"You guys are like a breath of fresh air!" 

– Sarah Ramirez, Shooting Stars Coordinator at Hedland Senior High School (SHS)
 

The first residency for Now Sounds Hedland is complete, and the team couldn’t be happier with the feedback they’ve received from both young participants and their teachers.

It was a packed program for resident artists Optamus (Scott Griffiths), Flewnt (Josh Eggington) and Mubanga Culture, who ran workshops and gave performances at multiple venues to various groups.

It was clear that the team had already made a strong impression during September’s community engagement trip. In particular, Laquade (aged 11) had been talking to youth workers about how keen he was for the team’s return visit and, sure enough, he was the first to turn up at the first music workshop, led by Optamus at the Youth Involvement Council (YIC). A talented participant, Laquade took on a leadership role in the lyric writing part of the rap workshop, writing the first few lines of a verse and helping others to write theirs, including one of the youth workers.
 

At Hedland SHS band Optamus and Flewnt provided music students with the opportunity to move through different stations to develop and record vocals, drums, keyboard and rap lyrics. Self-motivated and engaged, the students rotated freely through the different stations, the room humming with activity. A highlight of the workshop, for CAN’s Community Development Manager Shenali Perera, was witnessing a young Brazilian student, Pedro, light up when she told him that one of CAN’s producers is Brazilian and would be able to translate the lyrics he had written in Portuguese. Pedro’s moving lyrics speak of the difficulty of leaving one’s home and moving overseas.

The team also worked with students from Hedland SHS’s Clontarf Shooting Stars programs (both designed to support First Nations students at school). The Year 10 girls’ workshop finished with a dynamic recording session of different vocal parts that Optamus and CAN’s Project Producer and vocalist Elisha Rahimi had coached them through. Their teachers remarked on how engaged the girls were with the session, and one ran up to Elisha at the end of the session to say, “I think I’ll come to the after school workshop tomorrow! Maybe we can record a song together?”

Optamus and Flewnt finished their Now Sounds workshops with recording sessions at both YIC and the JD Hardie Youth Zone, where both Laquade and Taharley-Rose (aged 13), recorded a verse each, while Mubanga wrapped up the week with a community dance workshop at the JD Hardie Youth and Community Hub.

The Now Sounds team will be returning to Hedland in early 2024. Interested in participating? Find out more here.

Top: Optamus recording Hedland SHS's students playing guitar // credit CAN Team