Yilila

Artist Information

Biography

Yilila come from one of Australia’s most remote Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Yilila perform high energy roots and world music with displays of colorful traditional Red Flag dancing. Red Flag Songs and Dances belong to the band’s Nundhirribala clan and have come from hundreds of years of contact with the Makassan traders from Indonesia. Yilila’s songs are rooted in traditional Aboriginal, reggae and roots music and from there they look to the rest of the world for inspiration and sounds. Yilila have previously collaborated/performed with artists like Zakir Hussein, Raka Mukherjee, Sultan Khan, John Butler and David Bridie.

Yilila’s lead vocalist Grant Nundhirribala is a master of traditional music and a highly respected song man and dancer in Arnhem Land. He has recently won 6 awards for his work and has had professional experience dancing and singing with Bangarra Dance Theatre, Australian Ballet Company and Yothu Yindi. Yilila’s first CD “Manilamanila” won 2 awards for “best release” and “song of the year”. Yiliila mix traditional songs and dance into their live performance, giving an unprecedented show of traditional Aboriginal music and dance seamlessly melded with contemporary grooves. Grant Nundhirribala’s mixture of traditional and contemporary singing stands up against other vocal legends of the world music scene, with powerful songs in Wubuy, Anindilyakwa, Maccassan language and English.

Yilila are currently working on a collaborative music and dance project with the remote village of Watublapi on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Helping other remote and developing communities to use their traditional arts to build business and opportunities, is a focus of the band. Many of the mothers and fathers of the band members grew up and lived as Aboriginal people from their region had grown up from the beginning, in the bush with no contact with the outside world. Keeping their communities traditional culture alive is essential for the cultural health of their community.

Instrumentation

Grant Nundhirribala - vocals, Jaydron Nundhirribala - Didjeridoo, Don Murrungun - Dance/Didjeridoo, Tony Gray - Double Bass, Airi Ingram - PNG log drums, percussion/keyboard, Nui Moon - Percussion, Mark Smith - Drums, Glen Kniebiess - Tabla, Guitar.

Discography

2004 "Manilamanila" CD Album - 2 awards
2005 "Aeroplane" CD EP featuring John Butler and Raka Mukherjee
2005 "Red Flag Jamajama" - music DVD
2009 "Tanah Merege" CD Album - with musicians from the remote village Watublapi, Flores, Indonesia.

Audio

• Dhamalu Lharrmani
  Listen  
• Manila (India Remix)
  Listen  
• Mijiyanga
  Listen  
• Rharrarharra
  Listen  
• Numburindi People (radio mix)
  Listen  

Video

Showreel

Photo Gallery

Press

• Red Flag Music [+ Show ]
  

  Sun - March 23, 2008 Red Flag Music Every time I think I've discovered a hot new band, I turn a...Sun - March 23, 2008
  Red Flag Music
  
  Every time I think I've discovered a hot new band, I turn around and find out that they've been around for at least a couple of years. Such was the case with Yilila , who hail from Numbulwar and are making some of the most interesting music I've heard coming out of the Australian Indigenous scene in a while. Why didn't someone turn me on to these guys back in 2005, when their music started getting released on CD and, even better, on iTunes?
  
  The influence of Macassan sailors on the culture of Australia's northern coast has been well documented, and shows up in paintings from Elcho Island, in the tamarind trees on the coast of Arnhem Land, and now, in a big way, in the music of Yilila. The band's most identifiable symbol is the triangular Macassan red flag, or jamajama, that features large in their songs and videos. Other versions exist, like the manilamanila, the same red flag with a blue stripe that gives its name to the band's first full-length release. These blokes aren't Yolngu, though. They come from farther south, on the coast opposite Groote Eylandt, and sing in a mixture of Nunggubuyu, Anindilyakwa, and English.
  
  If the first song you hear from Yilila is the favorite "Dhararri," you might be forgiven for suspecting them of being a Yothu Yindi clone. This slow, melancholy song, a lament for a faraway home, puts strong, sad vocal harmonies that are highly evocative of Yothu Yindi's sound, over a familiar didjeridu growl. Likewise, their first release, Manila Manila, contains a few, short traditional songs. They seem to have learned some chops in stagecraft, as well, as have acts like Saltwater Band. Yilila, though, integrates the imagery of the red flag and the fascination of the dance in a way that makes for an expressive whole. (I base these comments on the photos and videos available on their website.) The Red Flag Dancers are a performance group in their own right, and look to be an exciting act. Certainly the short films (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page at that link) of members of the band and the dancers demonstrating traditional dances on the beach display an athleticism and excitement that's beyond what you normally see on the confines of a rock 'n' roll stage.
  
