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Silver Bullet - used yirdaki played by Larry Winiwini
This yirdaki is an old one that has been used by various Yolngu yirdaki players in Arnhem Land. Its entire length has been covered by silver duct tape, hence the nickname I have given it: Silver Bullet!
The way Larry plays this yirdaki is astounding. Wonderful syncopation with simple but effective use of the half-beat.
Length: 150
Rating: 5.00 (10 ratings)
Tags: larry winiwini larrtjannga gurruwiwi galpu yirdaki yidaki didgeridoo didjeridu didge gopu football djalu
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Larry Winiwini Gurruwiwi - crankin' up yirdaki!
Due to the overwhelming response to the Baywara clip and requests for more tutorial-type material, here's another one of Larry Winiwini that will be useful for students and budding traditionalists. Larry really is a fine player and seems to be only getting stronger and stronger each year. Those who were at the Rripangu Yirdaki Festival in Eisenbach, Germany, in 2002 would no doubt have been impressed with Larry's power and precision at that time. Since then, he has further refined a marvellous syncopation style that is all his own... I've not heard another Yolngu yirdaki player play quite like Larry.
Material here shows front- and side-on shots including close-ups.
Enjoy and do let me know if you have questions!
Length: 236
Rating: 4.80 (43 ratings)
Tags: larry winiwini larrtjannga gurruwiwi galpu yirdaki yidaki didgeridoo didjeridu didge gopu football djalu
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Russell Ngardayngarday Warnapuyngu - yirdaki expert
Name: Russell Ngardayngarday
Clan: Warnapuyngu Wagilak
Homeland: Ngilipitji, Dhupuwamirri - eastern Arnhem Land
Skin: Burralang'
Age: 38 years
Russell Ngardayngarday, also known as Russell Ashley, is recognised throughout the greater part of Arnhem Land as an expert didgeridoo player. His Aboriginal name means Stringybark (the tree species Eucalyptus tetradonta). He comes from the Warnapuyngu branch of the almighty Wagilak clan.
Russell is one of 3 'Ashley' men known as expert yirdaki players, the others being older brothers Roy Wuyngumbi and Raymond Marpin.
It was Marpin - a Guyula Djambarrpuyngu clansman - who taught Russell the finer points in yirdaki playing (Marpin and Ngardayngarday both have Ritharrngu mothers, who were sisters).
Marpin has been a member of the David Gulpilil Dance Group and the Wak Wak Djunggi band, has toured internationally and is featured as the didgeridoo player on a 1991 cassette called "Djut Djut Djane" produced by David Gulpilil Productions. I was fortunate to have met and video recorded Marpin at Ramingining in the 1990s, during ceremonial performance, and will upload these clips to YouTube in the near-future.
Back to Russell... his father was Peter Dawukarri and his mother Rosie Ngardiny (both deceased). His blood brothers include Djardie Wordalpa Ashley, who famously won the 1987 National Aboriginal Art Award (before it was renamed the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award). Bertie Warrngga is another blood brother who has made enormous contributions to society, through employment in the government sector encompassing a broad range of fields.
Because of Russell's reputation as a yirdaki maestro - and from different families and sources at that - I was keen to seek him out and to meet him. Which proved to be more difficult than I had imagined as Russell drifts between 4 distinct regions including the communities and outstations of Lake Evella, Oenpelli, Katherine, and Port Keats (where his wife is from).
Last week, once in the NT, I travelled 1600 kilometres by road over 4 days in order to track Russell down. Persistence paid off and here are some video clips to show for the effort.
Some comments as background material to accompany the clips...
Russell is somewhat of a 'long-grasser' these days. The term will not be explained here and it is not meant to be derogatory in any way, just a fact of life. Russell has deteriorated in health as a result of living it rough, out in the open with no roof over his head, but worst still, getting stuck into the alcohol in a big way. And every day...
With his brother's Warrngga's permission, I booked Russell into a hotel for 3 days and clothed, fed and looked after him. I was hoping he would get better, for me to hear the yirdaki magic. And also that Russell would regain some normality in his life that would have carry-over effect.
The normality part did not succeed. When the recordings were done and Russell was paid, the next time I saw him he was fully intoxicated on the verandah of a church building, a popular hangout for long-grassers during the wet season. He was sound asleep and no amount of prodding by family members could rouse him.
As for the recordings, note that Russell suffered 'grog shake' during the filming, a symptom of alcohol withdrawal. He improved over the days he was with me, with zinc, magnesium, calcium, vitamin C and vitamin B complex supplements, but not enough for him to fully recover. Russell is also missing 2 front teeth, a fact he pointed out to me in explaining his clumsy first day when I tried to record.
The following segments were recorded at different times, on different days and in different places. Despite lack of practice, grog-shake, and missing teeth, most of it was good to very good, and there were moments of brilliance too which can be seen at the start of Segment 6. Segments 3 and 5 show side-views and breathing patterns can be heard quite clearly in these. Segment 7 has Russell playing a mago WAL style made by his brother-in-law, Dhugurun Gulunggurr of the Ritharrngu clan.
With encouragement, hopefully I and Russell's family can inspire him to bigger things and higher goals in life. He is a good chap who has suffered some set backs in recent years. I was saddened to leave him as he was just starting to come out of his shell and on the last day with him, Russell was beginning to chat and laugh more comfortably. His glazed eyes were beginning to brighten, his shakes more controlable, and his warm and generous personality starting to shine through.
