Voices From Afar is an evening of music, dance, news and images from indigenous cultures around the world. It takes place on Sunday 13th September – and celebrates the 2nd anniversary of the UN’s ground-breaking Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Voices From Afar brings you music from Papuan rainforests, dance from Pacific atolls, news from the foothills of the Andes, and songs from the snows of Tibet. It brings you the sound of ancient shamanic traditions and instruments from the dawn of Man. It brings a taste of cultures rooted in a world a long way from our own.

Voices From Afar has a line-up that includes didgeridoo and Native American flute. It presents the ceremonial dances of the Kiribati islands, echoing the flight of the frigate bird. Benny Wenda, a tribal leader from West Papua, performs with his Lani Singers. Songs from Ugyen Choephell and Sherap transports you to Tibet. Reynaldo Mariqueo of the Mapuche people provides an update on the state of indigenous cultures in South America. And Juan Gabriel harnesses Mayan astrology and other shamanic traditions to explore the vibrational qualities of Sound.

The U.N. took 20 years to pass the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – with only the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia opposing it (though Australia has since changed its stance). The Declaration offers protection to cultures threatened with extinction and marginalisation – cultures that have survived for thousands of years. The robustness of these ancient ways of life have much to teach our modern world with its unsustainable thirst for growth, consumption and novelty.

Untold stories of Vanuatu's Independence struggle are revealed after original 8mm footage from Vanuatu's Independence struggle had been recovered from the tropical mould. Narrating the scenes of protest, peacemaking and a journey across the Pacific, Chief Shem Rarua pieces together a patchwork of events from the turbulent period into a story of the struggle for land and freedom, begining from the time of his great-grandparents, up until the present day.