When Rona Glynn-McDonald and Paul Gorrie found the electronic music scene, they found a safe space.
Glynn-McDonald, a Kaytetye woman who produces and DJs under the name RONA., says music has always been a part of her life.
But when she moved to Narrm from the Central Desert and found electronic music she "connected to a world where people were able to express themselves on the dance floor in so many different ways."
"It really moved me and excited me."
For Gorrie, a Gunai/Kurnai & Yorta Yorta artist, DJ and producer who goes by the moniker DJ PGZ, going to queer parties and connecting with other Blackfullas who loved techno and dance music was an opportunity to "do something really special."
"Something about the music is tapped into the underground - struggle and ambition and all these kinds of things," says Gorrie.
"The pioneers of electronic music come from queer and Black people in Turtle Island, so-called America, and that resonated for me. We’ve seen dance music over here, but we’re not seeing our faces or people like us as really the people that are doing it quite frequently."
The connection and community they found is what they want to continue fostering at their collaborative set for RISING Festival this Saturday at Town Hall in Narrm.
The pair will also be joined by Nyikina artist Kalaji, best known as actor Mark Coles-Smith and Brother Nelson, a Nyikina spoken word artist.
Gorrie describes First Frequency as a coming together of places, stories and ceremonies.
"I hope it to be this beautiful moment of people being able to see what we’re doing and what we’re working on and what we want to see in the future of dance music and electronic music for Blackfullas," says Gorrie.
A holistic experience overseen by Rhys Newling, RONA.'s sounds will be accompanied by visuals created by Mikaela Stafford who will immerse the space in 3D bio-digital environments and DJ PGZ's Black underground will be brought to life in visuals by Endless Prowl.
Glynn-McDonald says First Frequency is a glimpse into the vastness and diversity of First Nations artists within electronic music, a flourishing scene.
She sees it as an opportunity for each artist to share the sounds that they are connected to, "the energies of the places that we call home and songs that have existed in our families for generations, and amplifying that over one evening."
"I hope that [First Frequency] is a space of collective liberation through movement," says Glynn-McDonald.
"When we come together and we dance and we hold space for dance, it’s so powerful. Our families have been dancing in ceremonies since the first moments of time and now we as electronic artists have this opportunity to keep that continuously going in a new way, in a different way."
First Frequency takes place at Town Hall in Narrm / Melbourne on Saturday 7 June.
