Connecting NT Musicians
Taking the world by storm: an interview with Anthony Gray from Yilila
Indeed Yilila have represented the NT at some of the biggest world music festivals, including the Festival of World Cultures in Ireland, Festival Mundial, The Netherlands and WOMADelaide Festival in South Australia - not to mention those closer to home including GARMA, Darwin Festival and Port Fairy Folk Festival. To date they have released 2 CDs and a special DVD ‘digipack’, collaborating with the likes of John Butler and classical Indian singer Raku Mukherjee.
Yilila are unique in that not only are they known for their “raw blend of high energy reggae and world music”, they also combine high energy traditional dance as part of their shows – “Red Flag Dancing” – which has its roots in hundreds of years of contact between local clan Nundhirribala and visiting Macassan traders from Indonesia.
Anthony Gray plays double bass with Yilila which boasts a massive line up of NT musicians. He spoke to Music NT about one of the country's most unique world music outfits…
Music NT: Who is in Yilila?
Anthony Gray: Yilila's lead singer/songwriter is Grant Nundhirribala. Numbulwar is the multi-award winning and multi-talented traditional and contemporary singer and dancer. They are supported by didj players and dancers Jaydron Nundhirribala, Don Don Murrungun, Roland Nundhirribala and band members Glen Kniebiess (tabla and guitar), myself (double bass), Airi Ingram (percussion and keyboard), Nui Moon (percussion), Mark Smith (drums), Roderick Nundhirribala (guitars & electric bass), James Nundhirribala (electric guitar), Dave Murrungun (drums), Dion Wurramurra (acoustic guitars/dancer).... And the list goes on! Our dance group Red Flag Dancers tours with young and old people from Numbulwar and Groote Island. We try to keep giving professional & touring experience to young people so they can move into the band as they get old enough.
MNT: How would you describe Yilila's music?
AG: Our music is mainly based on Red Flag songs from Numbulwar, which
is the traditional culture of the Nundhirribala clan. The songs are influenced by reggae, country and all kinds of traditional world music. Songs are sung in a mixture of Wubuy from Numbulwar, Anindilyakwa from Groote Island, English, Creole, and blends of Makassan and other Indonesian languages.
The music ranges from fast, energetic ska/reggae to slow, mournful and haunting vocals. An outstanding feature is Grant Nundhirribala's incredible talent to mix his traditional vocals into contemporary songs. Grant learned to sing isolated in Numbulwar, learning traditional music from his fathers in Numbulwar, he then learned contemporary styles from reggae tapes and CDs. You can hear the flexibility of Grant’s voice on his recordings and live on stage. For Grant, Numbulwar is the centre of the world and from there he looks out worldwide for inspiration. You can hear this in his recordings, from
collaborations such as Manila (India remix, Aeroplane EP) with Indian vocalist Raka Mukherjee and his soon to be released collaboration with musicians from a remote community in Flores, Indonesia, called Tanah Merege.
Grant has also in the past shown his unique ability to cross genres through performances with Bangarra Dance Theatre, Australian Ballet Company, Yothu Yindi, David Bridie, Zakir Hussein, John Butler and his work in Indonesia with traditional musicians and the resulting Tanah Merege (Black Land) concert for the 2008 Darwin Festival.
MNT: Tell us about where Yilila's members live in Arnhem Land - and the
history and culture there that informs Yilila's music...
AG: Yilila are from Numbulwar, which is a tiny community on the Gulf of Carpenteria in SE Arnhem Land, a couple of hours drive north of Ngukurr and the Roper River. Its a very quiet and traditional community on the beach with the community built into the sand dunes. There are about 12 clans that came together in the 1950s to set up Numbulwar with the missionaries. At the moment there are 4 clans that live by and practice their traditional singing and dancing. Dhumbala (Red Flag) - Nundhirribala clan, Dhambul (Devil Dances) Murrungun clan, Gudarrgu (Brolga) Ngalmi clan and Ralngarr (white cockatoo) Nunggagarlu clan. The Dhumbala, Red Flag culture is what Yilila's music is based on. The word "Dhumbala" comes from "Sombala" which is the old Makassan word for sail. Makassar is an area in what is now southern Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Makassan people where known as great sailors and came to the coast of Arnhem Land around the 15th century, along with evidence as far back as 15,000 years of people from Flores, Indonesia coming to the Australian coast.
