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Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Rrakala
September 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Australia’s Aborigines can be proud to have a ambassador like Gurrumul. The blind musician from way up north doesn’t give many interviews, preferring instead to let the music do the talking. The press release says this album – his second – is about “longing”, “beautiful places” and “whispering trees”; I’ll have to take their word for it because those on this planet who can understand the lingo must occupy a pretty exclusive club but the fact that you can listen through 12 tracks in the Yolngu tongue and still enjoy it is testament to the man’s power, this album’s substance and superb production. Writing about Aboriginal art can often degenerate into florid polemics about how western society has lost its oneness with nature, it’s relationship with Mother Earth and if it doesn’t look out the world’s trees will soon barely be able to muster a spittle-flecked wheeze let alone a whisper but such cynicism doesn’t belong here. Sit back and just enjoy Gurrumul’s sparse arrangements, wonderfully aching vocals and very cool album cover.