 2026
🕗 7:30pm
🎫 For tickets please visit link in bio

ENSEMBLE

Aaron Choulai - Conductor and composer
Ngaiire - Voice
Joelistics - Voice
Scott Tinkler - Trumpet
Eugene Ball - Trumpet
Cinzia Posega - French Horn
Aryo Hall - Trombone
Adrian Sherriff - Bass Trombone
Holly Moore - Alto Saxophone
Ralema Fairhead - Flute
Julien Wilson - Tenor Saxophone
Andrew Saragossi - Clarinets
Lizzie Welsh - Violin
Meg Cohen - Violin
Biddy Connor - Viola
Zoe Barry - Cello
Tamara Murphy - Bass
Dave Beck - Drums

PRODUCTION
Jem Savage - Sound
Jo Redfearn - Producer

#melbourne #jazz #bunjilplace #mijf

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