George Rrurrambu is a pioneer of Aboriginal rock music.
In a career that began over twenty years ago with his
internationally acclaimed band, Warumpi,
(who recorded the first ever rock song in an Aboriginal language),
or more recently as a solo professional artist,
George is a respected and proud ambassador for his culture.
He is a living legend to Aboriginal people all over Australia
and much loved by non-Indigenous Australians for
Warumpi's anthemic songs Blackfella Whitefella and My Island Home.
He has achieved mainstream success both in Australia
and overseas and was this year recognised at the inaugural NT Music
Industry Awards for his contribution to the music industry.
George last toured with Warumpi in 1999.
He has since performed at FIGJAM Indigenous Music Concert,
Festival of Darwin 2000, Yeperenye Federation Festival;
recorded a solo reggae album Nerbu Message and
toured to Europe in 2002 with Melbourne outfit Bomba.
George has also turned his talents to theatre and
recently performed NERRPU Dhawu Rrurrambuwuy
(The story of George Rrurrambu) at the Darwin Entertainment Center.
He is in demand around the country as a speaker lecturing on
Yolngu culture and music and has conducted cultural workshops
in Berlin and Amsterdam. George is committed to his culture and
country with a strong desire to create a better future for the next
generation through productive partnerships with the balanda (whitefella).
In 2007, on June the 10th George died at the age of 50 after a long
battle with cancer,after his death he became known as
George Burarrwanga for cultural reasons.
Track list
Many thanks to New Race over at the Aus Rock forum for
this radio quality live material from the Warumpi Band
and Warumpi Yothu Yindi Live at an unknown time and
place in the early 90's.
If anyone knows any information I would be happy to
hear it.
Theres some classic Warumpi songs here
with Jailanguru Pakarnu, Fitzroy crossing,
No Fear, Waru (Fire), Blackfella/Whitefella,
From the bush plus 5 Yothu Yindi tracks.
Heres a bit of Warumpi Band history.
The Warumpi Band originated in the Aboriginal settlement of
Papunya in the central desert region of the Northern Territory
in the early eighties.
The band's name derives from the honey-ant dreaming site
located near the settlement of Papunya which is 260 ks west
of Alice Springs. Original founding members were
Sammy and Gordon Butcher, Neil Murray,George Rrurrambu
assisted by other young fellas in the community.
The band was formed in 1980 by Neil Murray, a Victorian
"whitefella" working in the region as a schoolteacher
and labourer, George Burarrwanga, from Elcho Island,
and local boys Gordon and Sammy Butcher.
Over the years, many different people played in the band
at various times. The only consistent elements were
Murray and Burarrwanga, with Sammy Butcher generally
being available so long as band commitments didn't take
him too far from home for too long.
In 1983, the band recorded "Jailanguru Pakarnu",
the first song using an aboriginal language in a rock'n'roll format.
This created some mainstream media interest,
and the band made a few trips to the big cities of
Melbourne and Sydney for gigs and TV appearances.
In Sydney, they built up a loyal following in the Sydney
northern beaches pub rock scene, and played as support
to Midnight Oil. In 1985 the band released their debut album
"Big Name, No Blankets", featuring the track "Blackfella/Whitefella".
In 1986, Midnight Oil and the Warumpi Band embarked on the
"Blackfella/Whitefella Tour" which brought one of Australia's
biggest bands to some of the country's remotest locations.
The resulting Midnight Oil album, "Diesel and Dust"
was an international hit and brought the issues of land rights
and aboriginal reconciliation into the national spotlight.
The Warumpi Band recorded their second album, "Go Bush!"
after the tour, but the strain of balancing family commitments
with the band took its toll and they were unable to capitalise
on the groundswell created by the Blackfella/Whitefella tour.
Neil Murray embarked on a solo career in 1990, though the
band still reunited when it fitted in amongst their other activities.
1996 saw the release of their third and final album
"Too Much Humbug", and a renewed (if brief) commitment
including a European tour. Burarrwanga is reputed to have
arrived in Paris and been amazed that people in this
so-called civilised nation couldn't even speak English -
after all, he himself spoke nearly a dozen different
languages of the north of Australia.
In the following years, reunion gigs were sporadic,
generally for festivals and other one-off appearances.
In 2000, Neil Murray decided enough was enough
and retired from the band for good, concentrating on
his solo career which by that time had produced several
critically acclaimed albums.
George Burarrwanga continued to perform as a solo artist,
and released an album. In 2007, he returned to his
"Island Home" when lung cancer took him,
and he died on June 10th of that year.
Sammy Butcher remains heavily involved with a recording
studio in Alice Springs, bringing the opportunity to record to
outback youth. He has also recorded an album of
instrumental guitar songs.
Download Here
Part 1,
Part 2
The Warumpi Band are the stuff of music legend, a band which
came out of the western desert region of central Australia,
a melding of black and white culture that was groundbreaking
in so many ways. This their 2nd album (of 3) gave us one
of the greatest Australian songs ever penned "My Island Home"
Heres what Neil Murry says about it
“My island home” came to me on a bus one night in
June 1985 while traveling from Melbourne to Sydney.
The antecedents are clear. I had been living in the
deserts of Central Australia for some six years,
estranged from the fresh water country of my
youth in western Victoria. The Warumpi Band
had just completed a national tour and at the
conclusion of it I had spent a week with our
singer George Rrurrambu, at his home at Galiwinku
( Elcho Island) in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.
We were camped on a remote part of the island
with his family and had been living like kings on
bush tucker and sea food caught by ourselves.
It seemed like paradise at the time. I had to leave
and make trips to Melbourne and Sydney in mid
winter to promote the band. On the overnight
bus trip to Sydney I suffered an exceptional
longing to be back in a boat on a tropical sea.
The words came to me, I was singing it in my head.
I had no notebook with me. I held onto the tune
till I got to Sydney and pulled my guitar out of the
luggage to find the chords. I completed the verses
with a view to George Rrurrambu singing it,
which he did. The Warumpi Band recorded
“My Island Home” in 1986, released in 1987.
Christine Anu released her version a decade later
The Tiddas recorded a lovely version for the film
“Radiance”. George Rrurrambu has included a
Gumatj language version of the song on his
debut solo album ”Nerbu Message” I know that
the song has also been recorded and released
by a group in Tahiti.
cheers,
Neil Murray.
My Island Home - Neil Murray
Six years I've been in the desert
And every night I dream of the sea
They say home is where you find it
Will this place ever satisfy me
And my island home
my island home my island home
is waiting for me
For I come from the salt water people
We always lived by the sea
Now I'm out here west of Alice Springs
With a wife and a family
And my island home
my island home my island home
is waiting for me
In the evening the dry wind blows
From the hills and across the plains
I close my eyes and I'm standing in a boat
on the sea a-gain
And I'm holding that long turtle spear
and I feel I'm close now to where it must be
And my island home
my island home my island home
is waiting for me
Download Here