The Red Flags you see the dancers carry on stage are symbolic of the triangular sails from the Makassan boats that used to sail every year from Eastern Indonesia to trade with the Aboriginal people in the Top End. All the flags have different names that you can hear Grant calling in his songs: "Dharrimana" a modern Indonesian/Malaysian word meaning "where from", "Jamajama" Makassan word meaning "to work", Dharuja, Nayurryurr, Manila, Gamaladhurrina, Lharruwa etc. The actions the dancers do on stage and in traditional performances mimic the actions of the boats and of the people on the land watching the boats come and go. In Grant’s family, people are generally named from these old Makassan and Malaysian words. Grant’s nephew, Ananias Nundhirribala - a young dancer who usually wows audiences at GARMA - is called Laki, which is the Indonesian word for “man” or “boy”. Grant’s son and Didj player has a flag name “Nayurryurr” and his daughter is Manila. Grant’s Father (who recently passed away), his name Malayu was the old word for Malaysia which represented the entire Malaysian, Indonesian, Papuan and Australian area. This is the area that we focus on with our new CD "Tanah Merege". This means "Black Land" with "Tanah" meaning land from Indonesian and "Merege" meaning black from a Papuan language.
This Red Flag culture is a religion for the Nundhirribala family. Everything that happens to them relates to their culture. Many songs are a celebration of their culture and country, other songs deal with birth and death. For example the song "Dhamalu Lharrmani" off the new album (not the one with the smame name from the Manilamanila CD) is a funeral song. The song is sung at a funeral service before the body is ready to be buried. The song symbolically sings, like in a dream, of the old Makassan boat coming from Indonesia, as if from heaven, to collect the spirit of the person who has passed away then take them back up high. If children are born family members will have dreams of the new boy or girl sailing across the water on an old Makassan boat. The culture is completely woven into everyday life giving meaning and law to the Nundhirribala clan.
MNT: When, how and why did Yilila form?
AG: Yilila was named by Grant Nundhirribala many years ago but Grant wasn't the original singer. Grant became the lead singer and songwriter around 2000 when he came back from performing at the 2000 Sydney Olympics ceremony. The band was formed by Grant and his brothers and other family, but with special permission from his mother and fathers, uncles and aunties, to use the Red Flag songs and dances in the music. The old people were really happy that Grant and his brothers would use the traditional music in their band, so that they could go out and teach and show everyone their culture.
The band is really an extension of their traditional music – it’s not separate from the traditional music and culture, its just another step in an evolving culture. Now that the old people have passed away over the last couple of years, the responsibility of teaching and ceremony has all come down to Grant as he is the oldest and most experienced singer and dancer. Yilila have always performed around their region to people who are familiar with their music and culture. Getting from Numbulwar to performing to the rest of the world has been an incredible achievement for the band and has taken many years of ‘hard core’ commitment and resilience.
MNT: You've just returned from playing gigs at Byron Bay BluesFest - how did that go? Maybe you could give us a snapshot of the gigs?
AG: Bluesfest was great, it reminded me of our recent performance at the Bellingen Global Carnival. People in NSW seem to love Yilila's music. People went mad as they do in the NT when we perform. It was great to be around other bands as well who had similar styles.
Festivals like that are a great opportunity for the boys from Numbulwar to see great international acts that they love, and to hear what other people are doing. Especially to see their hero Alpha Blondy live – it was like a dream come true. We are also really appreciative of the support we get from other bands who get the opportunity to see us live. Other musicians are shocked when they see the boys perform, they didn't know bands like this existed in Australia. Many people don't understand the language, but totally get the vibe and are sympathetic to the energy and passion.
AG: I think we love all our gigs because to get to them is such an effort that we appreciate every opportunity we get. The financial side of getting a band made up of musicians from a remote community and different cities around Australia is a big call. Performing is the number one love of the band more than anything, which is obvious if you see them live.
MNT: And do the guys enjoy travelling and performing overseas? And touring in general?
AG: I think most musicians love touring to a big performance, no matter
how hard it is. Performing overseas took a long time to build up too. Some of the Numbulwar boys and their families aren't that happy about traveling long distances from home, but the special thing about Grant Nundhirribala is that he has dreamed of it since he was young and loves the opportunity to travel. We just have to sort out who wants to tour overseas and who would rather just do concerts closer to home. It’s a big responsibility to have a passport and travel overseas so you need to be up to the challenge, otherwise it
can be irresponsible to take people from remote areas, with little experience of even traveling to Darwin or Katherine, {let alone to] another country. We always want to know that everyone that leaves on tour comes back as well.
