iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

Don't know if anyone has heard of a recording of two of the current best Gumatj singers, James Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Charlie Matjuwi Burarrwanga and their respective nephews and all-time master yidaki players Milkay Mununggurr and Ngalkanbuy Ganambarr. The recording was made several years ago and is not a commercial release CD as far as I know, but is something that has been circulating among family members in eastern Arnhem Land. Milkay told me about this recording some time ago and I was intrigued as he indicated Ngalkanbuy as the best yidaki player at Galiwin'ku, Elcho Island. I don't think I've met Karl Ngalkanbuy but I finally managed to get a copy of this much talked-about CD from family members at Elcho Island. Plus David Dharrapuy has a DVD of Ngalkanbuy playing yidaki in ceremony at Nangalala earlier this year which was interesting as Henry Mirarra' was also in the DVD participating in bunggul.

I'll try to put together short excerpts of this CD. I can't make complete copies as I don't have authority to do so, contact Galarrwuy and/or Matjuwi if you want your own copy.

Guan

Here a short segment of what to expect. There are 25 tracks in total.

Guan

Good stuff, Guan! Now, how to contact Gallarwuy? I'll PM you.

Jason

Come to the Masterclass and you can ask him in person

I don't think Galarrwuy uses email, best way to get hold of him is thru other family members or his staff.

Guan

Just a note to accompany the short excerpt above... the first part of the excerpt is Matjuwi and Ngalkanbuy, the 2nd part of the excerpt is Galarrwuy and Milkay. Matjuwi and Galarrwuy are the 2 most senior ceremonial leaders of lawmen for their respective Burarrwanga and Yunupingu lineages of the Gumatj people.

Guan

and if we're not going to the master class?

Hi Guan,
would it be possible for you to ask permission to handle this thru IDIDJ here. I know it is very hectic these days for you but maybe this would be much easier if we can somehow get/purchase it over here...? Otherwise seems like very unlikely to get hold of them to get it..

m.

Hi Mahir,

Not sure how to go about this because the CD was produced for families and not for outside/commercial consumption. If I could convince Gumatj maybe iDIDJ Australia could be the distributor of the CD? It would only be a small scale production of course, a run of several dozen copies, maybe up to 100 CDs purely targeted at trad heads like us? There are countless CDs and cassette tapes of a similar nature, recorded by Yolngu for their own enjoyment.

What do people think of the quality of the recording? Is it ok? And how much would you pay for it if you saw it in a store somewhere?

Guan

I think it sounds great and would happily pay the going rate for a CD - say $25 AUD.

I agree with Kyle. The quality is surely good enough and 25 AUD$ sounds fair.

Guan ,With the other recordings of similar nature, which are plenty, I think we would be happy to have access to them in a similar way if this can be done over here in IDIDJ.

Maybe something to think about in the long run if the families agree of course..

m.

Id go along with 20 to 25 bucks for a cd and if others were available Guan you could if they were on CD rip them to MP3 and make large compilatins just as an Idea

$25 sounds good and fair. There are no liner notes and no album cover but that could be done easily enough with Gumatj input.

With other material, I've got a stack of recordings on cassette and Minidisc that I recorded myself, mostly of ceremonial occasions: funerals and initiations. But I can't really do anything with these unless there has been community consultation and approval.

On another note, how would a trad DVD sit with folks here, a compilation of the best-of-the-best yidaki and mago players I've been fortunate to meet and record?

Guan

I am with the others and would happily by such a CD.
If you could make a dvd compilation of the best yidaki and mago that
you have recorded that would be fantastic. I would certainly buy one.
Both for cultural and didactic purposes.
Obviously the best is to hear players in person. Second to that is
a video of the player and then the recording. i find that you can learn so much more from a
video than just from the recordings alone.

cheers, Martin

Yeah, actually we have had the idea of DVD for a long while if I am not wrong but somehow could not bring it up again. I think this is an another great idea with multifunctional goal.
I am in!

m.

Id Defo go with a dvd good idea Guan and are you still going to film the Djalu master class?