When it comes to improving language skills there are many different approaches, and one of the most fun is putting words to music. A choir on the NSW mid-north coast is using the power of song to teach a First Nations language.
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00:00This eclectic choir on the New South Wales mid-north coast is raising a smile.
00:08They are cheeky.
00:10They're members of the Guiola de Gula Choir and they're learning to sing both contemporary
00:14and traditional songs in the language of the Gumbangia people.
00:17They're all different ages.
00:18We've got a few young people, you know.
00:21We've got a mother with a child that comes.
00:23You know, we've got people with dogs that come.
00:26We've got elderly people that come.
00:27Wiradjuri woman and former singer Monique Hill travels an hour each way from Coffs
00:32Harbour to attend rehearsals.
00:34She says the choir has changed her life.
00:37And I saw the ad and I thought, yeah, that's a way for me to get back into singing again.
00:41I've got my first solo gig again after 24 years.
00:44So this experience has given me back my confidence.
00:50While Miklo teaches the language, Ruth Kennedy leads the group in song.
00:54Usually there's a lot of challenges because you're singing a different language.
00:58Probably at least 80% of them have had no experience singing in a choir.
01:03With a mix of Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants, it also gives members a chance
01:08to learn about First Nations culture.
01:10I think it's a really respectful way to kind of, you know, have our own kind of personal
01:15reconciliation.
01:16Gumbangia is one of around 120 Indigenous languages still actively used in Australia
01:21today.
01:22The vast majority of them are endangered, but initiatives like this one in this hall
01:26have seen the number of Gumbangia speakers more than double in the past decade.
01:31With performances at the Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival and a citizenship ceremony
01:35in Coffs Harbour, these singers are showing how music and language can be powerful forces
01:40for unity.
01:41And hearing all the other voices and the different sounds that they make, that's the thing that
01:49I love.
01:50Gumbangia!
01:51Gumbangia!
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02:00Gumbangia!
02:01Gumbangia!
02:02Gumbangia!
02:03Gumbangia!
02:04Gumbangia!
02:05Gumbangia!
02:06Gumbangia!
02:07Gumbangia!
02:08Gumbangia!
02:09Gumbangia!
02:10Gumbangia!
02:11Gumbangia!
02:12Gumbangia!
02:13Gumbangia!
02:14Gumbangia!
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02:16Gumbangia!
02:17Gumbangia!
02:18Gumbangia!