Famili is a collective of artists from the Pacific diaspora and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities exploring themes of climate change, gender identity, immigration, sexuality and third culture. Famili reflects who we are as a people.

It is expression through contemporary electronic music, yet we are drawing on instruments traditionally used in our music like conch shells, log drums (garamut, pate), bamboo shakers, split canes, flutes, and an incredible range of percussive and melodic instruments.

We use song structures and harmonies common to Pasifika music where there’s a lot of spiritual collective singing, and it’s different from what you’d hear in a Western religious context. There’s something sacred about people singing together, to each other, and that’s something present across most cultures.

The project began as 4 tracks which responded to the 4 classical elements: The element of Earth is about personal homecoming from Ripley’s bloodlines from Papua New Guinea. I needed to speak about West Papua and the struggles my people face. We need earth to ground us, to grow our food, to sustain us.

We need fire to cook and rebirth and transform things. Fire is about empowerment, talking back, acknowledging where we came from.

Air is about the communal breath, winds of change, challenging and talking back to any kind of oppressive system, whether it’s white supremacy or conservative cultures elders that don’t recognise or support our queer and trans identities.

Water is about the threat the Pacific Islands face to their lands through the rising sea levels. The track ‘Neck Deep’ acknowledges the consequences – and our collective grief.