For interest a review of his recent London concert....... from...

For interest a review of his recent London concert....... from The Guardian.





Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu

Union Chapel, London


* Robin Denselow
* The Guardian, Monday 18 May 2009

It is dangerous making predictions, but here goes. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - better known as just Gurrumul - is going to be the next world-music celebrity. He is a blind Aboriginal songwriter who sings in the Yolngu dialect of the Gumatj clan, but this compelling British solo debut proved he has the ability to move from the remote territories of Australia's Arnhem Land to the world's concert halls.

A slight figure sporting cropped hair and a black jacket, he sat motionless throughout the concert, singing and playing acoustic guitar but never saying a word until the final thank you. "He won't talk‚" explained his producer, Michael Hohnen. "But I can feel that he's happy."

Yet Gurrumul totally dominated the hall, from the first notes until the standing ovation. Backed by a classy acoustic band comprising a string quartet, a second acoustic guitar and Hohnen's double bass, he started out like an Aboriginal answer to Nick Drake, with a soulful and emotional treatment of what could have been a sturdy western folk melody, but with lyrics that dealt with the importance to the Gumatj nation of the orange-footed scrubfowl.

It is this unlikely mixture that explains Gurrumul's appeal. His singing was gentle and heartfelt, his lyrics (translated on a screen beside the stage) dealt with subjects ranging from the forces of nature to his ancestors, and yet the melodies were so straightforward and powerful that any western songwriter would have been jealous. Folk, soul and gospel influences were all there, along with a dash of reggae, and he ended with a personal song in English, I Was Born Blind, the screen showing images of his own history. Gurrumul deserves to become a star."