Aboriginal singer performed at UN
Band also closed Sydney Games
Mandawuy Yunupingu, who died recently aged 56, was the foremost Australian Aboriginal musician of recent decades and achieved international recognition as leader of the band Yothu Yindi, which had an international hit in 1992 with the single Treaty.
Calling for land rights and reconciliation, Treaty topped the Australian charts for 22 weeks. It received airplay throughout the world, and in October 1992 Yothu Yindi travelled to New York and performed at the United Nations — the first rock band ever to do so — at the launch of the UN International Year for the World’s Indigenous People.
Eight years later Yothu Yindi found its largest audience of all, at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the opening ceremony of the Paralympics.
Yunupingu was born Tom Djambayang Bakamanana Yunupingu on Sept. 17, 1956 in Australia’s Northern Territory. He belonged to the Yolngu clan, and as is customary his name was changed to Mandawuy on the death of a family member with the same name. Yunupingu grew up in a household that spoke both the tribal language (Gujamati) and English, and became the first Aboriginal from his area to gain a university degree.
In 1986, he co-founded, with Witiyana Marika, Yothu Yindi. The name is a Yolngu kinship ter m meaning “mother and child” and their music was quickly hailed by the Australian musician Paul Kelly, who took them on tour. Signed to the leading Australian label Mushroom Records, Yothu Yindi released their debut album, Homeland Movement, in 1988.
At the same time as leading the band, Yunupingu worked as a teacher at Yirrkala Community School and in 1990 became its principal — the first Aboriginal in Australia to hold such a post. During this time he was able to tour with the band only during the school holidays; in late 1991 he resigned his position to focus on Yothu Yindi.
That year they released the album Tribal Voice, and one of the songs on the record was Treaty.
Yothu Yindi continued to release albums throughout the 1990s, but constant touring took its toll: Yunupingu descended into alcoholism, and decided to spend more time in his homeland. By the end of the decade the band was concentrating on playing for Aboriginal communities.
Mandawuy Yunupingu, who died on June 2, is survived by his wife, Yalmay, and six daughters.