A PERTH FESTIVAL COMMISSION BUŊGUL GURRUMUL’S MOTHER’S BUŊGUL GURRUMUL’S GRANDMOTHER’S BUŊGUL GURRUMUL’S MANIKAY With West Australian Symphony Orchestra Produced by Skinnyfish Music and Perth Festival

Image: Jacob Nash

Founder Principal Partner Community Partner

This project was initiated by the Yunupiŋu family and Skinnyfish Music Perth Festival acknowledges the Noongar people who continue to practise their values, language, beliefs and knowledge on their kwobidak boodjar.

They remain the spiritual and cultural birdiyangara of this place and we honour and respect their caretakers and custodians and the vital role Noongar people play for our community and our Festival to flourish.

BUŊGUL GURRUMUL’S MOTHER’S BUŊGUL GURRUMUL’S GRANDMOTHER’S BUŊGUL GURRUMUL’S MANIKAY PERTH CONCERT HALL | FRI 7 – SUN 9 FEB | 90MINS

Hear from creators and artists in a Q&A session after the performance on Sat 8 Feb.

Sat 8 Feb

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audience members are advised that this performance contains the voice and image of a deceased person.

There is a special relationship in the performing arts between creator, performer and audience. Without any one of those elements, the ceremony of performance ceases to exist. In choosing to be here, we thank you for your act of community as we celebrate the artists on the stage and the imaginations of those who have given them environments to inhabit, words to embody and songs to sing.

Perth Festival 2020 is a celebration of us – our place and our time. It wouldn’t be the same without you.

Iain Grandage, Perth Festival Artistic Director FANFARE

You were called to your seat tonight by ‘Match’ composed by 21-year-old UWA student Jet Kye Chong. Visit perthfestival.com.au for more information on the Fanfare project. LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO DO AFTER THE SHOW?

Wind up or down and grab a drink and bite to eat with artists, friends and strangers at City of Lights. Kick back under the stars to free music Thursday – Saturday. Image: Anna Reece

CREDITS Music Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupiŋu, Viola Alex Brogan, Nikola Babic, Ben Caddy, Elliot O’Brien Erkki Velthiem & Michael Hohnen Cello Rod McGrath, Shigeru Komatsu, Oliver McAslan, Directors Don Wininba Ganambarr & Nigel Jamieson Tim South Creative Producer Michael Hohnen Double Bass Andrew Sinclair, Andrew Tait Musical Director Erkki Veltheim Oboe Leanne Glover Designer & Creative Associate Jake Nash Clarinet Alexander Millier Cinematographer Paul Shakeshaft Horn Jože Rošer Video Designer Mic Gruchy Trumpet Jenna Smith Lighting Designer Mark Howett Trombone Joshua Davis, Philip Holdsworth Sound Designer Steve Francis Percussion Alex Timcke (Timpani), Francois Combemorel Associate Lighting Designer Chloe Ogilvie Keyboard Graeme Gilling, Adam Pinto

Producer Anna Reece Performers Producer – Skinnyfish Music Mark Grose Yirritja Production Management dplr Phillip Yunupiŋu, Jamie Yunupiŋu, David Yunupiŋu, Stage Manager Erin Daly Robert Burarrwanga, Nebuchdneear (Nebbie) Nalibidj, Front of House Engineer Guy Smith Nelson Yunupiŋu Head of Sound & Systems Engineer Cam Elias First Camera Assistant Scott Wood Dhuwa Company Manager Mand Markey James Gurruwiwi & Terrence Gurruwiwi

West Australian Symphony Orchestra Conductor Erkki Velthiem We give thanks and pay our respects to the Yolŋu First Violin Laurence Jackson, Semra Lee-Smith, people of North East Arnhem land with whom this work Graeme Norris, Christina Katsimbardis, Jolanta Schenk, has been created, and on whose country this work Kathryn Lee has been created. We acknowledge the Traditional Second Violin Zak Rowntree, Kylie Liang, Ellie Lawrence, Custodians of the lands on which we live, learn and Melanie Pearn, Louise Sandercock, Jane Serrangeli work and pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders. This project was initiated by the Yunupiŋu family and Skinnyfish Music. Produced by Perth Festival and Skinnyfish Music. Supported by Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre – Yirrkala Arts Centre and The Mulka Project. Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow) the album was produced by Skinnyfish Music and is available on double-vinyl, CD and for downloading or streaming.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Major Festivals Initiative, managed by the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals Inc., commissioned by Perth Festival, Darwin Festival, Adelaide Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Sydney Festival and Brisbane Festival. THANK YOU

First and foremost our heartfelt thanks and love to the generosity of the entire community of Galiwinku and the Yunupiŋu family.