Length: 166
Rating: 5.00 (18 ratings)
Tags: didgeridoo mago yirdaki yidaki didjeridu russell ngardayngarday ngadayngaday wanapuyngu wagilak yolngu arnhem land
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Djalu's personal yirdaki
This is the same yirdaki as that played by Larry Winiwini. Notice the difference in playing style between father and son. Djalu is very much 'old school'. His style is slower and more measured, more predictable in timing and rhythm. In contrast, Winiwini displays a more contemporary edge to his style, typical of most of his peers in Arnhem Land who place speed and virtuosity ahead of compositional balance.
Length: 338
Rating: 4.70 (34 ratings)
Tags: didgeridoo didjeridu djalu gurruwiwi galpu yolngu didge yirdaki yidaki aboriginal australia arnhem music indigenous
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Djalu's personal yirdaki played by Larry Winiwini
This has been one of Djalu's personal instruments.
For those interested in configurations, it plays in the key of E with an F overtone. Length is 151 cm, with a 29-30 mm diameter mouthpiece opening and a bell of 10-11 cm diameter. Weight is 5.0 kg.
This yirdaki is pronounced in its acoustic properties, and I can see reason in Djalu having made this as his own personal instrument (it has been used at Elcho Island for a funeral too).
I would consider this yirdaki as very powerful with a fabulous smoothness to its voice... it is like having the perfect coffee. All the ingredients are there in the right proportion, accentuating rather than competing with each other.
In this clip, Larry Winiwini is going nuts on this yirdaki. Notice the use of syncopated overtone. I also have Djalu playing this yirdaki and will upload it at some point to show the contrast in style between father and son.
Length: 283
Rating: 5.00 (27 ratings)
Tags: larry winiwini larrtjannga gurruwiwi galpu yirdaki yidaki didgeridoo didjeridu didge gopu football djalu
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Australian of the Year Mandawuy Yunupingu, yirdaki interview
Mandawuy Yunupingu is, amongst other things, the lead singer of, or front man for, the Yothu Yindi band. It was Yothu Yindi that brought the power of the yirdaki onto the world's stage back in the 1980s... the band's reach has been phenomenal and the recognition of the yirdaki outside of Australia is in no small part a direct result of the popularity of YY's music as well as the political message it has been trying to get across all these years.
Here is an interview with Mandawuy about Yothu Yindi and the yirdaki that I was very lucky to get. Mandawuy is not well at the moment which made this interview all the more urgent. Let's hope his health improves.
Length: 573
Rating: 5.00 (13 ratings)
Tags: yothu yindi mandawuy yunupingu gumatj yirdaki yidaki didgeridoo aboriginal yolngu land rights gove yirrkala music
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David Dharrapuy - yirdaki maestro! Djambarrpuyngu manikay
This was the very first ceremony I ever filmed in Arnhem Land, back in 1996. In that year I used a Panasonic A3, a VHS-C video camera. This was before mini-DV video cameras were invented. The Panasonic did its job and I was pretty happy with it overall.
This video clip is a compilation of material gathered over a number of days, of a Dhapi' initiation ceremony at Ramingining. The main group that was singing was the Djambarrpuyngu (Dhamarrandji patrilineage) clan. I've edited this clip to keep it under 10 minutes, as that is all YouTube will allow. The raw footage goes for many hours.
The first 3 minutes of this clip has David Dharrapuy playing yirdaki. Dharrapuy is one of my absolute favourite yirdaki players. He has a wonderful lilt, or gentle swing, to his playing style. And he packs so much power when he plays that he boasts that he caused a yirdaki to explode once, as testimony to how hard he pushed when he gets going! Dharrapuy is a Gupapuyngu clansman, son of the great Bonguwuy who was son of the great warrior Waltjimirri.
The rest of the compilation has a Garapapawuy Bukurlatjpi playing yirdaki. Garapapawuy is a Warramiri clansman who lives at from Elcho Island. You can compare the different playing style of these 2 guys, as they are using exactly the same instrument.
Length: 522
Rating: 5.00 (16 ratings)
Tags: didgeridoo didjeridu yirdaki yidaki arnhemland northern territory yolngu aborigines ramingining dharrapuy dharra'puy
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Turbo-charged Quincey Matjaki on supersonic F yirdaki
If Adam Marrilaga were the ultimate yirdaki technician, his older brother Quincey Matjaki must surely come a close second.
Matjaki has come a long way since I first heard him play yirdaki. Perhaps he was out of practice then, or has improved considerably since, but whichever way it might be, this clip kicks arse. Listen to Matjaki's technical execution as well as the pace he manages to get up to, he maintains very strong technique even when pumping it at blistering speed. The finesse of Larry Winiwini and the precision of Marrilaga are apparent in Matjaki's style of play.
It will be hard to let go of this stick, a stunning instrument made by Bruce Burrngupurrngu with concentrated power. The acoustics are finely structure with outstanding resolution, super-sweet overtone note, and ochre-rendered Dhalwangu miny'tji to die for. This is a yirdaki of high pedigree and cultural integrity, the result of a Burrngupurrngu-Djul'djul husband and wife team. Burrngupurrngu and Djul'djul talked at length over the phone about this yirdaki before I finally set eyes on this spectacular piece of work.
Length: 112
Rating: 4.90 (30 ratings)
Tags: quincey matjaki wunungmurra dhalwangu elcho island galiwin'ku yirdaki yidaki didgeridoo didjeridu yolngu arnhem land bu
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