Recently while channel surfing I heard a voice. It was an absolutely pure tenor and I only caught the end of the piece about a soon to be released documentary and the name of the singer: Gurrumul. From there it was the usual search through Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, Wiki, and You Tube to find out more. It is staggering how much more there was to find regarding a man whose name I had never heard before. Unfortunately, Geoffrey Gurrumul has left this world, but in his passing he left some amazing music and the 10,000 year history of his people in sound.
While the documentary has been released, I can’t find an outlet or date in my area, but there are already 100% critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes so I look forward to it in my local art house.
Celebrated by audiences at home and abroad, indigenous artist Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu was one of the most important and acclaimed voices to ever come out of Australia. Blind from birth, he found purpose and meaning through songs and music inspired by his community and country on Elcho Island in far North East Arnhem Land. Living a traditional Yolngu life, his breakthrough album ‘Gurrumul’ brought him to a crossroads as audiences and artists around the world began to embrace his music.
In the meantime, his albums are available on Amazon and several songs are on YouTube. Enjoy the beautiful voice gone too soon of Gurrumul singing “I Was Born Blind” with a sound that teaches others to see and “Bapa” to prove you don’t need the lyrics to understand the meaning of the words:
