In 1986 I completed a set of five instrumental and vocal pieces under the generic title Maninya. The title was extracted from the text of the first piece, Maninya I (1981), for voice and cello, in which randomly chosen phonetic units are grouped together to form rhythmic cells. As I proceeded with the series the 'word' maninya, meaningless at first, began to connote, for me, at least, certain characteristics of the music I was writing: its chant-like quality, resulting from the subtly varied repetition of material within a narrow range of limitations; its static harmonic basis; the general liveliness of its tempi; and so on.

The evolution of this 'maninya style' may have been influenced by my sub-conscious absorption of a variety of non-western musics. My exposure to African mbira music, for example, may to some extent be responsible for the characteristic terseness and angularity of the melodic shapes, while the manner in which these are woven together sometimes recalls the texture of Indonesian gamelan music. Some listeners have detected Japanese, Indian and Indonesian scales; others have considered the repetitive processes to be similar to those used to induce heightened awareness in much of the world’s functional religious music, e.g., Australian Aboriginal chant, Moroccan Sufi music etc.

Far more important an influence than any music, however, was the natural environment, a timeless continuum from which much of the structural material was distilled. For more than a decade I have found the ecstatic and mysterious sound-tapestry of the insect chorus in the heat of the Australian summer to be a particularly fertile source of inspiration, and this is manifest in the somewhat quirkish periodicity of my earlier music. And although in recent works its presence is felt at a more abstract level, it remains the supreme generative force behind everything I write.

Maninya I, for voice and cello, was commissioned by the Australian counter-tenor Hartley Newnham, to whom it is dedicated and who gave the first performance, with cellist Susan Blake, in Ballarat in July 1981.

In 1985 Maninya I was revised and extended at the request of the Viennese cellist Florian Kitt for the duo consisting of himself and British soprano Jane Manning.

Maninya II, for string quartet, was commissioned by the Petra String Quartet. It is dedicated to the composer Richard Meale as a 50^th birthday tribute. The first performance was given by the Petra String Quartet at an ISCM concert in the Recording Hall of the Sydney Opera House in June 1983.

Maninya III, a wind quintet in three movements, was commissioned by Musica Viva (Australia). It is dedicated to the English composer Anthony Gilbert as a 50^th birthday tribute. The first performance, which took place in Springwood, New South Wales, on April 18^th 1986, was given by the Canberra Wind Soloists.

Maninya IV, a trio in two movements for clarinet, trombone and marimba, was commissioned by the Magpie Musicians of Sydney, who gave the first performance in the University of Wollongong’s School of Creative Arts on July 18^th 1986. It is dedicated to the Australian composer Vincent Plush.

Maninya V, for voice and piano, was commissioned by the counter-tenor Hartley Newnham and the pianist Nicholas Routley, who gave the first performance in the Old Darlington School, Sydney University on April 23^rd 1987. The work is in two movements connected by a short interlude. The text is a re-ordered version of that of Maninya I. Maninya V is dedicated to Peter Sculthorpe.