Special thanks to Bruce Burarrwanga, Susan Dhangal, Kelvin Ganambarr, Solomon Ganambarr, Ian Gurruwiwi, George Gurruwiwi, Carl Ngalkanbuy, Wukun Wanambi, Andrew Yunupiŋu, Byron Yunupiŋu , Kyle Yunupiŋu, Jennifer Yunupiŋu, Jasmine & Lazarus Yunupiŋu, Mangalay Yunupiŋu, Priscilla Yunupiŋu.

Thank you also to Felix Preval – Darwin Festival Will Stubbs and Dave Wickens at Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre – Yirrkala Arts Centre Joseph Brady, Rebecca Charlesworth, Ishmael Marika and Arian Pearson at The Mulka Project Henry Skerritt & Nicole Wade at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia Inger Sheil and Helen Anu at the Australian National Maritime Museum Berndt Museum Samantha Moody at Elcho Arts Centre Travis Perry, Chris Alchin, Josephine Wright and Scott Thomson at Galiwinku Sport and Recreation Centre Margie and all the staff at the Marthakal Motel Bryce and Keith at North Australian Helicopters Andrew Hardy and Hardy Aviation Haneen Martin & Caiti Baker at Skinnyfish Music Alycia Bangma & Kate Williams at Sydney Festival Anne-Marie Heath and all the team at the Art House, Wyong Jenny Bisset and Leanne Waterhouse at the Bundanon Trust Iain Grandage, Josh Gorman, Simon Hinton, Ian Kew, Rachel Perkins, Nell Mitchell, Angela O’Donnell & Sam Stevenson

ARTWORK ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Nanydjaka Malaluba Gumana Artist: Miniyawany (Dhakuwhal) Yunupiŋu Courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre Biranybirany: Miniyawany Yunupiŋu Munggurrawuy Yunupiŋu (also known as Dhakuwhal) Gift of RM and CH Berndt, Berndt Museum, Courtesy of Australian National Maritime Museum The University of Western Australia Collection, purchased with the assistance of Stephen Grant of the GrantPirrie Gallery Shane Dhawa Bukulatjpi Courtesy of the artist Mithinari Gurruwiwi Courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre Yumutjin Wunuŋmurra Courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre Djul’djul Courtesy of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, 2009 by Guy Maestri Collection: National Portrait Gallery Image: Anna Reece Gurrumul’s Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow)

Over four years in the making and completed just weeks before his passing in 2017, Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow) is Gurrumul’s gift to the world, an astounding achievement of music. It presents traditional songs and harmonised chants from his traditional Yolŋu life with dynamic and hypnotic orchestral arrangements, in a blend of the highest forms of both his culture and our European orchestral culture. It’s a final message, a window into his supreme culture, a recording of an iconic artist at his creative peak and a legacy that will not be surpassed.

A NOTE FROM THE CREATORS

The artistic vision for Gurrumul’s last album Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow) was to bring traditional Australian music to the mainstream in our societies. We presented the highest forms of musical and artistic expression in both cultures – the classical traditional of an orchestra (in this instance in a range of styles, including minimalist) and the Yolŋu song style and Yidaki style, which is also repetitive.

But the music and album alone only tell a part of a story. Yolŋu live in an expansive world, connecting all the natural elements of the earth through dance, painting, song, land and ancestral stories.

The show Buŋgul brings all of those elements together, carefully curated by the Yolŋu, with songlines related to land forms, related to dances, related to painting styles, related to musical patterns, and told through deep poetic language expression to bring us an equal of high art in this country from some of the most precious people who still live here.

Gurrumul’s family dance, sing, improvise and direct this insight into a world we should all know a lot more about.

We thank his family for their trust, commitment and homage.

