Charlotte

The lyrics for Charlotte come from the 2020 Blake Poetry Prize-winning poem by Judith Nangala Crispin entitled On Finding Charlotte in the Anthropological Record. The poem evokes real-life experiences and reflections arising from Crispin’s 20 year search through paper records and via physical travels, seeking information about her Indigenous Australian heritage. Eventually Crispin discovered a solitary photo of her great-great-grandmother, Charlotte.

The musical setting, with its sharp contrasts, and sometimes lyrical, sometimes insistent melodies, honours the raw complexities of the poem. The Australian Landscape is also depicted, specifically Lake Moodemere (possible translation ‘waterhole that never dries up’) where it’s likely Charlotte was born and died. I visited this peaceful but haunting place in northern Victoria twice while composing Charlotte, making musical sketches and field recordings amongst the ancient River Red Gums. On the second trip a Golden Whistler visited me and sang a distinctive local variation of that bird’s call. That call appears here in various forms, most significantly when Charlotte herself speaks: ‘Where did you go girl?’.

Damian Barbeler
June 2024