Why You Don't Want To Miss Dhungala Baarka At Scouted 2018

It’s not a stretch to say that newly-formed duo Dhungala Baarka will deliver one of the most powerful sets at this Friday’s Music SA showcase Scouted.

Singer-songwriter Nancy Bates and double bassist Allara Briggs-Pattison formed a strong connection during their time touring with Archie Roach in recent years and they’ll bring a wealth of experience and thought-provoking storytelling to audiences during Scouted.

We caught up with Bates ahead of their set to chat new music, Adelaide’s vibrant music scene and more.

What can punters at Scouted 2018 expect from your set?

We’re quite folky, but it’s a new folk sound. I play a hollow body Gretsch and Allara has a big double bass, so we’ve got this really warm sound happening. It’s really emotionally-charged music; the double bass is an emotional instrument and the songs that we’re delivering are fairly emotional and have got something to say about important things.

What are some of the important things?

We’ve tackled some really intense subject matter, things like domestic violence, child abuse, thinking about the environment, making personal changes in our lives around the environment.

There’s a song that was written in the Adelaide Women’s Prison. I have been heavily involved in songwriting programs with Aboriginal people in prisons. I focused on a program leading up to NAIDOC Week recently, so some of the songwriting I’ve been doing has been influenced by my time going in and out and working with those women in a really oppressive space, but finding this creative freedom in this oppressive space together. I’m not singing about incarceration, but I’m certainly going to be presenting a song that was written in jail with those women during the set.

There’s a song called Old Black Woman, which is a tribute to the stolen generation, so there are strong elements of culture and contemporary stories of Aboriginal people. Broadly, the songs give light to some of the issues that we’re facing as a society and I believe that songwriters aren’t taking that responsibility enough in this country.

We’ve got big struggles going on in our community, in our society across Australia; songwriters have a responsibility to talk about that in music and I think we have a strong responsibility to the songwriters that have come before us that have used music as a such a powerful medium to make the world a better place.

One of the songs I’ll be performing is called For Your Love and that was written a response to my nephew who was the face of the Yes Campaign in Broken Hill. He’s a young Aboriginal man who was standing up proudly as a gay man and an Aboriginal man to say, ‘I have a right to be married.’

What did touring with Archie Roach teach you?

We’re trying to explore this connection we found in working with Archie Roach; we’re trying to honour the legacy of the work we did we Archie Roach. When you perform on the road with Archie for four years in his outfit, it becomes apparent to you what music is really about and what it’s really for.

We want to be two women in the music industry who are saying something important and having a positive impact on our communities, on our families and on Australia.

How would you compare Adelaide’s music scene to others around the country?

What I can absolutely say with complete confidence is that we have a quality of musicianship and songwriting production that matches the world. For the longest time I kept thinking I needed to move away to make things happen and I felt like I had to get out of South Australia, but I’m so glad that I didn’t because things are growing here in South Australia in a rate that’s not happening elsewhere in the country.

There are a number of South Australian artists who are just creating undeniable music and you can’t hold that back; it will be realised and it is being realised.

How important do you think events like Scouted are in that realisation?

It’s essential – there’s no other opportunity like it in South Australia. Scouted is an opportunity that didn't exist previously, it now does exist and it does make change. I think it’s really innovative and it’s just so clever. There are lots of people working hard in South Australia to respond to gaps and also to create opportunity.

Catch Dhungala Baarka at The Music Stage at Scouted 2018 on July 27; head over to the Scouted 2018 website for all the details.