I Was Born Blind

Gurrumul, who is 40, was born blind in Elcho Island, off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Australia.



“I was born blind, and I don’t know why/ God knows why, because he loves me so/ As I grew up, my spirit knew/ Then I learnt to read the world of destruction/ United we stand, divided we fall/ Together we’ll stand in solidarity”.



Verses such as these, taken from the track Gurrumul History (I Was Born Blind) in his Gurrumul album, seem out of place in our cynical world, yet they have won the hearts of thousands of devoted listeners throughout he world, making this gentle Aboriginal the greatest surprise in the contemporary music scene.



Gurrumul started playing at the age of 5 on a toy-keyboard, and then learned to sing during the rites and ceremonies of the Yolngu people and the Gospel songs of the missionaries. He learnt to play the guitar as a young boy and, since there were no left-handed guitars in the area, he played a normally strung right-handed guitar upside down, and continues to do so.



Meeting Michael Hohnen, a classically trained bassist, was the catalyst for Gurrumul to record a solo album in which, opting for the less-is-more approach, his extraordinary voice is the main instrument.



All the songs in the Gurrumul album were written and composed by Gurrumul himself, and are mainly in his native Yolngu tongue, though a few sentences are in English as well. The songs celebrate his land and his forefathers; they sing of a natural world that would make us and our children wiser (Gäthu Mäwula) if only we learned to love and respect it. They sing of a ‘Mother’ (which for the indigenous mentality corresponds to our Creator God) who dreams of a new epoch for the world (Bay-wara); and his music also dwells on the torments of this present historical moment which tends to alienate and separate the different nations and peoples of the world from each other (Wukun).



When one listens to his album it is hard not to agree with Australian critics, “He is unlike the previous Indigenous Australian artists of the past. He does not make you dance, he is not interested in politics. There is something different about him; something mystical and universal. You’re having 80,000 years coming out of one little throat”.



Gurrumul has so far refused to give in to public hype, and has said that he uses music awards to open clams in his island home. He rarely talks to the media, and feels journalists are “hunting him like a kangaroo, trying to spear him”.



The important thing for Gurrumul is to fulfill the task he has received from his people and his land. His aunt Dorothy says, “He has chosen nature; he has learnt from her. It is from her that he builds up his own world”.



“People say that everyone is moved by my music,” he says. “That makes me happy. It means that there is no difference between Indigenous Australians and non-Aboriginals, between whites and blacks”.



From what I can gather, Gurrumul is also a man of considerable humility. In an interview in www.vibe.com.au, in which his answers were translated by Michael Hohnen, Garrumul says, “I just want to keep playing and singing. I hope I can make some money for me and my family. This would make them even more proud of me. I am still learning about what it is to make it into the charts. I feel it makes me a little bit famous, but I am not sure”.



I encourage anyone with an interest in music to check out Gurrumul. Why? Well, in his own words, “I just want them [his audience] to be happy, to listen to Yolngu music and enjoy it and like it. But I also want them to learn about Yolngu and how we have a lot of good stories”.



Australia’s 460,000 Indigenous Australians make up 2 percent of the population. They suffer higher rates of unemployment, substance abuse, domestic violence, and have a life-expectancy that is 17 years shorter than other Australians. They are one of the globe’s ‘invisible people’. However, thanks to Gurrumul, they are now a bit less invisible.