Take a listen to any of his tracks, and you are instantly swept up in the imagery of a place far removed from the cityscape of urban Melbourne. You’re taken to North East Arnhem Land, and feel immediately connected. Through his songs Gawurra allows you to transcend past the language barrier and directly into his art form.
“You feel something, the spirit. You don’t understand it, but you can feel it. It will be taking your soul, bless you. You have to see yourself the spirit in the song. Taking to see the land, in your spirit.”
Growing up around music left an impression on a young Gawurra. “I grown up in a musical family. They always get together and play a sweet music. That’s why I asked my cousins and my brother to teach me how to play guitar. And so they taught me.” It’s with this great appreciation that he is able to transport you, to perceive the things that inspire him “music, also nature: the land; the sea.”
His songs are written in his mother tongue: the Gupapuyngu language, which makes any collaboration with his many musician friends difficult. However, feeling and emotion transcends any language barrier, and this is clear from his friends’ reactions. “[They say] we don’t understand what you’re singing about but we do understand the spirit touching our soul.” Gawurra explains.
You can expect his shows to be quite interactive. Some of his songs begin with a traditional prayer or blessing, here he tried to close that language barrier. “[I teach the] traditional language. To sing, to teach them. In the live performance and in the live show, to talk to them. That’s what I do, I like talking, tell them to sing. Make them move. You’re pulling the heart strings and make them come closer to you.”
Gawurra received numerous awards at the NIMA for his album Ratja Yaliyali last year, and this year has already seen him wow many with performances at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, two appearances at WOMADelaide alongside a number shows across the country.
Determined to take his message and his music to a wider audience, he moved to Melbourne. “It’s a big change. I’m focusing on my career. Making music and writing these songs and taking my girls to school. Sometimes I go and visit my friends,” he says.
But his plans for the future are far greater. “I think I’d like to play internationally. I think America. That is my other wish – to take my music to another world.
“This is my dream. This is what I chose and this is what I want. This career, I love singing. I want to be a person not only for the Indigenous, but for black and white,” he says. “I started from the beginning and now I can see myself where I am. I’m standing here a professional and sharing my love.”
He refuses to differentiate or discriminate. “It’s doesn’t matter if I don’t know people. But this is what I always believed is making me, and making us as one. Sharing my love and my culture, because I am family. Not only from the Yolongu people. This is for us, so we can tell it to the world and this is our love. That’s my encouragement. It’s a powerful word – it’s good for us and I’m learning other cultures also. Slowly, and for our future.”
What a stunning message to bring to our Nation at a time when it is so sorely needed.
