" Swirling sea of sonic passion"
Its a long journey from Framlingham Forest in the Shipwreck Coast hinterland and a billabong near the Murray mouth in South Australia to the seashores of old Mexico. But Archie Roach and his spouse Ruby Hunter now fly first class with Grabowsky and the Ausrtralian Art Orchestra. Roach and Hunter are both victims of the stolen generation. Their life was graphically depicted in Ruby's Story, performed with Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House and Adelaide Cabaret Festival a while back. The reaction to that show inspired Roach and Hunter to join the AAO to perform four song interludes in the JS Bach-inspired project Passion in Mexico City. This morphed into 'Ruby', an autobiographical 14 song depiction of the lives of Roach and Hunter. This creative cross-fertilisation finds Roach and Hunter performing their soul-baring, poverty primed tales with a turbo charged orchestra. the result is a surrealist soundscape of heart wrenching narratives ignited by a galaxy of trumpet, double bass, sax, violin, tuba, clarinet, percussion and vibes. fans of Hunter and Roach may know songs such as 'Took the Children Away' and 'A Child Was Born Tonight'. But few will have heard them performed in this swirling sea of sonic passion _ a riveting reflection of their collective inner psyche. Hunter sings of her Coorong heritage in 'Ngarrindjerri Woman', 'Coolamen Baby', 'Held Up To The Moon In My Granfather's Hands' and ''Daisy Chains, String Games and Knickle Bones' with renewed spirit. She revives recent battles in 'Down City Streets' and he responds with the song of their first meeting in 'Old So And So'. Yorta Yorta man Roach delves back to his distant past for 'Nopun Kurongk', rebuilding his life in 'Little BY Little' but reflects on his joyous jouney in 'Wash My Soul In The River's Flow'. This is an amazing story of childhood betrayal, survival of love against all odds and passion for heritage in a constatly challenged, water-fuelled environment. And it also sounds good too. David Dawson.
- BEAT MAGAZINE, March 8, 2006.
