By Theresia Titus
Melbourne singing duo The Saga are working to bridge Australian secular culture and the Church through their music.
In an exclusive interview with The Record, Alyssa Agius and Georga Byrne, who performed at the 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival, said together they shared the struggles of being Catholic musicians in the Australian secular music industry. “There are times when you’re surrounded by substance abuse; it’s like you [as a performer] are kind of the one encouraging people to get drunk and party and then some of the songs may not be the most Christian lyrically, and there’s pressure to wear certain things,” Ms Agius said.
“But about a year ago I came to this climactic point. I don’t want to have this conflict anymore; I want to go deep in my faith, I don’t want to have that battle, and then I talked to a couple of priests and they really changed my perspective on how to overcome this situation.
“I understood that I can still be using my gifts from God, even if I sing at a pub, and invite Jesus into that place and be a joy for those people.,” she continued.
Ms Byrne added that the duo are working hard to talk about God through the songs they have written, giving them a “vehicle” to evangelise.
“It also allows us to be more open about our faith [and] the music allows the conversation about the Church to be more accessible,” she said.
“Our songs are not overtly Christian, you have to listen to the lyrics closely to know that it is about God.”
Ms Agius explained to The Record that the duo’s music journey started in Melbourne, when both of them were asked to sing at an annual Australia Day BBQ which concluded a Summer School, where they met once a year for five minutes for three or four years in a row.
Then one day Ms Byrne contacted Ms Agius to sing at Mass once a month together, which brought them closer through sharing their struggles of being Catholic in a what can be a very secular industry.
They began to write songs together, and they entered their song Set Fire – in the song competition for ACYF 2017, which they received 2nd place.
“When ‘Set Fire’ wasn’t chosen for ACYF 2017, we were devastated but were still given the opportunity to travel to Sydney and share our music. It was here that we realised that this could really be the start of something special.
“So we gave ‘Set Fire’ to a well known producer Luke Batterbury, and he had always wanted to produce Christian pop songs,” Ms Byrne said.
“When we sent the the song to the publicist, he commented on how great the song was and unbelievably it went to number nine on the Australian Christian Music chart.
“The Catholic community in Melbourne were really behind us and the publicist called us and said, ‘Your song is doing so well – you are going to need another song!’”.
“One of our friends, a Baptist pastor from Kyneton in Victoria, said you should have a band name and that was when we named our band The Saga.”
Ms Agius added that the journey ‘has been incredible’ as they did not expect to have the success that they have.
“I think for me the biggest thing was – we were really scared when we were about to release Set Fire because of our mainstream music careers, like what people would think of us because they know we’re Catholic.
“We did not expect that it would be so well-receive, by our peers in the music industry and I think that has been such a freeing feeling for me,” Ms Agius said.
“I have been scared to share things about my faith on social media and I feel like I can be who I really am, and not have to put on those masks depending on where I am.
“I think the music has been great but I think for me it’s more about a new sense of freedom,” she continued.
With three singles already listed in their playlist, including ‘Set Fire’, ‘Fearless’ and ‘Lonely One’, the duo said their song writing always start with a prayer.
Ms Byrne, said that their aim is to send a message that “faith does not have to be separate to every part of life”.
“You can still have pop music playing on the radio, but still be able to bring God into that; if we can get that message in schools that would be great,” she said.
“Talking from our experience about what’s giving us so much fulfilment, we just want to pass that on to many people as we can.”
“With The Saga, I’ve learnt that I can use the gifts God has given me doing what I already do but I can channel them in a new way: this project is still a kind of mainstream music project but it’s also Christian,” Ms Agius added.
Talking about the future, the duo plans to write more songs and play live shows, in addition to working with Australian schools.
“We are open to more performances, more songs and to just go wherever God will lead us,” Ms said.
“If God gives us more songs, we’re definitely up for an album. Let’s do it!,” Ms Agius added.