Barayagal
Barayagal (Established in March 2019) is an intercultural collective of singers that gathers to sing songs of culture and stories. Directed by Nardi Simpson, we sing to the place we are in and to the places we all come from. When the choir meets we intend to workshop new choral songs of culture, and have a cup of tea and a yarn.
Original Sovereign Nations of Australia their peoples and the Sydney University community are invited to join our choir. We welcome people who want to sing for the first time, and people who have been singing all their lives.
This choir is administered by YARN Australia, the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and the Open Academy Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
““Barayagal sings to the place we are in and to the places we all come from.
The choir aims to bring Original Sovereign Nations their peoples of Australia and non-indigenous people together to break down existing walls and create a harmonious gathering place.”
Kevin Hunt, Sydney Conservatorium of Music”
Our Barayagal Team
Nardi Simpson, a Yuwaalaraay writer, musician and performer from NSW’s north-west freshwater plain, leads Barayagal as Musical Director, composing and developing a repertoire of five songs. One of the songs titled ‘You Gotta Know’ embodies the inspiration for the choir, a message of shared identity and all our stories reconciled together.
Kevin Hunt, lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, jazz pianist and coordinator of Original Sovereign Nations of Australia their peoples and non-indigenous musical collaborations, completed the musical arrangements with Nardi.
Warren Roberts, Founder of YARN Australia, will administer the choir business in consultation with the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.
We would like to provide notice and acknowledge that the Barayagal Choir will not be continued from 1st January 2027.
We will continue to celebrate the achievements of the Barayagal over the past 8 years. We will invite Nardi Simpson and Kevin Hunt to our future Yarn Australia Events to share this unique Story, reflecting on how music & song can be a great medium to bring people together.
If you are not a University of Sydney member, but are of Original Sovereign Nations of Australia descent, please register with Warren Roberts at info@yarnaustralia.com.