The sound of Australia
Does the blind indigenous singer possess the finest Australian voice that has ever been recorded? A writer in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper has scaled those descriptive heights, and it's a persuasive claim.
As the music-forward website Hot Indie News recently noted, Q Magazine described his voice as "celestial... aching with the pain of the past and hope for the future". No less impressed, The Independent newspaper in the UK said it was "unwavering in its delicate beauty".
I was lucky enough to hear him live in the most spellbinding of concerts as he was just on the cusp on his fame, and went out and bought his debut CD straight away. His voice has that enchanting quality, as tens of thousands have discovered. The album, Gurrumul, ended up on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s list of top 10 world music releases of 2009, and is about to be released in America.
The singer, who grew up on Elcho Island off the coast of north-east Arnhem Land, is about to set off on his first US tour as well, and by the middle of next month will have performed in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and a string of other US venues. Catch him if you can.
The international recognition being heaped on Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu comes at a time when other indigenous performers are complaining of being marginalised and neglected at home. A new from the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australasian Performing Rights Association suggests that indigenous musicians get only a small fraction of airtime in their own country. On the national broadcaster, ABC, indigenous music makes up less than 2% of the music played, while on commercial radio stations it's even worse - 0.14%. There is a common-held feeling that you have to make it abroad, as Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu has now done, before being granted the kind of recognition at home that is commensurate with our talent.
Even when some indigenous bands get record deals, they are often asked to become more mainstream.
Recently, indigenous singer told ABC's AM programme: "They did not understand us. They wanted to make us a band that fitted the mainstream. They asked even to lose weight. They asked us to change our songs."
According to the report, indigenous groups often found it hard to get live gigs, and there was even one example of a group being turned away when the organisers realised its members were Aboriginal.
For music-lovers everywhere, the report raised a troubling thought: there might be other Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingus out there, and we might never get to hear them.
I'm listening to his CD as I write, and pondering that claim: is his truly the finest Australian voice that has even been digitised, put on vinyl or recorded for posterity in any other form? John Farnham, Natalie Imbruglia, even Dame Joan Sutherland? I think he has the edge, and America will soon get to judge.
UPDATE: It is hard to talk of the discrimination against indigenous musicians without mentioning the row engulfing Australia rugby league in the lead-up to the second State of Origin match between Queensland and New South Wales, the code's great mid-season showpiece.
One of Australia's most legendary players, Andrew Johns, has had to step down from his coaching position with New South Wales, after it was revealed that one of the NSW players, Timana Tahu, had walked out of the squad. Tahu had been offended by Johns' use of racist slurs to describe one of Queensland's star players, Greg Inglis, which he claims was not an isolated incident. Johns has apologised for his remark. You can read more .
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