What would it sound like if you had a chance to rewrite Australia’s national anthem? That was the monumental task presented to lutrawita-based (Tasmanian) hip hop artist DENNI, aka Denni Proctor, whose first response to the brief was, ‘As a songwriter, I was like, “Oh, there’s almost too much to write about.” What’s our premise? And how can we get to the nub of it?’
DENNI was tapped for the job by Sam Routledge, Artistic Director of Hobart’s celebrated puppet company Terrapin, who asked her to compose this alternative take as part of the company’s latest work, Anthem Anthem Revolution. Terrapin are touring the production to the UK’s Birmingham 2022 Festival later this month – the company’s first international tour since the pandemic began – as part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Designed by Terrapin’s Associate Artist Dylan Sheridan, Anthem Anthem Revolution takes the shape of a frenetic game of table tennis which pits players against a robot. Each time they hit the ping-pong ball, a fragment of the alternate anthem blasts out, as sung by DENNI and the 11 youth participants who helped pen it.
Win the game, and you get to hear the anthem in full.
Working alongside DENNI, artists Davina Wright and Alex Walker led two week-long workshops, asking the children what mattered most to them.
‘I think we often forget how much our young people know, at a young age; how much they’re feeling and thinking and dealing with a bit of empathy fatigue,’ DENNI said of the surprisingly rigorous chats that followed, which took in everything from gender identity to the rights of First Nations peoples and refugees. ‘They seem to have the brain of adults, and their thoughts and problems as well.’
The young people questioned their identities and place in the world, DENNI continued. ‘I found that quite interesting, and also a little bit confronting, because when I was that age, I definitely wasn’t worried about those things. Except probably fitting in, being a Tasmanian Aboriginal woman.’
Climate concerns also cropped up. ‘I derive a lot of my meaning from Country and an environmental response, which was something that the young people really related to,’ DENNI said.
‘We’ve sort of stopped talking about climate change, but Tassie mob down here are kind of unique. We’re also a broad nation, so how can we put something in there that everyone’s going to relate to, including young people all around the world?’
Wright and Walker helped build trust amongst the group, so that the kids could open up, express their feelings and respond creatively. ‘We started to narrow in on a bit of a theme, thinking about Australia as a human body,’ DENNI said. ‘How does my environment actually make me feel? It affects me physically, so we started talking about different organs and body parts.’
DENNI was heartened by where this idea took the group. ‘A couple of responses I really loved was the idea of an Indigenous heart and a protester’s foot,’ she said. ‘Culture, in my understanding, is a living thing. Something that adapts with us and is entwined with the arts and sharing community.’
She had a great time with the participants and was constantly surprised by how many young people connect with hip hop. ‘I’ve got the youngest fan base at the moment,’ she said. ‘Young people can relate to the rhyming, and jamming as many words as we can into a sentence, because we’ve got so much to bloody talk about.’
Walking the talk
Routledge said the collaborative process presented a brilliant opportunity for the youth participants’ voices to be heard – quite literally – when Birmingham Festival audiences get to play Anthem Anthem Revolution.
‘Each time you hit a ball, you’ll hear their voices alongside DENNI’s lyrics, and that’s a really powerful and inspiring thing to experience as a player. Because you really feel that with every hit, you’re getting closer to hearing what children think about their country,’ he said.
The idea sprang from Routledge’s love of playing ping-pong. ‘Table tennis is a very rhythmic game that’s got that classic sound, and it’s also adversarial. And Dylan [Sheridan] is very much into rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution. And thinking about the sporting context [of the Commonwealth Games], there’s always going to be an anthem.’
Routledge is very clear that the work is not intended to disrespect the existing anthem. ‘Because it’s very important to some people, and especially sportspeople. They hear it when they’re on the podium. ‘So we’re not out here to wreck the existing anthem. We’re just providing a kids’ alternative.’
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The robotic puppet, programmed by Sheridan, shoots balls timed to the rhythm of the music. ‘And each time you hit a ball, there’s a sensor in the bat that triggers the voices,’ Routledge revealed. ‘Each time you hit it back into the net, it passes through a light curtain, which triggers another sound.
‘Every player gets to play for two minutes. But if they’re good enough, it fills an LED light bar, and if the light bar is all green, then they get to play a bonus stage. If they complete that, then they hear the entire anthem. It’s quite emotional, but it’s also a lot of fun.’
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra recorded the music. ‘Being here, in amongst festivals like Dark Mofo and Mona Foma, they’re always up for an experimental project,’ Routledge said. ‘We’re so lucky to have them, because they really are ambitious and open to new ideas.’
It’s a trait shared by so many creative companies in lutrawita/Tasmania, Routledge said. ‘Artists here are used to working outside their field, because you have to be adaptive. Plus people are pretty direct in Tasmania. They get down to business and want to make things work.’
Terrapin is all about creating an intergenerational and inter-disciplinary dialogue. It’s what appealed most to DENNI about working with the company.
‘There are generational gaps in language, how we communicate and the words we use, and I think we often forget how important that is,’ she said. ‘As a proud pakana woman, having our language appear in the work in a very contemporary and accessible way is exciting.’
It focused a lot for her. ‘In community, we talk a lot about caring for our youth and our elderly, and I’m sort of sitting in this middle mob area now. And I just think this is a great work that can relate to all ages.’
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DENNI loves that Anthem Anthem Revolution brings the sports and arts communities together. ‘They don’t often communicate. And I will always love when we have worlds crossing over, and that grey area in between where we learn to collaborate and become confident sharing.’
The game is a perfect reflection of our times, DENNI suggested. ‘It’s chaotic, but that’s the fun of it. The harder we work, the more rewards we get, and all ages can take something from that. Even if it’s just the sensory experience of having the exploding sound of Australia and Tasmania coming at you with flying ping pong balls while you’re just trying to keep it together and not embarrass yourself. And I think that challenge is good for everybody.’
Terrapin’s Anthem Anthem Revolution will be presented at the Birmingham 2022 Festival between 21 July and 2 August, with additional performances in London from 4-8 August.
