The Savannah Way drive from Cairns to Broome can produce some of the most treacherous travelling conditions in Australia.
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Many could find the experience stressful but one string trio found it the inspiration of a lifetime and is bringing that creativity to the Highlands.
“The Savannah tour was mind blowing,” Chris Stone from The String Contingent said.
“The whole top end of Australia is extremely hard to access. As touring musicians there’s not many venues to play and can be difficult to make any money.”
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That’s not the reason the threesome went on tour though.
“The landscapes and people we met over our trip really inspired the new albums music. It really gave us a sense of what it means to be Australian,” Chris said.
“There were three to four day drives to get to the next show but it was really nice to get up there and it made it all worth while.”
The new album from The String Contingent is still being recorded but the trip up north was the major inspiration for the material on it.
“Most of the music was inspired by the landscape and trip up north,” Chris said.
“We’ve toured the UK, NZ, Afghanistan, Scandinavia and all around Australia, you can travel a whole day until a change in scenery and that’s inspiring.”
With this Australian tour, the group wanted to take in as much inspiration from the land as possible.
“We committed to touring on the ground to take in the inspiration,” Chris said.
“We got to learn about these different parts of the country and we grew from that.”
Chris Stone was born in Bowral and is intrigued on how the town may have changed, since his last return.
“I spent a lot of time touring away from the places I grew up,” Chris said.
“I’ve never had a community. My community is the touring artists I meet and the festivals I play.
“It’s an odd phenomena to come back and see who’s still here and to see how the arts community is going.”
The String Contingent will be performing at St Jude’s Church in Bowral, November 2 and Chris can’t wait to perform the trio’s new and older music. “We'll be playing a mixture of music from out past five albums, all the music is original compositions,” Chris said.
“We’ll play brand new music and some that hasn’t been recorded yet. It’s fresh and very close to us. There will be stories of our travels and our experiences also.”
The Chamber Folk, World Music threesome that is The String Contingent, will be playing at St Jude’s Church in Bowral, Friday November 2. Doors are from 7pm and tickets range from $20-$30.
