''The Gurrumul Story'' is the first

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

from

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (22 January 1971 – 25 July 2017), commonly known as Gurrumul and also referred to since his death as Dr G. Yunupingu, was an Aboriginal Australian musician of the Yolŋu peoples. A multi-instrumentalist, he played ...

. The album was announced on 6 August 2021 and was released on 10 September 2021 on digital platforms, CD, deluxe CD+DVD and vinyl. The deluxe edition features a DVD including a 25-minute documentary covering Yunupingu's life and rise to stardom.

Background and release

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu was born blind in 1971 as a member of the Gumatj clan and a speaker of the indigenous

Yolŋu languages Yolŋu Matha (), meaning the 'Yolŋu tongue', is a linguistic family that includes the languages of the Yolngu (also known as the Yolŋu and Yuulngu languages), the indigenous people of northeast Arnhem Land in northern Australia. The ''ŋ'' ...

, on

Elcho Island Elcho Island, known to its traditional owners as Galiwin'ku (Galiwinku) is an island off the coast of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located at the southern end of the Wessel Islands group located in the East Arnhe ...

, off the coast of North East Arnhem land in Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. He incorporated much of his heritage into his music, singing in multiple Yolŋu languages as well as English. Yunupingu released four studio albums on Skinnyfish Music, all of which won

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

. Yunupingu died in 2017 at the age of 46, following health issues with his liver and kidneys. He was posthumously signed to Decca Australia in November 2020. This is the first release on Decca. On 6 August 2021, a trailer for ''The Gurrumul Story'' documentary was released alongside a reworked version of his 2008 song "Wiyathul", shared with its music video that shows a group of First Nations people performing what an introduction described as "A sacred totemic dance of the Wiyathul bird."

Track listing

Charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurrumul Story, The 2021 albums Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu albums Compilation albums published posthumously Compilation albums by Australian artists