Have you ever written a song by playing table tennis? Probably not. But that’s exactly what a group of Tasmanian children, and Tasmanian Aboriginal (pakana) rapper DENNI, want you to do.
‘Anthem Anthem Revolution’ is an art installation that was launched at the Birmingham 2022 Festival in the United Kingdom this week. The festival showcases global art and culture alongside the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, which starts on 28 July.
Sam Routledge is the Artistic Director of the Hobart-based Terrapin Puppet Theatre, the organisation behind ‘Anthem Anthem Revolution’.
“Anthem Anthem Revolution is a participatory installation that gives people the opportunity to battle a table tennis robot to replace Australia’s national anthem with a new national anthem,” he said.
Players will have to battle a table tennis robot in order to write a new Australian anthem Source: Supplied / Terrapin Puppet Theatre
“Table tennis is a very rhythmic game, it's hit return, hit return … and it creates its own rhythm,” Mr Routledge said.
“When you think about a big sporting contest like the Commonwealth Games, the national anthem is something that unifies and brings people together.
“We wanted to have a look at our anthem, but also have a look at who’s writing that anthem, and whose hopes and dreams does the existing anthem represent, and whose hopes and dreams might a new anthem represent?”
Sam Routledge is the Artistic Director of the Terrapin Puppet Theatre. He came up with the idea of 'Anthem Anthem Revolution' after realising the game of table tennis has a rhythmic pattern to it. Source: SBS News / Sarah Maunder
If a player is very successful, they’ll be able to complete a bonus round, which will unlock a completed recording of the anthem that DENNI wrote with a group of Tasmanian children.
Here are the full lyrics:
Verse 1
Anthem Anthem, this a revolution
Stop the division and start the inclusion
Work out the problems, find the solution
From changing the climate and causing pollution
Working together to stop the confusion
It's Anthem Anthem, it’s a revolution
Chorus
Our bodies the land
The waters our blood
And humans our nature
Now we’re moving as one
Our bodies the land
The waters our blood
We are, we are
Australian
Verse 2
This land has Indigenous heart
Multi-coloured Australia
Through history’s scars
The youth is our voice
Still needs to be heard
By every allies’ ear
It’s the power of words
They Echo through time
With the lessons we learn
Still building a future
And we're putting in work
Chorus
Our bodies the land
The waters our blood
And humans our nature
Now we’re moving as one
Our bodies the land
The waters our blood
We are, we are
Australian
Verse 3
Acceptance is key
These hands are my own
Like the limbs of a tree
Together we grow
Our past may leave
A bad taste on the tongue
We're still moving forward
With a rainbow thumb
A protesting foot
Stomps hard on the land
Remember to acknowledge
milaythina you stand
Chorus (x2)
Our bodies the land
The waters our blood
And Humans our nature
Now we’re moving as one
Our bodies the land
The waters our blood
We are, we are
Australian
Denni Proctor — professionally known as DENNI — is a pakana rapper/hip-hop artist based in her home state of lutruwita/Tasmania. It took her and the group of Tasmanian children about a year of workshopping to come up with the final anthem.
“A few themes (during the writing process) came up in the room, just about identity, place and culture, and we landed on Australia as a body, and our body as Country,” she said.
milaythina means Country in palawa kani, one of Tasmania’s Aboriginal languages.
“Working with these young people, it was just very apparent how much of their environment - and what’s going on in the world - that they are absorbing and critically thinking about.
Denni and Sam Source: SBS News / Sarah Maunder
Ms Proctor travelled to the UK this week to help launch the ‘Anthem Anthem Revolution’ installation.
“It is so exciting to have any work from Australia, let alone from Tassie, overseas, and represented, it’s such a proud feeling, and I hope that the audience over there can get as much out of it as we have as a community and arts workers bringing it all together.”
A few themes came up in the room, just about identity, place and culture, and we landed on Australia as a body, and our body as Country.Denni Proctor
pakana siblings Isabella Triffitt, and Declan Triffitt-Haney were part of the group of children that helped come up with the anthem. Isabella, 12, said it was important that the anthem respected Tasmanian Aboriginal culture.
“I wanted it to be welcoming to everyone, every colour, gender, everything like that,” she said.
“I wanted to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land, the Aboriginal people.”
Her brother, 13-year-old Declan, said the anthem was an opportunity for Truth-Telling.
“I think it’s best to recognise that the Aboriginals were the first people to be on the land, and recognise what the English invaders did to them, and the war crimes they committed, because it was a war,” he said.
Declan Triffitt-Haney, 13, says an important theme of 'Anthem Anthem Revolution' is Truth-Telling. Source: SBS News / Sarah Maunder
“I’ll always put my hand up to challenge old ideas,” she said.
“And I suppose, to put my hat in the ring, to be a strong advocate for Tasmanian Aboriginal people, and for First Nations people around the world, and how critical and important the information and knowledge we hold is, and how important it is going to be in the future, as we hopefully start to think more again about Country, and our position on Country and how we can reverse some of the things we’ve done to Country.”
‘Anthem Anthem Revolution’ will be on exhibit for another week, before heading to the Queen Elizabeth Live Site in London for one week. The installation will be available to the public for up to eight hours each day.
Isabella Triffitt, 12, wanted the anthem to reflect Australia's diverse cultures and pay respect to Aboriginal people. Source: SBS News / Sarah Maunder
Ms Proctor said she was proud to be in the UK promoting ‘Anthem Anthem Revolution’.
“I think that an anthem should always challenge us, to go, well what is it that we’re standing for as Country, and where do we want to move to, or move forward to together?” she said.
“It is so so exciting to have any work from Australia, let alone from Tassie, overseas, and represented, it’s such a proud feeling, and I hope that the audience over there can get as much out of it as we have as a community and arts workers bringing it all together.”
palawa kani only uses lowercase letters.
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