“The players are among the finest improvisers alive yet the piece as a whole was the star. Extremely ambitious in its scope,
the piece could have proved a jarring and dissipated experience, yet it not only held together, it allowed for potent collective and individual statements.
An astute festival director would snap this up” (John Shand SMH)
A new show based on the music, language, and culture of the Pitcairn Islanders depicting in musical terms what happened as a direct result of the Mutineers of the Bounty’s need to retrieve their Tahitian “wives” and hide successfully from the wrath of the English in tiny Pitcairn’s Isle.
Mutiny Music was conceived by Rick Robertson over ten years ago when he came across a rare recording of an unaccompanied male choir of Norfolk Islanders singing hymns that were composed on Pitcairn Island. The recording captured something unique and what seemed to Rick, the essence of the culture. Rick developed the idea into a show which depicts the story of the development of the Pitcairn culture from the 1789 Mutiny on the Bounty and the finding and settlement on Pitcairn Island to the their resettlement on Norfolk Island in 1856. Polynesian's initially made up the bulk of the settlers on Pitcairn and their skills are what lead to successful survival, this is portrayed by the use of Polynesian Drumming and nose flute melodies. The hornpipes of the English sailors can also be heard during the early themes. A new language made up of Tahitian and English developed and samples of the melodic vernacular inspire much of the thematic material through the middle section of the show. With English visitors arriving and settling into Island life a pious existence helped the islanders survive after a tumultuous beginning and twice a day church meetings with Hymn singing became the norm. A few hymns were composed on Pitcairn and the the show uses these melodies help portrait a settled time on the island. The rest of the music is left to the wonderful skills of the band Baecastuff which is comprised of the finest musicians. The show is accompanied by a slide show which moves in chronological order and reflects the scenes and images of the life and times. The images are derived largely from museum collections and consist of ships logs, ships artists portraits, maps, diary entries and early B+W photographs of Pitcairn and Norfolk Islanders.
The Mutiny Music show has been successfully performed on 7 occasions and in various settings. The Sydney Fringe Festival hosted the first showing, which was successful in attracting a decent crowd and a wonderful review from the Sydney Morning Herald. The show has since been performed at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Darling Harbour Jazz Festival, Venue 505 (review) and at the Campbelltown Performing Arts Centre.
In 2014 the Arts Council of Australia provided a grant to record Mutiny Music in a high quality recording studio. This was achieved at Sony Studio in East Sydney with sound engineer Ross Ahern providing the technical skills.
Norfolk Island, as with many small communities is struggling to maintain its cultural identity. Strongly independent for many years the island and it's community is in danger of becoming just another part of Australia. The Mutiny Music show could be seen as a way of bringing and maintaining some awareness of the uniqueness of the culture and telling the story in an artistic way. The plan is to get the show on the international stage and tell this wonderful story to the world.
A documentary is also in the planning stages and plans to capture the story of Rick and Baecastuff performing Mutiny Music in St Barnabus Chapel on Norfolk Island.
Rick Robertson grew up on on Norfolk Island and is a Pitcairn Descendant who's roots lead back to the Mutineers on the Bounty and their Tahitian partners. Rick played trumpet in the local boys brass band, sang in school musicals and was School Captain prior to leaving the island at age 16 to finish school in New Zealand. After gaining a Batchelors Degree at Massey University Rick moved to Auckland and took up a career as a professional musician performing as a Saxophone player and recording and touring with bands in New Zealand for nearly ten years before moving to Sydney Australia to study at the Conservatorium of Music where he gained an Associate Diploma in Jazz Studies. International success with the muti-award winning band DIG (directions in groove) followed and in the mid 90s dig was able to tour and release albums internationally on many occasions playing to audiences in Europe, Asia and the States as well as Canada and New Zealand. Rick formed Baecastuff in 1996 while in search of an acoustic sound that reflected his roots. The band has gone on to record 4 albums of original material and perform at many festivals.
