City gig launches Sounds of the Street CD

The back of Mission Australia’s Creative Youth Initiatives (CYI) headquarters in Surry Hills, Sydney, took on the feel of a block party last Friday when students, staff, friends and family got together to launch the ‘Holiday From Yourself’ CD.

The CD was the creation of graduate students from CYI’s Sounds of the Street program, which is a TAFE-accredited music course.

Last week’s gig was the culmination of the 20-week course in which students learned to compose, perform and record their own music.

Backed by the CYI Band, students performed 11 tracks from the CD – including hip hop, acoustic guitar and heavy rock tunes – to an appreciative crowd.

“What an achievement for all our students – it takes a lot of courage to go on stage in front of a crowd and share so much about who they are and how they experience the world,” said CYI Service Manager CYI Sera Harris about the “rawness” of some of the performances.

“Some of the lyrics are tough to hear – which is why it is important that we listen to what young people have to say through their language of music.”

The performers were welcomed to the stage by Mission Australia’s Director Community Services NSW/ACT Leonie Green. Later in the day Sounds of the Street students received their official Music Industry Skills Certificate TAFE module Certificate I from Ultimo TAFE Outreach NSW Course Coordinator Paul Drury.

Achievement certificates were also handed out by Jannine Jackson, General Manager Sir David Martin Foundation, which is a supporter of the CYI program.

After the show and a sausage sizzle, 15 volunteers from Ben & Jerrys served up ice-cream. During 2010, $1 from every sale of Ben & Jerrys Peanut Cookie-Burra Dough was donated to CYI – which brought in $25,000 to the youth initiative over the year.

“Now it’s come full circle and we can see the fruits of it,” said Warren Minde, Marketing Manager, Ben & Jerrys.

For a gold-coin donation, you can hear ‘Holidays From Yourself’ and see the wonderful cover artwork from CYI Artworks! student Brian Greenwood. To order please email cyi@missionaustralia.com.au.