In many places around the world, performing ancestral traditions affirms continuity of cultural identity. In that moment you synchronise with past and future generations. Performance in ancestral places embeds this sense of the deep present. Here we contribute a Country-centered perspective on intergenerational transmission of ancestral songs and ceremonies. We consider the effects that global challenges and local responses are having in two ancestral traditions, each performed to connect Country and ancestors with current and future generations. Ford discusses wali/wangga from her country Kurrindju in the northwestern part of what we now call Australia (wali is women’s dancing, wangga is men’s singing). Barwick contributes practitioner perspectives on Maggio sung theatre from the Garfagnana region of Tuscany, Italy where she has researched for three decades. In both Kurrindju and the Garfagnana, we see similar dedication against the odds to maintain social identity through ancestral performance. Both traditions have been affected by global changes in climate, technology and pandemics that disrupt Country, people and performances no matter where they are located.