The Element Of Surprise

"It's been a great year; it's been a great, amazing six years…” says Gurrumul Yunupingu's bassist and creative director Michael Hohnen of Darwin-based label Skinnyfish Music. He's audibly beaming as he summarises the long list of his friend's accomplishments that in the past few months alone have included collaborations with Flume, Yolanda Be Cool and Delta Goodrem, a performance on The Voice, a special recognition award at the National Indigenous Music Awards and the biography release of Gurrumul – His Life And Music.

“He takes it all in his stride you know, he just says, 'Oh yeah, what's next?'” says Hohnen. “He loves getting recordings, like after that Delta collaboration thing on The Voice, he loved listening back to that afterwards and I think that's the way he enjoys these experiences the most – to actually listen back to great production after the event and relive it, that's probably his biggest indulgence. The Opera House shows [to coincide with the biography release in May] were mixed really beautifully by some ABC people and you know, he rang me, hounded me until he got a mix of those recordings. Mainly that's how he feels; he won't go, 'That was great', he'll go, 'I want to hear that recording', then I'll hear him listening to it with total glee and enthusiasm and excitement… There's so much gone on [this year]; we did Splendour last month, we're doing BIGSOUND soon, but Boomerang is something that's on the horizon, the long weekend there. And for that we're doing quite an intimate special show.”

Held at Byron Bay's Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, the inaugural Boomerang Festival is the partnership initiative of Bluesfest director Peter Noble and leading cultural creative Rhoda Roberts. Billed as an Indigenous festival for all Australians, it brings together music, arts and culture from 11 countries.   

“I think it will differ partly in the context,” Hohnen suggests of the Boomerang set. “There's the setting of Boomerang which will be very diverse and cultural and I think that will create an extra ambience that you wouldn't get just doing a normal concert. We're bringing our own sound guy and he knows Gurrumul very well and Gurrumul has an incredibly impressive dynamic range, and when he's working with great production and the setting is right, he really works a whole PA... He really works that to his advantage and uses his voice dynamically. In terms of Boomerang I think Aboriginal people have a different way of expressing themselves – not just in one medium – and Boomerang is a whole range of different mediums from dance, art, storytelling, music and other things that are happening there, and I think people who come will get swept up by the whole environment. It's great.”

Of the hugely diverse line-up, Hohnen says Gurrumul has a fondness for fellow Elcho Islanders The Chooky Dancers who are infamous in the northern communities for their take on Zorba The Greek.

“Gurrumul's whole extended family is 10,000 people in north-east Arnhem Land; they have their own language, culture, ceremony, dance, everything. So what these guys have done is traditional dance moves to like a club remix beat of Zorba, so I'm sure – well I'm not sure – but there's bound to be the talk of some sort of collaborative dance thing or them jumping on stage when he is playing. I don't know because I never really know what will happen with Gurrumul until we actually turn up...” he laughs, explaining that although careful logistical preparation is required for the blind performer, every show incorporates an element of wonderful spontaneity. It almost certainly serves to balance out the weight of Gurrumul's position as one of Australia's most important voices, too.

“Everyone treats him so sort of seriously as an icon that everyone's a bit serious and so what we try and do halfway through the show is lighten things up. Often you don't know what to do until you get to an event because it's really good to pick up on the mood of the whole [thing]. It will be a great environment and a great atmosphere and he'll be very comfortable.”