SPECIAL GUESTS TO JOIN TREATY PROJECT PARTY
Yothu Yindi & The Treaty Project will lead an opening ceremony of their own when they bring their Sly and the Family Stone-style electronica spinoff show to the sands of Surfers Paradise beach tonight. All That Glitters hears the show will see them joined by some special surprise guests.
SURFERS Paradise will host its own party to welcome the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games tonight when Yothu Yindi & The Treaty Project play a free concert on the beach for Festival 2018.
The latest incarnation of fabled Australian group Yothu Yindi is an electronica spin-off (think Sly and the Family Stone) of the trailblazing band from Arnhem Land that features familiar faces and new members.
ATG hears former Federal Labor Government Minister, Midnight Oil frontman and official #StopAdani campaigner Peter Garrett is preparing to join the group on the Gold Coast as a special guest.
One of the first bands to bring the stories and issues of indigenous Australia to the world in the form of infectious music, Yothu Yindi formed in 1986 when two bands – one indigenous, the other white – united to merge Yolngu traditions with rock.
The group has enjoyed a long friendship with Garrett and his Midnight Oil band mates.
Garrett joined Paul Kelly in 2012 to induct the group into the ARIA Hall of Fame before they joined the band and guests Jessica
Mauboy, Dan Sultan and Andrew Farriss to perform the group’s international hit Treaty.
Yothu Yindi had the world on its feet and at their feet in 1991 when Filthy Lucre’s remix of their protest song Treaty ricocheted around the globe.
The dancefloor favourite was written by the group’s late frontman Doctor M. Yunupingu after the Federal Government backflipped on the Barunga Statement – Prime Minister Bob
Hawke’s 1988 promise to initiate a treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Almost 30 years later, Australia remains the only Commonwealth country that hasn’t constitutionally recognised its indigenous people.
Formed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Yothu Yindi’s iconic anthem, The Treaty Project is sharing the group’s message with a new generation of music lovers and providing a platform to showcase talented young artists from Arnhem Land.
Yothu Yindi & The Treaty Project features original band members Witiyana Marika on vocals and bilma (clapsticks),
Malangay Yunupingu on yidaki (didgeridoo) and bassist Stuart Kellaway.
“It’s coming up to 30 years now and we still don’t have a treaty,” Marika said.
The Treaty Project sees the originals joined by vocalists including blues singer Yirrmal (Marika’s son), one of the standout performers at last weekend’s
Byron Bay Bluesfest, Dhapanbal Yunupingu (daughter of the late Dr M. Yunupingu), Kamahi Djordon King, newcomer Yirrnga Yunupingu, Goanna frontman Shane Howard and musicians Ania Reynolds and Megan Bernard.
“I’m very, very proud of my son,” Marika said.
“He’s playing a lead role.”
Gavin Campbell, a founding member of remix producers Filthy Lucre, will also join the band for tonight’s exclusive Queensland concert.
“It’s a short-form electronic version of Yothu Yindi. It’s very contemporary,” Kellaway said.
The performers are thrilled to be part of the Commonwealth Games celebrations.
“We come from Northeast Arnhem Land where sport and athletics – and football – is a very important part of life and culture. People really, really love this event,” Kellaway said.
Tonight’s concert marks the start of a huge couple of weeks for Marika. He’ll return home to the small community of Yirrkala, on the Gove Peninsula, to welcome Prince Charles as part of his visit to the Northern Territory.
“We’ll be showing him how to dance the Yolngu way,” he said.
ATG hears Yothu Yindi will also feature in the Games’ official closing ceremony on April 15.