Community in harmony

Close to 400 people gathered around the Ngurin Cultural Centre to take part in a celebration of peace and culture in Roebourne recently.

The celebration, held on September 20, was the third consecutiveSongs for Peace concert run by the charity Big hART, embracing music, peace, and social harmony in the town.

In the lead-up to the event, Big hART ran a series of workshops with female inmates at Roebourne Regional Prison, where headline performer Naomi Pigram sat down with the prisoners and had them write songs.

Six of the songs, along with 13 songs written by Roebourne locals, were performed by leading WA musicians Vikki Thorn — of the Waifs — jazz artist Lois Olney, Bidyadanga artist John Bennett, and Tehya Jamieson.

Other artists who performed on stage included the multi-instrumentalist and composer David Hyams, Tyson Mowarin, Angus Smith, and Tootsie Daniel, under the musical direction of Grammy award-winning slide guitarist Lucky Oceans.

Another highlight of the evening was a performance by Paul Kelly, who appeared via satellite to sing one of Daniel’s songs.