Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu

GG Yunupingu (2012)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Gurrumul   DE 9 08/07/2009 (10 weeks)   CH 10  gold 08/16/2009 (26 weeks)   UK 48  silver 06/06/2009 (9 weeks)   AU 3  × 3 Triple platinum 04/27/2008 (56 weeks) Rrakala   CH 34 October 09, 2011 (8 weeks)   AU 3  platinum 04/25/2011 (18 weeks) His Life and Music (with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra )   AU 48 12/16/2013 (1 week) The Gospel Album   AU 3 08/10/2015 (7 weeks) Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow)   AU 1 04/23/2018 (8 weeks)

Singles

Wiyathul   CH 37 08/23/2009 (10 weeks) Bayini (Live) ( feat.Delta Goodrem & Sydney Symphony Orchestra )   AU 4th 06/10/2013 (1 week)

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (born January 22, 1971 on Elcho Island , Northern Territory , † July 25, 2017 in Darwin ) was an Australian musician and songwriter of indigenous descent . According to the tradition of the Yolngu , his first name has not been mentioned since his death.

Life

Yunupingu was born in 1971 on Elcho Island off the coast of Arnhem Land in northern Australia. He came from the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu . Gurrumul was his traditional name, under which he also appeared as a musician. Yunupingu was blind from birth. He did not go to school and spoke only a few words of English and hardly ever gave interviews. He taught himself to play the didgeridoo , keyboard, drums and guitar. Before his solo career, he was the drummer of the Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi from 1992 , which his uncle Dr. M. Yunupingu founded in 1986. He later became a member of the Saltwater Band. In 2012 he received the Honorary Doctorate ( Honorary Doctorate of Music ) of the University of Sydney . He died of a heart attack at the age of 46 while being treated for protracted liver and kidney disease in a hospital.

Solo career

With a few exceptions, Yunupingu wrote and sang his songs in his native language, Yolngu matha . In doing so, he dealt with the history and traditions of his tribe and tried to pass them on at the same time. It is customary in his tribe to pass on history and traditions orally. His trademark was his haunting, clear voice, which is often described in the media as the voice of an angel . His first solo album Gurrumul reached number 3 in the Australian album charts in 2008 and stayed in the Top 100 for 56 weeks. In the same year, the album won the Australian ARIA Award for best independent album and best world music album. In March 2011, Yunupingu released the single Gathu Mawula [Revisited] with the Australian roots band Blue King Brown , an English-language new recording of a song that he had previously released in his mother tongue on his solo album.

Discography

Albums

• Gurrumul (studio album, 2008)
• Rrakala (studio album, 2011)
• His Life and Music (Gurrumul & the Sydney Symphony Orchestra , live album, 2013)
• The Gospel Album (2015)
• Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow) (2018)

Web links

• Gurrumul Yunupingu at Discogs (English)
• Official website

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1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE CH UK AU1 AU2
2. ↑ Awards for music sales: AU CH UK
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Thomas Müller: Gurrumul touches the heart. On SWR3.de/Musik (June 12, 2009) ( Memento of the original from June 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ ^{a b} gurrumul.com (accessed on July 28, 2009) ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ DLF24: Aboriginal Music - Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is dead on July 26, 2017 (accessed on July 28, 2017)
6. ↑ www.news.com.au (October 18, 2008)