Melissa Maddison
ABC Tropical North Local Radio

When you really feel like just getting away from it all – to spend some time enjoying things, I reckon there’s no place like heading out bush, or up to Eungella to go for a walk through the forest and just listen to the birds calling.

And that feeling has been captured on a new album, being launched in Mackay tonight. Aptly named the ‘Sounds of Mackay’, it’s the brainchild of Kim Kirkman.

The answer can be found on a CD of the original music of the natural world, with instrumental backing which has been created by Kim Kirkman. You could call it mood music, but its beauty is that it's all Mackay. Start your day at pre-sunlight, with waves on the beach, then take in a dawn chorus of crickets and cicadas, followed by a series of solos from the peewee through to the spangled drongo and peaceful dove. As the day, and the tracks progress, you move through a searing summer day, the heat of cane fires, ascending into the release of a thunderstorm. And that's just half the story.Sounds of Mackay is not just an aural feast but a visual one as well, as it is supported by a collection of stunning images from photographer Dean Whitling. “This is my gift back to Mackay, showcasing its natural beauty,” Mr Kirkman said. “I think that it is easier to create something like this when you have not lived in Mackay very long, before you start taking it for granted. It was a striking contrast for me when I moved here from London.”

The CD will be launched at the Mackay City Library at 6pm on July 13. Photos will be on display for a month.

Mackay Festival of Arts

From the soothing sounds of waves creeping up onto the beach before daybreak to the harsh crackling of a fire burning through a cane field, a day in the life of the coastal town of Mackay has been captured in a mix of sounds, music and imagery. The Sounds of Mackay CD made its debut at the 2006 Mackay Festival of Arts, an innovative project that took seven months to prepare and produce. Creator Kim Kirkman, who grew up in north Queensland and has worked in London as a musical director, composer and co-owner of The Ten Tenors, was inspired by his admiration and appreciation for Mackay where he now works as a lecturer at the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music. “When you arrive in a new place, you think ‘gee, this looks really interesting and doesn’t that look beautiful’ and Mackay was like that for me, especially after London where I had been living, which is such a contrast,” Kim said. “It is easy to create something like this when one has not lived in Mackay very long. The more one stays, the more one feels part of the landscape, which can lead to taking it for granted. “However as I had arrived from London, it was a huge contrast and therefore so much more striking.”Kim set out to first capture the sounds and noises of Mackay on a typical day from dawn to dusk. “I wanted to do a day in the life of Mackay, starting with the sea before dawn and so it starts with waves and goes into the dawn and all the associated noises of the crickets, cicadas and other insects,” he says. “The next movement was scorching, representing the heating up of the day with koalas, kookaburras, cockatoos and emus in the harsh bushland. “Then there was a fire sequence with cane fires burning, followed by a thunder storm and then a chorus of frogs calling and croaking. “Then we move to more bird calls across a rainforest valley and then onto dusk with lorikeets and fruit bats and finally, at night, with barking owls and the curlews calling out as darkness arrives. ”Sourcing the sounds was often a challenge. “The mosquitoes were really painful,” recalls Kim, with a dry laugh. “I’d set up the recording equipment in a swamp or in the bush and then run away with all these mosquitoes after me. “You can even hear them buzzing around the microphone.
“There were lots of early mornings at ungodly hours but, yes, there were special moments, too. “I remember one morning at the bottom of the hill where I live, I heard this bird singing these perfect notes around A flat and D flat and so I recorded that and then wrote a counter melody to the bird’s song. ”In fact, Kim wrote movements for each of the segments, producing and mixing the instrumental pieces himself. “I then approached a local photographer Dean Whitling who produced 10 photographs to capture the music,” he said. “I also had a great deal of assistance from Tess Brickhill, a local bird extraordinaire who identified all the birds. There are over 40 different types of birds recorded.”At the Festival, the photographs were enlarged into massive posters and the CD was playing as visitors experienced through sight and sound a day in the life of Mackay. “This is my gift back to Mackay as an artist. It has been a very healing time for me here,” says Kim. “I have tried to feel my place within the natural landscape. I’ve also responded musically to the calls of the birds and the emotions that I feel when experiencing certain things like a waterfall or a scorching hot day, a cane fire or torrential rain. ”For more information about Sounds of Mackay, visit www.bakkstudios.com/soundsofmackay.html The Mackay Festival of Arts is on again from 21 to 29 July 2007.

www.festivalmackay.org.au