Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this post contains images, voices and names of people who have died.
Most of the songs from the wondrous debut album of the late Australian Aboriginal singer-songwriter Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu have featured here. Wirrpangu (Eng. “Thunder”) is yet another soulful traipse through the spiritual world that Gurrumul and his people inhabit. His voice and the sound of his music are truly unique. I feel privileged hearing his music because it whisks me off to another time and place in my native homeland that I am largely unfamiliar with.
His music is bound up with ancestral stories, family, identity, law and spiritual knowledge. The National Film and Sound Archive notes that Gurrumul’s songs frequently deal with traditional lore and relationships with family and nature. When asked where his songs came from, he spoke of Yolŋu knowledge and stories and said that it “comes from spirit” and that he was “singing from spirit.”
Gurrumul was born blind and played the guitar upside down. Such was his impact on the music scene that, after the release of his debut album, he caught the attention of Elton John and Sting, who both ended up performing on stage with him. Although his solo career brought him wider acclaim, he was also formerly a member of Yothu Yindi, and later Saltwater Band. Since his early passing at just 46 years of age, he has sometimes been referred to as Dr G Yunupingu.
Wirrpangu is sung in Yolŋu Matha, the collective name for the related Indigenous languages of north-east Arnhem Land, Australia. The translation below comes from a Gurrumul songbook/PDF and should probably be treated as an interpretive translation rather than a strictly word-for-word rendering.
Y..i, y..i, y..i, y..i
Wirrpangu dhäya yaka, ngarru ngunha Bawuduwudu Ngaypinyayu / The thunder has formed, there at Bawuduwudu Ngaypinyayu
Dhangurryuna nhanany dupthuwan, bäpiyu Garrawanangu Lilipiyana / Dhangurryu threw it, the python Garrawanangu Lilipiyana
Y..i, y..i, y..i, y..i
Bäpa, bäpawuli, nhätha ngalma ngarru ditjunma Dhamdhamli? / Dad, dear Dad, when will we return to Dhamdham (Goulburn)?
Bili dhawalnydja dhangu wirrpa ngoya / Billy Dhawalnydja dancing around / Because the time for thunder is here
Go ngalma ditjuna Mawiyu / Come, let us return to Mäwi
Wirrpangu dhäya yaka, ngarru ngunha Bawuduwudu Ngaypinyayu / The thunder has formed, there at Bawuduwudu Ngaypinyayu
Dhangurryu nhänany dupthuwan, bäpiyu Garrawanangu Lilipiyana / The thunder sent his mind back, the python Garrawanangu Lilipiyana
Yi, yi, yi, yi
References:
1. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
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