ADVICE that a land of milk and honey awaited them in the Great Southern town of Katanning has soured for the Burundi Peace Choir, who’ve returned to Perth licking their wounds.

The choir, which met in a refugee camp in Tanzania in 1997 after fleeing Burundi’s civil war, struggled to find work in the rural community, which boasts the largest sheep sale turnover in the southern hemisphere. However, much of the work in the local abattoir has been stitched up by the town’s large Muslim population.

“We had friends there from church and the local people were friendly but there was not a lot of work and no activities or government support,”  choir founder Jean Phillipe Irambona says.

“It’s not easier, life sometimes changes.”

• The colourful Burundi Peace Choir didn’t find the land of milk and honey awaiting them in the Great Southern, so they’ve upped stumps and returned to Perth.

Regrouping

Regrouping in Spearwood after the failed sea change had its challenges: “They take more furniture, more things — put it in a car and there’s no room left,” Irambona says with a grin, but for him staying together is vital.

“We live, we don’t live, but the community is very important to teach our children our language, our culture.”

It also helps in dealing with a trauma few outsiders could understand.

“[We’re from] a country at war so it’s hard not to be together, to talk it out and to sing to help us forget what happened.”

Irambona returned to Burundi for the first time in 2014.

“My brother, I found him, [but my Mum and Dad], they died in the war.”

As a pastor of the New Canaan Christian Church,  he helped build a church which doubles as a school in his hometown.

Now Irambona’s searching for a church near Fremantle where the choir can practise and worship at the same time, as singing and dancing is an important expression of their faith.

He’d like to hold more concerts to share their culture and they’ve recorded a new album.

It showcases traditional Burundian music with a mix of contemporary styles and instruments. Irambona is the bassist while other members play drums, keyboard or sing.

Released next month the unnamed album has attracted attention from over east and the choir has just appointed sociologist Lorna Kaino as manager to help negotiate deals.

Ms Kaino recently wrote a Thinking Allowed for the Herald outlining her concerns Perth’s multicultural arts industry is in dire straits following the demise of Kulcha.

She’s flagged spearheading a new campaign to get the state government more interested in supporting groups such as the choir.

The Burundi Peace Choice will be performing on October 25 at the Centre for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees in Perth.

by SOPHIE MOORE