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.