Our Songs

“We carry our songs with us. From a 4WD Troopy heading down a bush track, to a sedan in a city traffic jam, from the desert to the sea, our songs travel with the singers.”

Joy Taylor, NT

Over the years we have learned and shared many songs.  Songs have been written specially for the Big Sing Community and sung for the first time at Big Sing Community events.

At Big Sing in the Desert, Aboriginal women from Central Australian remote desert communities have taught us songs that are special to them. Some of these are translations of hymns. Some are songs that the women learned as children, or from people who came to live in their community and which were then translated.

Big Sing Community teachers and mentors have shared songs they have written and songs they have arranged for choirs. We have learned songs from countries in Africa, Central and Latin America, from Fiji and the Pacific Islands. We have also created new songs together at workshops and camps, some with verses in different languages.

We have favourite songs that we carry with us from year to year, and from place to place.  We always want to sing them again.

At Big Sing in the Desert we record the songs so that everyone has a copy to play and sing along with after the event each year. Singers take the songs home with them to their own communities and their own choirs, spreading them to places all across Australia. You can hear some of the songs played on community radio in Central Australia on 8CCC and CAAMA.  

We share some of our favourites with you here in the Big Sing Community Songlist.

Click on a song to read its story. Download lyrics and learn the song with us.
Listen to recordings and watch videos of songs being sung at Big Sing Community events.