The Girmit

Nadia Freeman’s performance piece 'The Girmit' brings to life the hidden voice of her ancestors through electronic music and poetry.

With live sampling, song and poetry, this immersive musical experience at Waikato Museum will journey through the Pacific’s untold history of indentured labour from India to Fiji.

The word ‘girmit’ translates to ‘agreement’. Indian indentured labourers (called the Girmityas) were brought to Fiji and other British colonies to work on sugar plantations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many thousands of Indians were kidnapped or taken through coercion to faraway countries to replace the gap left by the slavery system for something almost identical. 'The Girmit' is a celebration of their resilience and a tribute to their struggles.

Nadia Freeman was awarded the 2023 APRA AMCOS Art Music grant to develop 'The Girmit' and it is now being toured throughout Aotearoa New Zealand following a sell-out season in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Don't miss the chance to experience it here at Waikato Museum.

"Freeman uses the juxtaposition between her own ethereal vocals and the horror of the past to create an ambience like nothing I have ever experienced. Her music is performed as a superb electronic live show, with Freeman mixing and creating her own sound directly on the stage in front of the audience." - The Post

"A powerful mesmerising and moving theatre experience." - Theatre Review