  But the band's sound is uniquely their own, and this is due in large part to the skills of guitarist and bassist Rodrick Nundhirribala. On songs like "Rharrarharra" his acoustic Spanish guitar stylings give Yilila bragging rights to a new kind of "world music." Instead of the usual formula of Western artists like David Byrne layering Afro-Luso-Caribe funk on top of rock 'n' roll basics, Yilila starts from the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, mixes the music up with Indonesian influences, and then brings the sparkle of flamenco to bear on the whole. It's a dizzying mix, and it works in part because I don't think anyone has ever tried to make the frenetic runs of Spanish guitar picking carry the job of adding shimmer and spin to the beat of the funk before.
  
  The guitar works similarly to create a spinning rhythm, set atop singing drumbeats at the opening of "Dhamalu Lharrmani," and when the vocals enter after a few bars, the liquid syllables of the lyrics swirl in a vortex that somehow manages to evoke the sounds of the Middle East in all its frenzy and languor. I was reminded of the truly international flavor of the Hispano-Iranian duo Strunz & Farah. And then the songs ends, and a bluesy guitar intro to the next tune, "Dhumbala" sails across the Atlantic, promising R&B for a moment before bubbling up into one of the band's experiments with the bounce of reggae. And then, at the song's conclusion, the reggae beat gives way suddenly to a final six-note descending figure that takes you right back into the realm of American soul. The next song is "Dhararri," and we're suddenly back in the land of Yolngu lament.
  
  This adventuresome, around-the-world-in-180-seconds strategy goes into stratospheric orbit on the band's EP, Aeroplane. The title track features a guest appearance by Fremantle slide guitar legend John Butler. But things start to get really interesting on the second track, "Manila." It opens with a dreamy tambura prelude, foreshadowing the Indian classical vocals of Raka Mukherjee that steer the song's path through a series of slow changes and add a deeper dimension to lead singer Grant Nundhirribala's mournful, soulful exercises. The two singers trade licks, slowly, almost as if they were performing on separate stages, reaching out to one another across continents. In the song's final minute the vocals fade into one another, and sink behind another repeating, irregular riff for acoustic guitar and congas.
  
  "Mijiyanga (World Remix)" opens with more Spanish guitar, backed by a plaintive violin, before a bouncing duet for drums and--what is it? a concertina? a melodica?--picks up the beat; then the vocals, sung in English, evoke the return of the old sailing ship. This is a theme from the northern coast, for sure, the people waiting for the return of the monsoon and the Macassans: "I see the old sailing boat/In my dreams/It was floating towards me/Across the sea." Before you can sort out the mixture, the whole ensemble stops on a dime as drums and didj duet at center stage for a few bars; vocals are backed by guitar and strings for a few more bars, and then the drum and didj theme comes back under classic call and response ceremonial singing from the Carpentaria sands--and that concertina slips in again underneath it all. At this point, the song isn't even half over; yet what's amazing is that it doesn't come off as a self-conscious patchwork. The players somehow manage to craft enough connections in phrasing and instrumentation to take you through these changes without jarring your loose.
  
  In truth, they'd tried this before: the song appears on Manila Manila, but the different elements are somehow more homogenized, more tightly streamed into one another so that the exotic and the diverse are de-emphasized. The version on Aeroplane foregrounds the mash-up, to spectacular effect. They try the same strategy in the gentler "E Dhumbula," letting the drone of the tambura weave together a different tapestry of instruments and electronic effects.
  
  Unfortunately, the rest of Aeroplane is mostly recycling: two tracks from the earlier album, re-released without modifications, and a "radio mix" version of "Mijiyanga" that adds no substance to the EP. If you already own Manila Manila, buy the new tracks from Aeroplane from iTunes individually and save a couple of dollars. But don't miss those new tracks; they promise great things for the future.
  
  The future should include a performance at this year's Darwin Festival with Sanggar Bliran Sina, an Indonesian musical cooperative from Watublapi. According to a story in The Australian ("Neighbourly swapping of notes," January 3, 2008), a CD born of the collaboration is due later this year as well. Who knows how this partnership will stretch the imaginations of Yilila? I'm eager to find out.

Setlist

Set ranges from 45mins - 90mins, incorporating original band, traditional song and traditional dance.

Basic Requirements

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