Four Colonisations has its origins in two songs for voice and piano I wrote in 2004 - Water is taught by thirst, written for Ros Mizen and Antonio Cascelli; and Elegy, written for Rebecca Ivey. For a concert on the Isle of Skye in February 2005 by Natalie Raybould, Sarah Watts and Rosie Banks, I reworked these and wrote two new songs. This little set I scored for soprano, clarinet/bass clarinet and cello.

The colonisation of the title refers simply to the fact that I have appropriated these texts for my own musical and aesthetic agenda, which has South African music - significantly removed from the aesthetic world of all three poets - firmly at its core. Xhosa bow music is the central influence, operating throughout these pieces - and in all of my more recent music - as a structural and technical foundation.