Mark Grose and Michael Hohnen, Skinnyfish Music, Producers

Geoffrey’s songs became famous the world over. People were touched and moved by the beauty of his voice, his own songs and the songs of his mother and grandmother, which he sang. But they did not know the really important part of these songs – their meanings. And that is what we seek to do now, as a gift to Geoffrey, as a gift to the world. To tell a little of the meanings that lie behind these songs.

To the Yolŋu, our songs, paintings and dances are our books – they tell us where we have come from and where we are going to. They follow the songlines that weave us together. They are our maps, our law books, our title deeds and our family history. They connect us to the land and to the animals with which we share it and of whom we are a part. They are woven into our hearts.

Don Wininba Ganambarr, Director

For 200 years Australian society has blocked its ears to the remarkable Indigenous cultures that are our inheritance. As the urgency grows daily to find a more sustainable way to live with the fragile land that supports us, it is surely time to take stock and learn from the extraordinary cultures that have always been around us, cultures such as the Yolŋu. It is time to listen.

It is has been a humbling and breathtaking experience to walk on country with Don and Gurrumul’s family, and to get a glimpse into their profound sense of connection and knowledge of the landscape, plants and animals who are their kin. We hope our work together offers a small window into this exquisite world, and a different way of seeing our lives and our destiny.

Nigel Jamieson, Director Image: Anna Reece

SKINNYFISH MUSIC

Established in 1999 by Mark Grose (Managing Director) and Michael Hohnen (Creative Director), Skinnyfish Music works in partnership with artists and their communities to produce music by, about and for them, and to take their music to the wider world.

The company’s aim is to provide opportunities for and to nurture the talents of artists who hail from communities across Australia and the region from Timor to Tasmania – through recording, distribution, publishing and performance.

Skinnyfish Music recognises the value of music for its beauty and ability to bring people together to affect positive change in people and entire communities; its role in recording and preserving language; and its expression of traditional and modern culture. Through the highest level of artistic endeavour and quality production, Skinnyfish is committed to presenting the music from Indigenous Australia to national and international audiences.

YOLŊU CULTURE

The Yolŋu wold is defined by two opposite sides, Yirritja and Dhuwa, within which individual clans have different identities.

Both halves are required to find balance. For instance, Yolŋu people must marry someone from the opposite half. The whole world is made up of these balanced and specific identities, which all have very specific relations with every other thing in the world.

The moon, the north wind, the hammerhead shark, the emu, the Milky Way are Yirritja. The sun, west wind, tiger shark, bustard and Venus are Dhuwa. Whilst in North Arnhem Land, everywhere that you go you will be either on Dhuwa or Yirritja land and every Yolŋu person you meet, every native species or plant or animal you see will be one of these identities. Image: Anna Reece

THE SONGS IN BUŊGUL A buŋgul is a ceremony, a meeting place of dance, song and ritual.

Manikay are series of songs, passed down through generations from the ancestral beings that originally shaped and named the Yolŋu homelands. The Yolŋu people have been singing manikay at ceremonies for millennia. They are sacred ritual songs, but are also songs about the land and the plants, animals, people and spirits that inhabit it. They contain ancestral knowledge essential to the Yolŋu way of life.

BÄRU The Bäru manikay celebrates the songline of the Yirritja ancestral crocodile Bäru, beginning his journey in the swamps near Biranybirany, south of Yirrkala, and making his way to the ocean. An important and powerful totem to the Gumatj, the dance captures the crocodiles protecting their nest and their association with fire, which Bäru gifted to the Yolŋu. The fire is represented by the diamond pattern painted on the dancer’s chest and in paintings documenting Bäru’s ancestral journey.

The Bäru paintings featured in the film content were painted on country at Biranybirany by Dhakuwal Yunipiŋu and make up a part of the historic bark painting collection Saltwater recording the maritime rights of the Yolŋu.

WÄK This Dhuwa manikay is about Wäk – the crow – and belongs to the Galpu, Gurrumul’s mother’s clan. Wäk is also the sound of the crow crying, which we hear picked up by the Dhuwa dancers. In this manikay Wäk descends from the heavens towards Djapaŋuruana and glides across country. The manikay goes on to tell of his close kinship with Matjku ŋuwu, the file snake, and the Galpu clan lighting snake.

The featured painting is by famous Galpu artist Mithinari Gurruwiwi.

