Yirrmal is a Yolngu singer, songwriter and storyteller whose music is deeply connected to his Rirratjingu culture in remote North East Arnhem Land. In recent years amongst touring, he has returned to country to continue practising Rirratjingu songlines for ceremonies and funerals in community. Yirrmal’s career is flourishing: he has featured on Aria-winning albums and has collaborated with the likes of Baker Boy and Dami Im. He has also received mentorship from the late Uncle Archie Roach.
Yirrmal describes his new music as an ‘undercurrent, swirling away quietly in the background.’ His music bridges two worlds and seeks to connect First Nations cultures to mainstream Australian audiences as a means to reconciliation with a focus on connection to people and country.
In this interview, Yirrmal discusses his many career highlights including performing with Midnight Oil, his responsibility to community and family, and his upcoming gigs at Bluesfest and The Tivoli.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
I’m a musician, a Yolngu musician, but a musician and song writer and story teller first and foremost, and I love to share my stories of this land and our people. Sitting with my Dad inspired me to start thinking about music as a way to express myself so I could tell my own stories. I moved down to Geelong after that to complete my education, and studied music for a while after that before I moved back home to Arnhem Land about five years ago to start learning our Rirratjingu songlines for ceremonies and funerals.
I have a beautiful partner Ineke who is a talented dancer, and we have two young children now. I need to stay on country in Arnhem Land for a lot of the time to help with ceremonies and funerals, so I can’t tour full time and I have limited myself to around five or six major festivals a year so I can manage these responsibilities.
Showcasing my culture the way I want to, it is a responsibility I take very seriously. My new music I recorded is a bit like an undercurrent, swirling away quietly in the background. My music is not something that fits into a box. Like I say to people, I bring my own culture, and I play the music and tell the stories that I want to tell. I want to see First Nations music being accepted as part of mainstream festivals.
How did you start your creative practice and why?
I did a lot of early work when I was at school at Geelong, and I was mentored by Uncle Archie, Neil Murray and Shane Howard. I wanted to reach out to mainstream audiences and connect to them and share my experiences of my life and culture with them through my stories. I play music because I love it, and I also play it and write songs to do my part in reconciliation. I started off solo but now I have this amazing band – we played at Woodford Folk Festival last month – the first time we had played together, and Dami Im jumped up on stage to do two songs with us, Promised Land and Which Way. The best time ever, thank you Woodford!
What are some of your biggest goals you hope to accomplish?
Well, number one goal for me is to be able to balance my family, community, work and ceremonial responsibilities with my music. Every day I wake up and think about how I’m going to make it work. Some days it’s easy and some days it’s a bit harder.
What has been your biggest career highlight so far?
Recording some great music with Andrew Farriss (INXS) down at his Piedmont Studio at his farm, and meeting some great musicians like Lawrie Minson there. Writing tracks with my cousin Baker Boy and recording them – ‘Marryuna’, ‘Ride’ and ‘Somewhere Deep’. And singing with Midnight Oil at Hanging Rock and Sydney a few years ago now, and also working on songs with Uncle Archie, Neil Murray and Shane Howard, and performing at the Commonwealth Games. Woodford in 2022 is right up there too!
Tell us about the new tracks you recently recorded
I recorded my new songs at Andrew Farriss’ farm near Tamworth in June 2021, an amazing experience, wow, what a truly kind and humble guy he is. I stayed with Andrew and his wife Marly, amazing, amazing people! He produced this music and I’m really proud of it and proud of what we achieved together. So late last year the legendary Lawrie Minson (who is Andrew’s music director and my music director) helped me to get my band together, such an incredible line up too. There is Ben Hakalitz from Yothu Yindi on the drums, Lawrie Minson on steel guitar and electric, Matt Hellak on lead, Andy Schrav on keys, Chris Pearson on bass, Ross Middleton on saxophone, and Shelley Minson and Serina O’Connor on backing vocals. This new band has only played together once, at Woodford on 29 December. Bluesfest Director Peter Noble came to see our set and reviewed it, so I’m pretty happy with that, thanks Peter!
“At the Woodford Folk Festival last night, along with thousands of people I was fortunate enough to experience Yirrmal…this was simply a brilliant performance by one of Australia’s greatest singers, songwriters, dancers and entertainers…Yirrmal’s gift is for the world…the band was incredible. Bluesfest, get ready an experience not to be missed.”
Peter Noble, Bluesfest Director
What do you hope audiences take from your work?
For me personally, I would really love people to walk away with a sense of hope, positivity, and for people to know that if they are going through a tough time, they are not alone. Music is such a powerful tool, it can help us, it communicates to us as people in such a way that other ways can’t. Music should make you feel something or else it’s not doing its job.
What future projects are you looking forward to?
Well, I’ve got Bluesfest coming up in April – I’ve got three shows there with my great band, Dami Im will be jumping up for a couple of songs too, what a voice!, And then we are doing a show at The Tivoli in Brisbane just after that as a Bluesfest sideshow. After that the Darwin Festival. I’ll be releasing my new track Love Sweet Love sometime around March. So I’m pretty excited about that!
Where can we find and follow you online?
SPOTIFY Spotify
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/yirrmal
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/yirrmalofficial
YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/@yirrmalofficial
TIKTOK https://www.tiktok/yirrmal
WEBSITE https://www.yirrmal.com.au