Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay storyteller and performer living in Sydney. Her early music training at the Eora Centre of Aboriginal Studies, Visual and Performing Arts in Redfern, Sydney saw her begin a career as a musician, songwriter and performer with vocal duo Stiff Gins, travelling both nationally and internationally for twenty-one years and releasing three albums during that time.

Nardi's writing journey in 2014 participating in Indigenous Writers’ Mentorship Programs with Writing NSW and FATSIL Young Indigenous Writers Initiative. In 2016, as part of Liveworks Festival, Nardi co-wrote and performed in the theatre work ‘Spirit of Things: Sound of Objects.’

In 2018, Nardi received the State Library of QLD’s Blak&Write Indigenous Fellowship and began refining what was to become her debut novel 'Song of the Crocodile'. In 2019 Nardi wrote and premiered her debut play ‘'Black Drop Effect,’ for the 2020 Sydney Festival. In early October 2020, 'Song of the Crocodile' was released with Hachette Australia.

Nardi continues to perform with Stiff Gins, works with student ensembles and directs cross-cultural choir Barayagal at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and is currently undertaking a PhD with the ANU School of Music. Heavily involved in the making and sharing of culture in both her Sydney and Yuwaalaraay communities, Nardi lives in Sydney's Inner West with her partner and teenage son.

It is an honour to compose an acknowledgement of country for the 2023 Out Loud and Proud International Choral Festival and to be able to use the opportunity to encourage connection between the traditional land I live upon and you, songbirds from around this country and the world. I stand at the edge of this shimmering opportunity with my toes in the sand and the cool, breaking, waters kissing my ankles. I invite you to stand beside me and allow the strength, beauty, and pride of Gadigal to fill you and raise your voices in its acknowledgement.

As a Yuwaalaraay woman and sand goanna totem, my bloodlines do not reside within the place you will sing. I am in fact the opposite of Gadigal in almost every way. My homelands are in the far west of the state. I am a flat plain woman, the daughter of rivers. Floods and freshwater are my culture and identity. Yet I was born on Gadigal country. My son was born here. I have lived and received most of the joys of my life on this sparkling, saltwater, sandstone place. I tell anyone who will listen that Gadigal taught me how to be a strong and kind freshwater woman. Its gentle unfurling of itself to me encouraged me to read, listen and talk to country - all skills I required to understand my own homeland deeply. Gadigal, through its generosity and teachings implanted within me strong Yuwaalaraay lore. This is a perfect example of the power and generosity of our traditional lands. They always allow the space for you to think, breathe and dream in the way of your ancestors, wherever they are from.

First Nations people consider our languages as the voice of the land. The words you will sing then, are the tone and timbre of country. It is in fact, its tongue. This composition harnesses the lyricism of the local Sydney language and allows it to take centre stage. There is great force and connection in such things, simple as they are; a grass tree, land, water, fishing line, sea. You will also make the sounds of great conceptual knowledges; the dreaming or everywhen is the inhalation of all First Nations breath. It is akin to a swirling always- an idea too expansive to define yet so intimate it holds your hand as you dance in its enormity. And a heart- the reason you will travel to Gadigal. You will sing the heartbeat of this place. And in doing so, will beat with it, becoming one.

As a performer, I encourage you to allow these words to rise from within, although they will be foreign and unusual to you. After you have learned them, give them meaning by feeling them. The melody may help in this endeavour, giving them home within your body can do the same. Perhaps you will link a word to a memory or family member or a place that is important to you. If a feeling comes when you sing these words, embrace it. It is country’s way of speaking to you. It is blackfulla way to include bodily and genetic and ancestral and conceptual knowledge when we perform. This is right and respectful, so do not worry that bringing yourself into the words and their performance is a wrong way to do things. All I ask is that you do not sing from the page. Allow the words to affect your mind and body and spirit. As singers you know how to do this. The collective sound that will ensue will be joyous, resonant, commanding, and respectful.

My hope for Gadigal Gili - Gadigal Shines is that through its singing you will feel, then share with others, Gadigal’s generosity, and love. I so look forward to meeting and feeling the spirit of this place with you all soon.

My deepest respect and acknowledgment to you, your families, and the ancestors and land you stand upon now.

Nardi