Top singer use music to help our youths

Education

Australian indigenous singer Emily Wurramarra was in Papua New Guinea last week to partner local artist Mereani Masani in a special programme for young people.
Wurramarra and Masani were special guests at the Moresby Arts Theatre’s Youth Arts Programme (YAP) in the capital city where they performed original songs and teamed up to perform a set of covers for the programme participants.
Wurramarra, a young Aboriginal woman, is from Australia’s Northern Territory and is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She plays the guitar, piano and ukulele, and sings in both English and Annandilyakwa, the traditional language of her home of Groote Eylandt, the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia.
Wurramarra’s visit was funded by the Australian Government.
Silky-voiced Masani is of Papua New Guinea and Fijian heritage, and is well-known in the country for her performance of the theme song Kumul Susa at the Fifa U20 women’s World Cup in 2016.
She and Wurramarra performed to students from Marianville and Jubilee secondary schools at the Moresby Arts Theatre youth programme, with Wurramarra teaching everyone a song in her own language.
Wurramarra also spoke to the students about the importance of respecting culture and of being welcoming of people of different backgrounds.
Over the next six weeks 650 students from 14 schools will be participating in the annual arts programme. Year 9 student learn theatre skills, hear from speakers on a number of social topics relevant to their lives and work on their own short performances.
The programme is run annually by Moresby Arts Theatre in association with the University of Goroka.
Dr Jane Awi and a team of students from the university ran sessions with the students.
Theatre president Bob Stanley said: “This programme is a great opportunity for many young people in Port Moresby to get exposure to some expressive arts training and learn together as they create their own short plays.
“The students grow in confidence both on the stage and in working on this task together.”
The programme runs through to Aug 24.