KalaJi

Kalaji is the electronic musical alias of actor and artist Mark Coles Smith, a Nyikina man from the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) in North Western Australia. The project has been a long running personal exploration of Nyikina country, lore and spiritual imagery translated through his passion for sound design, audio art and field recording. Inspired by the Nyikina word for whirlwind, ‘Kalaji’ is a dreamlike arrangement of wandering analogue synthesis and delicate acoustic sampling, with much of the lyrical material divulging fragments of a long form mythological narrative set across multiple generations on country. Constructed through a mixture of natural and technological sound sources, the resulting composition blends a range of musical inspirations – from ambient and downtempo, through to archival audio and modern dance music.