Australian Aborigine In-Store Mini Concert | Berkeley

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Amoeba Music: Free In-Store Mini Concerts

Amoeba Music regularly welcomes traveling and local artists for in-store performances at their San Francisco and Berkeley locations.

Hear your favorite artists for free often right before they hit the stage elsewhere in the Bay Area.

Saturday, May 9, 2015
Amoeba Music: Free In-Store Mini Concerts

Amoeba Berkeley invites you to watch a live music performance of Gurrumul on May 9 at 2:00 PM.

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, always referred to simply as Gurrumul, is an Australian Aborigine from Elcho Island off the far north coast of the continent. Gurrumul sings almost exclusively in his tribal Gumatj dialect, spoken by no more than 3,000 people, yet he conveys to a wide audience of all cultures an intensity of feeling that breaks hearts while at the same time, flooding his listeners with joy. Sting describes his voice as “the voice of a higher being.”

Gurrumul songs have their roots in the 40,000 year old culture of Indigenous Australians. There are no love songs in the conventional sense, but there are many songs of love for the country of his people, songs of reverence for his ancestors, songs that honor his personal totem (the saltwater crocodile), and songs of sorrow for those now missing from the ceremonies of the Gumatj. Before the release by Skinnyfish Music of Gurrumul’s watershed 2008 album, named after the artist himself, songs in Indigenous languages had barely registered with mainstream audiences. The first Gurrumul album went on to sell 500,000 copies worldwide with no special knowledge of Indigenous culture.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.