DJÄRIMIRRI Djärimirri – the olive python or Rainbow Serpent – is a powerful Dhuwa totem spirit. The sun shining against the snake’s scales forms a prism of light like a rainbow, a significant message about beauty and transience. In this manikay, a mother sings of the birth of her child ‘covered by rainbow’, fully formed within her womb, of laying the new born child down to be dried by the sun at the sacred place where women give birth, near the termite mound, home to the olive python. The solo dancer represents a young python searching for its mother.

The featured painting is by Djul’djul Gurruwiwi, Mithinari’s daughter, whose work frequently depicts the olive python, Djaykuŋ the filesnake and Gu urrku the brolga. GAPU

Gapu means fresh water, which determined Yolŋu’s journey across country. This Dhuwa manikay and dance, which belongs to Gurrumul’s mother and her Galpu clan, is a celebration of the energy and life giving force of clear running water.

The footage was filmed at Guwatjurumurru, west of Yirrakala. The featured painting is by acclaimed artist Malaluba Gumana and depicts the Galpu clan designs of Dhatam, the waterlilly, painted on her homeland of Gängän.

GOPURU

Gopuru is a large saltwater fish, a little like a blue fin tuna. This Gumatj song celebrates Gopuru jumping up through the water and feeling the north west wind brushing against its gills. Fishing still plays an important part in Yolŋu life – often flowering plants or trees are used to indicate when it is an appropriate time to fish for a particular species.

MARAYARR

Marayarr refers both to the masts of the sailing ships of the Makassans from Sulawesi, with whom the Yolŋu have traded and maintained a deep cultural relationship for some 500 years, and the masts that are carved and then raised at ceremony and funeral sites. The pole represents the strength of Yolŋu culture and the body – the painted top at the very top of the pole representing the brain and knowledge of the person. The Gumatj flag, which flies upon the Marayarr, with its image of ropes and an anchor, again gives testimony to the closeness of cultural ties with the Makassans.

GALIKU

This Yirritja manikay celebrates the calico fabric that the Yolŋu traded with the Makassans, formed into coloured flags indicating different Yolŋu clans. These flags accompany ceremony and are flown at burial sites, in this instance filmed at the site of Gurrumul’s grave, where the colours denote his cultural connections.

DJOLIŊ

This manikay celebrates the sounds of the musical instruments the Madhukin (mouth organ) and the Djoliŋ, a single-stringed Makassan instrument played by a Djiŋarra (gifted musician). The joyous Gumatj song is used today to celebrate a range of instruments including contemporary electric guitars.

The featured painting is by Gumatj clan leader and artist Munggurrawuy Yunupiŋu.

ŊARRPIYA

This song is about a powerful and revered totem in Yolŋu culture – the octopus. The eight limbs of the octopus denote the Yolŋu clans and their close spiritual connections. Ŋarripiya also has a strong connection with the north west wind and the Djapana sunset manikay and songline. The performance on screen was filmed unrehearsed and as a single take and features a young Yirritja dancer’s interpretation of the orchestral setting of this song.

The featured paintings are by Yirritja artist Shane Dhawa Bukulatjpi and Gumatj artist and ceremonial leader Yumutjin Wunuŋmurra.

DJI AWURR

This Yirritja song is about the Dji awurr scrub turkey. Its carefully tended nests of sticks and leaves are a ubiquitous site in North East Arnhem Land and the Dji awurr is regularly featured at the commencement of ceremony and funerals. It represents the clearing and cleansing of the ground in preparation for ceremony. The dancer’s steps exquisitely capture the scratching of the birds as they build their nests and clean the site around them.

The featured painting is by the Gumatj artist and ceremonial leader Yumutjin Wunuŋmurra.

DJÄPANA

Djäpana is a particular sunset precious to the Yolŋu. It involves a glowing red sun slowly dropping into the ocean, viewed here from the Yirritja country of Nawingu, Milarr and Gundjamir. The song is both about ending and renewal, the image of the setting sun counter-pointed by a dance about a sick person who feels the north west wind revive them.

WULMI A

This powerful Dhuwa manikay has many layers of inter-connected meanings. Wulmi a are dark clouds that form out across the ocean, associated with the coming monsoon. The manikay sings of the darkening clouds, lightning, Image: Anna Reece this energy is live

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