MNT: How do audiences react to your music? What do you think it is that they connect to in particular?
AG: I think they connect to the energy, exoticness and passion that the band puts out when it performs. Indigenous bands from this whole region have the same thing to offer the world. Each Indigenous community you go to in the NT has a different language, songs and dancers and when you go to Indonesia, you can walk to another village and hear different songs, languages and instruments. This area of South East Asia and Australia has a wealth of incredible, unheard music. The live show the Numbulwar boys give, like their traditional Red Flag performances, is very special. they love to show off!
MNT: In Indian culture - especially 'Bollywood' culture - there is an idea that "dance is the completion of music". You have the 'Red Flag Dancers' iin your group - how do the dancers fit into Yilila's music philosophy?
AG: As the band is an extension of the traditional music, the dancers
couldn't be left out. I couldn't imagine touring without any dancers, its about showing everyone Red Flag culture, which is singing and dancing together, the songs aren't really sung without dance.
MNT: Yilila is involved in community development projects - can you tell us more about those?
AG: We have always tried to work in with the Numbulwar school and other schools in the region to give students the opportunity to perform, dance, record and make videos. Music and dance is a real strength in Numbulwar and many of the students from music courses that have been run at the school have ended up working with Yilila. I think Yilila is still pretty much the only business in Numbulwar from Numbulwar, although now we are becoming a bit more scattered around the country. Many of the Yilila members have always taught most of the children in Numbulwar all the Red Flag songs and dances, and they have been the most amazing encouragement for their youth. Now he young people can look to Yilila as a business and a band that
overcomes the huge distance, financial, political and cultural bridges to being a tour band and business from a remote community.
One big step for us was working with a remote village called Watublapi in Flores, Indonesia. The artistic borders that exist along side the country borders between Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, they never existed before. Myself and Grant Nundhirribala spent a lot of time in Flores, Indonesia over the last couple of years, working with people in a remote village there, to do with their traditional culture what Yilila has done in their
remote community. It was Grant's first trip over seas and obviously a big thing for him to go to Indonesia, where his traditional culture had come from.
With an absence of any economy in most traditional areas in the region, the arts is a brilliant way for people to build business and make money, without losing traditional law and cultural. Changing to capitalism is a long process and losing your traditional law and culture to it before you are ready is where tragedy begins . There is plenty of money in Darwin, especially for Indigenous projects that really just gets scammed by the same people in Darwin year after year. This money would be so beneficial for thousands of people throughout our region, if we managed it better and shared a bit more. It was a great step that our only business in Numbulwar, without any infrastructural or financial support from our own community or government, had the equipment and experience to assist a community in Indonesia, where Numbulwar is usually seen as somewhere that always receives help.
MNT: And rumour has it you've been filming with Channel V - can you also tell us more about that?
AG: We did an interview and a bit of a performance at the Byron Bay Lighthouse. I think its a bit of a long term project over the next wo years, so it might be a while before it gets broadcast, but we’ll keep everyone posted.
MNT: What ambitions do Yilila have as a band - how far would they like to take performing and recording?
AG: I think we have already done more than we thought we could do, but we won’t stop moving forward. This Red Flag Culture is too strong to just sit down or fade away. We are always looking for opportunities to collaborate with other musicians from other cultures.
We are hoping to do some more touring to Europe and Asia in the future and release a CD for that market over the next year, hopefully with the backing of more musicians from the oceanic region. We have slowed down a bit over the last couple of years because we have lost a lot of immediate family members, but I think it’s all starting to pick up again now.
MNT: The community where Yilila live - what is their reaction to the guys' success so far?
AG: People always loved Yilila before and still do, they are a great example to other young bands that are starting to come up now from Ngukurr, Groote Island and Numbulwar. We just hope we can somehow assist them, so they don’t fall into the same trap other artists from remote communities fall into. Even in the 8 years we have been working hard no other bands from our region have really emerged and continued with any strength. It would be great if we could get at least one more going soon.
Many old people are really proud of the work the boys have done and the credit they are to the culture that represents what they stand for.
MNT: What's next for Yilila?
AG: More recording, more touring, we will just take whatever opportunities we can, so we can get more well known on the world stage, meet more people, make more interesting music and hope we can find ways to make things better for other young bands from remote areas - who really have everything stacked up against them but a lot to offer their communities, families and our region.
I really hope we can stop the wastage of Indigenous money in the NT and put it towards better opportunities for people in the oceanic region.
To learn more about Yilia, you can visit their website and/or their Myspace page.
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