Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (born 1970 ) is an Australian musician and songwriter indigenous descent.
Life
Yunupingu was born in 1970 on Elcho Iceland off the coast of Arnhem Land in northern Australia. This comes from the Gumatj - clan of the Yolngu. Gurrumul is its traditional name by which he is also a musician in appearance. Yunupingu is blind from birth. He did not go to school and speaks a few words of English. How to play didgeridoo, keyboard, drums and guitar, he taught himself. Prior to his solo career, he was from 1992, drummer of the band Yothu Yindi Aboriginal which his brother Hr. Yunupingu had founded in 1986. Later he became a member of the Saltwater band.
Solo career
Yunupingu writes and sings his songs with a few exceptions in his native language Yolngu matha. He deals with the history and traditions of his tribe, and at the same time trying to pass on these. In his tribe it is customary to provide history and traditions orally. His trademark is his haunting light voice, which is often described in the media as the voice of an angel. His first solo album Gurrumul 2008 reached # 3 on the Australian album charts, be held 47 weeks in the top 100 and received with 70,000 copies sold in Australia platinum status. In the same year the album won the Australian ARIA award for best independent album and the best world music album. In March 2011, published Yunupingu with the Australian roots band Blue King Brown, the single Gathu Mawula [ Revisited ], an English-language re-recording of a song he had previously been released on his solo album in his native language.
Discography
- Gurrumul ( studio album, 2008)
- Rrakala ( studio album, 2011)
- His Life and Music ( Gurrumul & the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Live Album, 2013)