Opening Ceremony Press Conference

Media Centre Conference Room
Various Speakers
Friday, 1 March 2002

CONVENOR: Good morning, everybody. I thought I would give you a few brief notes about how we are going to run this this morning. I want to let you know that the performers we are about to introduce are the key performers for the opening ceremony tomorrow. They are basically here to talk about their role in the opening ceremony and what it means to them. They are not here to answer any political questions or anything to do with policy, CHOGM or the Commonwealth. So if anyone starts to give them some nasty ones, they are not in a position to provide any comments on that.

We have also given out embargoed media kits today. They are embargoed until 11 o'clock tomorrow morning. That is a strict embargo.

Everything the performers give you this morning is on the record. Without any further adieu, I would like to introduce Ray Martin, who will be the opening ceremony Master of Ceremonies. He will introduce the rest of the performers this morning. You will be able to ask questions of all the performers during these proceedings. Thank you.

Mr MARTIN: Thank you very much. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. I just also pay a tribute. We are on Gubbi Gubbi land here. They are the traditional owners of this part of Australia. I pay my respects to the families of the Gubbi Gubbi people.

My name is Ray Martin. I am normally doing things like great debates other issues. I was asked to host tomorrow's opening. My job, I guess, is more for the foreign press than the Australian press, who know the artists who will be performing tomorrow. In no particular order, I will introduce the people who will be out there performing for the world tomorrow. I will introduce James Blundell first up. He hails from country Queensland - Stanthorpe in Queensland. James is a fair dinkum country boy. He started singing after he had got knocked off a horse or injured his back doing something to a cow. So he picked up singing, as you do, which he has done for some time. For those who do not know, James has won every country singing award in Australia. 'Country' is not a perjorative. He is also a very successful singer and very popular in the cities. He has done a lot of television. He has sold a zillion records. He is basically one of our star performers tomorrow. Come on down, James.

Please feel free to ask people questions, which is the idea of the press conference. Marina Prior and Peter Cousens I will introduce together. Again, for Australians, they are known so well. They are our musical superstars in Australia, Peter and Marina. They have been in just about every stage and live production you can imagine in Australia and television recordings. You can ask them about particular shows they have done. They are simply the best.

I will also introduce Richard Walley, who was a Nyoongar Yamagi man from Western Australia. He is carrying his own didgeridoo - one he made himself. He has been performing on didgeridoos for 25 years. He has performed with various philharmonic orchestras around the world. He performed at Westminster with the didge. The latest gig was with Carlos Santana. He is an extraordinary musician. He is right behind me. He is the chair of the Aboriginal Arts Board in Australia. You can ask him a whole range of questions, if you like.

The Gubbi Gubbi people - I mentioned the dancers we have here. These Gubbi Gubbi men are the local traditional owners of this part of Australia, as I said. We will have Human Nature as well tomorrow performing with these good people. They are off on a world tour and they will come in tonight. They are performing tomorrow for all our delegates. That is basically it. Please feel free to ask these people anything you would like, especially those from overseas who do not know them. Do not be shy. James, what are you singing?

Mr BLUNDELL: My part of the performance is the start of a collage. Two of the verses are from 'I am Australian'. As a lyricist, I look back at them now and think they are a really, really good interpretation of some of our basic values, which is great. Then, not wanting to steal the thunder at the end of the show, I get to sing a bit of Waltzing Matilda, which is good, along with Click Go the Shears, which is about the best known Australian export song of all times. It is going to be fun. Cast of thousands, a huge orchestra - it is all fun.

Ms PRIOR: I will be singing a montage of Australian films, celebrating the achievements of Australian film. I will be singing a glorious duet from Moulin Rouge. It is just a fantastic honour for us to be here.

Mr COUSENS: I agree. I rarely object.

Ms PRIOR: I knew you would.

Mr MARTIN: Richard, your role?

Mr WALLEY: What I would like to do is, for those international visitors, give you a taste of some traditional singing. The best way to do that, I suppose is to sing it. The best way to do it is to do a Nyoongar song. I am not from this country. My country is called Nyoongar from Western Australia. Australia is made up of many, many nations. These ceremonies and meetings have been taking place for a number of years between nations speaking different languages. I will give you a little song from back of my country to welcome the spirits to look after us while we are here. (Song sung).

Mr MARTIN: Can you play us some didge, since you have done that for 25 years.

Mr WALLEY: I will get up and play the didgeridoo now (Didgeridoo played).

Mr MARTIN: That is a great sound. Anything else? Yes.

QUESTION: Any chance James could do a couple of bars from the opening of Waltzing Matilda?

