Nicole Smede

NYIIRUN YIIGA (we are here)

Composition / Score / Performance

Nyiirun Yiiga is a large-scale composition for two choirs (SATB and community), yidaki (didgeridoo), and traditional percussion drawn from Country—leaves, shells, seed pods—integrated into the performance as instruments. Commissioned by A Major Lift for the Canberra International Music Festival, this work was created in close collaboration with Gathang Language Custodians Jonathan Lilley and Aunty Mandy Davis.

The world premiere united over 220 voices, bringing together Aboriginal choirs and community members in a powerful act of resilience and reconciliation. For the first time, the Gathang language was sung en masse in Australia’s capital, weaving language, song, and Country into a collective voice that affirms enduring presence and belonging.

Nyiirun Yiiga unfolds as a living conversation between people, language, and land, a ceremony of voice and spirit carrying forward the stories of Country. At its heart, it is a protest song: “We are here — we are still here.” The lyrics affirm a presence across time “for always we have been here and for always to come” singing songs, dancing dances, and holding Country close.

Beginning with the sound of stomping feet like a march through the streets, the piece calls for witness and resistance. Ancestral voices carried on the wind, felt deep in bones and blood carry the work which culminates in a joyous celebration of resilience, erupting in a polyphonic outpouring of voice, percussion, clapping, and yidaki, embodying the strength and continuity of culture alive today.

The premiere performance took place at Snow Concert Hall in 2025, featuring Mudjngaal Yangamba (Yuin), Ngarranga Mirriiyn Choir (Birrbay), Wamburang Women’s Choir (Ngunnawal), Kompactus Youth Choir, Oriana Chorale, community participants, and musicians Mark Atkins and Eugene Ughetti, conducted by Roland Peelman AM.

Duration: approx. 9 minutes

Full score available upon request.