The didgeridoo is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia at least 1,000 years ago, and is now in use around the world, though still most strongly associated with Indigenous Australian music. In the Yolŋu languages of the indigenous people of northeast Arnhem Land the name for the instrument is the yiḏaki, or more recently by some, mandapul. In the Bininj Kunwok language of West Arnhem Land it is known as mako.
Yothu Yindi are an Australian musical group with Aboriginal and balanda (non-Aboriginal) members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a white rock group called the Swamp Jockeys, and an unnamed Aboriginal folk group consisting of Mandawuy Yunupingu, Witiyana Marika and Milkayngu Mununggur. The Aboriginal members came from Yolngu homelands near Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula in Northern Territory's Arnhem Land. Founding members included Stuart Kellaway on bass guitar, Cal Williams on lead guitar, Andrew Belletty (drums), Witiyana Marika on manikay, bilma and dance, Milkayngu Mununggurr on yidaki (didgeridoo), Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu on keyboards, guitar and percussion, past lead singer Mandawuy Yunupingu and present Yirrnga Yunupingu on vocals and guitar. Manager
Djalu Gurruwiwi, written Djalu, was a Yolngu man and leader from Arnhem Land in northern Australia. He was globally recognized for his acquired skill as a player, maker, and spiritual keeper of the yiḏaki, also referred to as the didgeridoo. As a respected artist with many of his works in several galleries, he aimed to spread his culture and traditions past his own community.
The Yolngu or Yolŋu are an aggregation of Aboriginal Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolngu means "person" in the Yolŋu languages. The terms Murngin, Wulamba, Yalnumata, Murrgin and Yulangor were formerly used by some anthropologists for the Yolngu.
The Gove Peninsula is at the northeastern corner of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The peninsula became strategically important during World War II when a Royal Australian Air Force base was constructed at what is now Gove Airport. The peninsula was involved in a famous court case known as the Gove land rights case, when local Yolngu people tried to claim native title over their traditional lands in 1971, after the Australian Government had granted a mineral lease to a bauxite mining company without consulting the local peoples. Today the land is owned by the Yolngu people.
Nungalinya College is an adult education college based in Casuarina, a suburb of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. Founded in 1974, it describes itself as a "Combined Churches Training College for Indigenous Australians", and provides training for Christian ministers and community leadership.
The Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures (Garma) is Australia's largest Indigenous cultural gathering, taking place over four days each August in northeast Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory, Australia. Hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Garma is a celebration of the cultural traditions of the Yolngu people, and a major community gathering for the clans and families of the Arnhem Land region. The event showcases traditional miny'tji (art), ancient story-telling, manikay (song), and bunggul (dance). It is held at Gulkula, a significant Gumatj ceremonial site about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the township of Nhulunbuy, attracts more than 2500 guests each year and is often sold out months in advance.
Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, 18 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. Its population comprises predominantly Aboriginal Australians of the Yolngu people, and it is also home to a number of Mission Aviation Fellowship pilots and engineers based in Arnhem Land, providing air transport services.
Milingimbi Island, also Yurruwi, is the largest island of the Crocodile Islands group off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.
Yunupingu is the family name of a number of notable Aboriginal Australians from the Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land, who are closely connected with the Marika and Gurruwiwi families.
Marika is a both a given name and surname. As a feminine given name, it is of Hungarian and Greek origin; a diminutive of Maria. Apart from Hungary and Greece, the name is also found in Estonia, Finland, Japan, Sweden, and Poland. In Fiji, it is a masculine given name.
The surname Monaghan is a family name originating from the province of Connacht in Ireland. Mostly a last name.
Twomey is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Cork. The paternal ancestors of the clan are of the Corcu Loígde; the Twomey clan originated from Donnchadh na Tuaima who was himself a member of the O'Leary family. The Twomey family motto is "fortis undis et armis" which translates to 'strong waves and arms'.
Mulvaney or Mulvany is a surname. Notable people with the surname:
Schoenmaker and Schoenmakers are Dutch occupational surnames meaning "shoemaker". People with these names include:
The Dangu are an Aboriginal Australian people of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory, one of many Yolŋu peoples. They are, according to Norman Tindale, to be carefully distinguished from the Djaŋu.
Mithinarri Gurruwiwi (c.1929–1976) was an Aboriginal Australian painter of the Gälpu clan of the Yolngu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. His first name is sometimes spelt Midinari, Mitinari, or Mithinari.
The Garrangali Band, also known as Garrangali, is an Aboriginal Australian musical group from the tiny homeland community, or outstation, of Baniyala in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Garrangali means "home of the crocodile" in the Yolngu language, in which they sing some lyrics. Their musical style has been variously described as reggae, saltwater reggae and saltwater ska.