Mr BLUNDELL: No trouble at all, my friends. (Sings: Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong, under the shade of a Coolabah tree. And he sang as he watched and waited until his billy boiled. You'll come a waltzing Matilda with me.) I should do the chorus.

QUESTION: There are a lot of Australian terms in that, James: swagman, Coolabah tree, billabong. How do you think they will go down with the international visitors?

Mr BLUNDELL: The thing I have noticed with travel in the last decade is the awareness of things Australian. It is escalating really strongly. Years ago in the United States I had a song that had in the lyrics 'In a bar in Goondiwindi'. A guy said, 'What is a Goondiwindi?' I said, 'No mate, it's a town.' We have come a long way from there. I think the rest of the planet has figured out that we are surrounded by water, too, and that we are not in the middle of Europe. The interest in the physical things we have here that are unique to Australia has become huge.

QUESTION: How long have you been on stage?

Mr BLUNDELL: Marina and I have been on stages on and off for about a decade and a half. We sort of eclipse every four or five years.

Ms PRIOR: I think we should sing Waltzing Matilda together. It is beautiful.

Mr BLUNDELL: I think we should. It's been too long since we have done anything. You should have joined in. Where were you?

Ms PRIOR: I did not want to touch your art.

Mr WALLEY: I only know the chorus.

Mr BLUNDELL: It is one of those industries where you just touch base every so often.

Mr MARTIN: We could probably get these two Gubbi Gubbi men as well to sing a song - just a short one, perhaps.

MEMBER OF THE GUBBI GUBBI SINGERS: I will introduce the song. It is a song that we use as a welcome song from this area, the Bunyah country. Many years ago, gatherings used to take place up on the Blackall Ranges. Thousands of people used to converge into that area. This is a song sung by our people to welcome everyone else in. (Sings song).

Mr MARTIN: Thanks. Thank you very much. Anything else would you like to ask?

QUESTION: Could you say how difficult it was to put together the program for the opening ceremony, and what you are hoping to portray to the outside world?

Mr MARTIN: It was obviously done by Great Big Events. Greg has been the organiser of this.

Mr BOWMAN: The question was how difficult it was to put the program together. It was a combination of artistically representing a number of key messages and trying to do a snapshot of Australia. It is obviously quite difficult. It was about representing a lot of our achievements through technology, movies, sport and recreation to give a snapshot of the character of Australia. We got key performers to represent that throughout. The imagery you will see in the opening ceremony was very important. There was the use of screens; the screen, the performer and the orchestra are all critical to getting those messages across. There are also some key political messages, of course, given the nature of CHOGM. The speeches themselves and the ceremonial components and bringing in the delegations and so forth are a key part of the actual opening ceremony. It is weaving through the entertainment and all its components and the actual protocol and ceremonial components into that as well. It is coming from the guest speakers as well in that. It is, finally, about the representation of Commonwealth as well. Although we are the host country in Australia, we are also representing the whole Commonwealth. It is a representation of that which does occur towards the finale of the show.

QUESTION: What particular messages are you hoping to portray?

Mr BOWMAN: Basically, part of the message is what CHOGM does and what their role is in the current world climate. There are those important serious political and operational messages. We are also trying to show Australia as it is: a very contemporary, young, exciting forward-thinking country and with a great diversity of cultures. That is for all of us: our traditional cultures through to our more diverse contemporary culture that we have now.

Mr MARTIN: Anything else we can do for you to help?

QUESTION: Ray, I want to ask you a question. This is a pretty big gig for you in terms of hosting the Queen and Commonwealth leaders. How do you see it, as a Coolum local man?

Mr MARTIN: A Coolum local man? A Gubbi Gubbi man? I think it is a big event. It is a terrific event. I am very honoured to be asked to do it. Obviously, it is one where there is no second chance. From all these performers' point of view, we are rehearsing. Once the lights go on, they have to go out and do it. It is one of those things, like live television or live performances: you really cannot afford to miss it. That is why they have got the best. These people do not miss. I am honoured to do it. It is a big occasion. It is very big for you guys, I guess.

QUESTION: Greg, is there any truth to the rumour that Kylie Minogue might be in the opening ceremony?

Mr BOWMAN: I can probably squash that rumour straightaway. Kylie is about to tour Europe, so we cannot have her here on this occasion. All our performers tend to be resident in Australia, the ones we are using. Some of them have come from far-flung countries to be here. But they now live here and are part of our culture. Kylie is not one of those.

Mr MARTIN: I mentioned that Human Nature are the only ones who are not here. They are coming in here tomorrow. Anything else? Happy? Got enough? Thanks very much indeed, ladies and gentlemen.

ENDS