Brenda Gifford facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Brenda Gifford
Background information
Born	1968 (age 56–57) Australia
Genres	Classical
Occupation(s)	Composer, music archivist

Brenda Gifford, born in 1968, is a talented Australian composer, saxophonist, and pianist. She is a proud Yuin woman. Brenda used to play in a rock band called Mixed Relations. Today, she lives in Canberra and works at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA). There, she helps look after important recordings and films from Indigenous cultures.

Brenda Gifford's Musical Journey

Brenda Gifford was born in 1968. She grew up in Sydney and a place called Wreck Bay, near Jervis Bay in New South Wales.

Early Music Career

In the late 1980s, Brenda started playing saxophone and piano. She joined a band called Mixed Relations with Bart Willoughby. During the 1990s, she also helped with Kev Carmody's 1991 album, Eulogy (For A Black Person).

Brenda also taught music at Eora College in Redfern. As Mixed Relations became more popular, she left her teaching job to focus on the band.

Mixed Relations toured around the world. They became well-known in Australia when their song Aboriginal Woman reached #89 on Triple J's Hottest 100 in 1993. The band stopped playing together by the end of the 1990s. After a break, Brenda started a new path as a composer.

Becoming a Composer

In 2016, Brenda joined a special program. It was called the AMPlify Indigenous Composer Initiative. This program helped Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers create new music.

Their new pieces were performed by a group called Ensemble Offspring. These concerts took place between 2017 and 2018.

Gambambarawaraga Suite

Because of this program, the Canberra International Music Festival asked Brenda to create a new work. She created her Gambambarawaraga suite. This suite has nine parts. Its name comes from the word for seasons in the Dhurgha language.

The suite was performed at the festival in 2018. Songs from Gambambarawaraga were later put on an album. This album was called Music for the Dreaming. It was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Children's Album in 2019. The album featured new versions of Brenda's suite. Ensemble Offspring performed them with Kamil Ellis.

More Exciting Projects

Brenda also took part in the 2018 Composing Women Program. This was with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Here, Claire Chase worked with Brenda and four other Australian composers. They created new musical pieces.

The five composers then traveled to New York. Their music was performed there with Claire Chase. Brenda's piece, Mungala (which means Clouds), featured Claire Chase on flute. It was also accompanied by traditional clap sticks. These were played by percussionist Bree van Reyk.

Brenda was also part of the 2020-2021 program. She developed a new project with Sydney Dance Company. As part of this work, she wrote music for dancer Joel Bray's piece, Wagan. Wagan means 'Raven' in the Wiradjuri language. This piece was performed in 2020.

Recent Works and Recognition

In 2020, Brenda worked with Ensemble Offspring again. She became their first-ever First Nations Composer in Residence. In the same year, she was asked to create a new piece called Djiribawal. This piece opened the Canberra International Music Festival 2020. It was later changed to be performed with more instruments and electronic sounds in 2021 and 2022.

All concerts by the Sydney Chamber Choir in 2021 started with Brenda's piece, Mother Earth/Minga Bagan. This was an acknowledgement of country that the choir asked her to create.

At the National Film and Sound Archive, Brenda has written notes and blogs for their website. Her work was also used for the notes of a re-released album. This was Vic Simms' album, The Loner.

In 2023, Brenda Gifford received the Merlyn Myer Music Commission. She was also awarded the First Nations Fellowship at the 2024 First Nations Arts and Culture Awards.

Selected Musical Works

• 2021 - Dharawa Miriwa (night sky) - Created for PLEXUS
• 2021 - Minga bagan
• 2020 - Djiribawal
• 2020 - Wagan
• 2018 - Mungala (Clouds)
• 2018 - Gambambarawaraga