Acknowledgement of Country

An acknowledgement of country is a way to acknowledge and pay respect to first nations people as the traditional owners and ongoing custodians of the land.

Acknowledgements are often made at the start of an event such as a meeting, speech, orformal occasion. An acknowledgement can be made by anybody - First Nations or Non-Indigenous. An acknowledgement of country will often highlight the unique position of First Nations people in the context of culture and history, and their intimate relationship with the land. There are many ways to make an acknowledgement of country. It can be spoken, written, or signed (Auslan - sign language). The words can vary, and people are encouraged to do an acknowledgement in a way that is personal and specific to place. It’s easy to copy an already scripted acknowledgement, but it’s more meaningful to write one in your voice.

CICADA would like to begin by acknowledging the Wurundjeri people, the traditional custodians of the land on which we gather for our events. On behalf of New Guernica, we pay our respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. We extend that respect to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are dancing, partying, or viewing our work today.

Synesthesia, presented by CICADA & New Guernica. The first event of the Winter season. Synesthesia is the experience of one sense through another. Specifically, the correlation between sound and colour. Sole pitched the name to us, and it was so fitting because of the recent photos captured by Charles and the recent graphics created by Sole himself. The photographs told a story. It was as if you could hear these stories when viewing and interpreting the colours in the images. Especially the ones which were captured on Charles 35mm point and shoot film camera. The photos were raw, out of focussed, blurred, low light images of the unique lighting show which was on display.

Synesthesia was the first event which we redesigned the main stage and turned it into a warehouse rave party. Due to a late change on the night, we made the last-minute decision to play all DJs in the main room as upstairs was unavailable. It was truly a special experience. The energy was unmatched. Our artists, creatives, and patrons all in the one space meant that the place was filled to the brim. People were fighting for spots on the dancefloor and the madness didn’t stop until the earlier hours of Saturday morning. Synesthesia was led at the forefront by its talented artists and creatives. Headliner Bella Claxton stole our hearts. We welcomed her back post her CICADA Havoc debut. She presented listeners with heavy hitting house and some 150 tekkerz.

We caught up with Bella for an interview which is available post the Synesthesia debrief in full detail. The bill for Synesthesia consisted of mostly new faces outside of Bella & Jem, although these new faces are all well established in the Melbourne / Naarm techno dance scene. Kaytseng, notorious for her supersonic, deep, and driving techno. Her sound travelling throughout the Naarm underground rave scene. Kaytseng performed belters in the early parts of Saturday morning. Opening acts Mi4aa and Bosley started off the night with old school techno and trance from the early 90s, transporting listeners back to the musical archives of early rave culture. Bones followed, with heavy, bouncy techno songs which we all love, and the perfect light show to accompany him.

The 6 Sense boys then put on a hell of a performance, with the support of their mates, filling the stage to the brim. They threw down many unreleased tracks in their 45 minute back 2 back performance. Continued by Jem and Jerb, these two ignited CICADA’s main stage. Both getting the crowd up and reaching for the techno God’s as they closed out the night in fashion. Synesthesia encapsulated CICADA’s first event for the Winter season.