As a youth Rick sang with the old Norfolk Islanders at regular church services and at community gatherings. Hymn singing was a big part of the Norfolk/Pitcairn culture. When he discovered historical recordings of Norfolk Hymns made in the 1950's the idea for a "musical" telling the Pitcairn/Norfolk story was born. A commission to write a sound scape for a Cyclorama on Norfolk Island enabled Rick to further pursue the idea and much of the the thematic material for the Cyclorama was derived from the original recordings.
“Whether playing simple three note phrases or free-jazz squalls, Robertson expresses it all with a great respect for the material and an obvious joy in his instruments’ voice.” John Hardaker – Liveguide.
The Story:
In 1789, the very famous Mutiny on the Bounty occurred. Fletcher Christian tossed the volatile Captain Bligh into a long boat with a sextant, food and few of his crew, turned the Bounty around and went in search of somewhere to hide. They returned to Tahiti, stocked the Bounty with livestock and provisions and then departed secretly in the night with Tahitian “wives”, most likely unaware of their departure, and 5 Tahitian men.
Christian and his crew spent the next 12 months criss-crossing the Pacific until the wrongly charted Pitcairn Island was found and became their home. Pitcairn was the perfect hiding place, with fertile soil and an abundance of timber and water, and completely isolated from the rest of the word.
Nine Europeans and Eighteen Polynesians made up the small community. Land and wives were divided up amongst the 9 Europeans and the 6 Polynesian men had to share the 3 remaining women. This was not ideal but the community made do for a couple of years until Williams’ wife died and he abducted the wife of one of the Polynesian men. Things went horribly wrong and within ten years all the men on the island apart from John Adams had perished, most of them violently. Adams had a sign from God and took it upon himself to lead the remaining women and children in a pious existence. When the community was finally discovered after a dozen years the descriptions suggest a harmonious almost perfect existence. All the islanders spoke both English and Tahitian.
New blood arrived not long after with visitors wanting to stay on and join the community. George Hunn Nobbs, who claimed he was the illegitimate son of Lord Hastings but who certainly had been a pirate, mercenary and opportunist, was educated and had some idea of religious protocol. He became the teacher, religious leader, and married Fletcher Christians Grand daughter.
In the 1850’s the community had grown to almost 200 and the tiny island was increasingly unable to support them. They asked Queen Victoria for help and she offered them Norfolk Island. Norfolk Island had been a penal colony that had recently been disbanded and the island deserted. In 1856 the entire community of Pitcairn embarked on the journey to their new home 3700 miles away. Everything about their new home astonished the Pitcairners who were confronted with massive stone buildings, cattle, exotic fruits and flowers, furniture and of course the reminders of convict punishment.
With help from the strong leadership of Nobbs, the community settled into their new home well. A few families returned to Pitcairn unable to deal with their homesickness and their families remain there today.
The Music:
John Adams, the last remaining Englishman, taught his small flock, comprised of 9 Tahitian women and 20 children to sing. They would sing Psalms using melodies remembered by Adams. Traditional Tahitian music and dance also prevailed as visitors to the island were entertained by a percussion group under the leadership of Arthur Quintal and 3 female dancers. Religious music was composed as well and performed in 4 part harmony. These hymns were transcribed and remain in use on Norfolk and Pitcairn today.
The language which is a mix of Tahitian and English is spoken in a very musical way. Recordings of spoken word have been transcribed and used as melodies for use in the show.
Mutiny Music is a show which endeavours to describe this colourful story using the music and language unique to this tiny island paradise.
The Band:
Baecastuff is led by Rick Robertson, a descendant of Nobbs, Christian and Quintal and who’s family reside on Norfolk Island. He is the principal composer, however the band is comprised of the finest musicians and improvisers.
Matt McMahon – Piano.
Phil Slater – Trumpet
Alexander Heweton – Bass
Simon Barker – Drums
Aykho Akhrif – Percussion.