Christian Thompson: Refuge

With Refuge 2015, Christian Thompson builds on his previous performance video, Dhagunyilangu (Brother), for which he composed a song in his Bidjara language. It was sung acapella by a classically trained European soloist.

In this video, Thompson himself sings ‘Dhagunyilangu (Brother)’, but in a more popular style and set to a musical score. (The chorus for the song, ‘Dhagunyalingu, wugu wadya dhungangha’, translates as ‘Brother, come with me tonight’.) Thompson’s voice resounds with both sadness for a language on the cusp of extinction and defiance born from his resolve to preserve the idiom. His adaptation of a popular Western tune with piano and percussive accompaniment speaks to the hybridisation and rebirth of languages and cultures, and the often-subversive strategies their speakers need to adopt to maintain them.