Gurrumul Just Made Australian Music History

In truly awesome news, Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow), the posthumous album by Australian music icon Gurrumul, has become the first album sung in an Indigenous language to top the ARIA charts.

The album debuted at #1 on Saturday, and is now placed above entries from Cardi B, Ed Sheeran, and The Weeknd.

“We are in disbelief,” said Gurrumul’s musical collaborator Michael Hohnen. “Even as an optimist this would be difficult to believe; that Australia would embrace such a step away from the norm so immediately.”

“His was a refreshingly honest voice, expressing and sharing Yolngu life with truth and purity. This country sometimes learns about Indigenous culture through clickbait headlines, ill-informed political speeches and shock jocks. Djarimirri is the antidote — a simple and pure telling of his clan’s life and culture through music, the truly universal language.”

Gurrumul Yunupingu passed away from kidney disease in July last year. Djarimirri was his final project.

“Despite working on this album with him for years, I speak to his family now and they point out many culturally significant words and meanings in the music that even I didn’t even know he had placed there,” said Hohnen.

“This album gives those who open their minds an understanding of Indigenous culture that transcends words and language and will continue to open its stories to us over the years as we continue to listen.”

“It says a lot about where we’re at as a country and a society that the most listened to, the most purchased and talked-about piece of music across the country is a crossover classical album completely in Indigenous languages by a blind singer from a remote island off the Northern Territory coast. This country seems ready to listen.”

You can listen to ‘Djolin’ from Djarimirri below, and buy the album here.