The landmark Australian album, Songs From Walking With Spirits, is now on streaming services.
Originally released in 2007 by Beswick elder Balang T. E. Lewis (The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, The Shadow King) with Roy Ashley, Micky Hall, Victor Hood and Jimmy Wesan, revered Daddy Cool guitarist Ross Hannaford (who passed in 2016), Gurrumul bassist Michael Hohnen and select other rock, jazz, and contemporary musicians, the talent on display helped these ancient songs of country resonate with a whole new generation.
Balang Lewis and the four senior Wagalak, Rembarrnga and Dalabon Songmen, who feature on Songs From Walking With Spirits, have sadly passed away since the album's initial limited release in 2007.
Djilpin Arts (Beswick), honouring the legacy of its cultural elders and sharing remarkable voices, have chosen to release the album on digital streaming services worldwide.
In 2007, Balang Lewis remarked:
"The land is our church, and everything in it is one; the singers not only represent but enter into the spirits of the animals, plants and seasons. The corroborree ground is a theatre, with the fireplace as its centre. We warm our spirits at the fireplace and around it, and we pass on the stories and sing the songs and thus keep our history and our culture going. Therefore the listening ear and the watchful eye of you in the audience are as important as the people singing and dancing."
Songs From Walking With Spirits commemorates him.
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Djilpin Arts (Beswick) has been swept up by the momentum of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and a proposed representative Indigenous voice to the Australian parliament. Songs From Walking With Spirits celebrates the potency of an ancient storytelling tradition; for over 80 years, ethnomusicologists have travelled to the Beswick/ Wugularr community east of Katherine to witness First Nations Songmen singing their country.
The album defies anything previously heard in western or Indigenous music, creating a breathtaking sound and energy that provides "progressive dialogue to timeless concepts in an era when the promise of First Nations recognition has returned to the forefront of national awareness."
Listen to Songs From Walking With Spirits here.
