It wasn’t until 1991, however, that they really began making some serious noise. The catchy anthem Treaty, penned in collaboration with Midnight Oil and Paul Kelly to call attention to the Australian Government’s failure to act on a promise of a treaty between black and white Australians by 1990, rocketed up the charts and onto mainstream radio stations. Young people around the country were inspired by this new sound, and were singing along in union with the cause. One of these young people was 15-year-old, Rrawun Maymuru – the grandson of Yothu Yindi’s lead singer Mandawuy Yunupingu. Now years later, he is flying the flag for his people, with band East Journey: the first Aboriginal band to combine traditional song cycles, dance and instruments, with Western rock, since Yothu Yindi. They call this cool sound Saltwater Reggae.
“He’s been my mentor since I was in school watching him play his songs and also watching him play on the tour I did with Yothu Yindi,” says Maymuru, of his grandfather Yunupingu. “He’s really inspired me in how to be front man and leader of my new growing band. I have to be someone who can lead my band and also my people in the future.”
East Journey’s debut album, Guwak, was the subject of five nominations at the National Indigenous Music Awards for 2012, taking out the GR Burarrawanga Memorial Award, and NT Film Clip of the year for Ngarrpiya. Two thousand, five hundred fans even stampeded their performance on the showcase. Still, Maymuru admits fronting up to Level 7 Studios in Sydney for their first recording session in a major studio, was a bit daunting.
“Yes, it was very different,” he muses. “It was very new for the boys and for myself. While we were doing our recording we were very nervous. It was the first stage in the big Level 7 Studios. We saw a lot of records from the famous people like Savage Garden, John Farnham and Yothu Yindi. I said, ‘This is big boys. We’re here to do it for the first time in a big studio’. It was very exciting looking at different technologies and stuff like that.”
Was it Yunupingu who encouraged them to polish their masterpiece in a big studio?
“Mandawuy was always there to support us in many ways, but we knew we had to record this album in a good studio, so it was ready on a national level. There’s only one chance to do it, so we wanted to get it right for hearing nationally.”
The opportunity of using music to explain Aboriginal culture, to wider Australia, is a responsibility Rrawun Maymuru takes very seriously. It’s their invitation to their white brothers to be able to share in traditional stories and beliefs, and learn to understand and respect the ancient customs that have been part of their society for thousands of years.
“There’s so many things we want to tell people and this music is the best way we can tell people,” he reasons. Our culture, itself, is very unique and we’re bringing that culture to a new level through our music…We got our music from our culture. We sing songs about the land and about nature. Now we’re bringing that culture to you through our music, so you can understand what we’re talking about.
“Our culture never dies, because we keep on teaching our kids. We don’t want to lose our culture. Our culture goes back 40,000 years and we still have it and hold it in our hands. We still walk with it, even if we go somewhere else, we still walk with it. We speak our own language. Our culture is very strong.”
Song of Arnhem Land talks of the band’s apprehension at having to leave their land and families when touring other countries. How hard has this shift been for East Journey, considering how deeply rooted they are to the land?
“It’s really hard,” says Maymuru. “But you can’t just be around the values and views of your culture. You have to leave your land and your family to go and meet other people. It’s that life that makes the community grow for our music and also helps us engage with other people and cultures to learn their values and views and their beliefs. We learn their views and they learn our views. It’s all about sharing.”
This includes keeping up to date with social networking. A medium also foreign to the boys, but one they still find interesting and valuable.
“It feels strange, but it’s also something new. I don’t often live like that. At home, I have my family and my job and the life has never changed. This is a new area, that myself and the band can take with us. Later, when other young people want to start a band, we can tell them, ‘If you want to promote your music, this is what you have to learn. It’s the first stage.’ Then they know what they’re doing, because of us. We got this from Yothu Yindi.”
BY HEIDI LEIGH AXTON