Soft Sands (band)

Last updated
Soft Sands
OriginGaliwin'ku, Elcho Island, Australia
Genrescountry and gospel
Years active1970-
MembersBiyarranydjarrwuy Garawirrtja
Murrlanawuy Garawirrtja
Djati Yunupiŋu
Murrlanawuy Garawirrtja
Djirrimbilpilwuy Garawirrtja
Biyarranydjarrwuy Garawirrtja
Djangirrawuy Garawirrtja
Garadhawal Garrawurra
Bakpirr Garawirrtja
Neparrŋa Gumbula
Biyarranydjarrwuy Garawirrtja
Murrlanawuy Garawirrtja
Datjarraŋa Garawirrtja
Boli Garrawurra

Soft Sands is a country and gospel band from Galiwin'ku in Arnhem Land formed in 1970. It was one of the first Arnhem Land bands to incorporate contemporary instruments, music styles and technologies into its music and has had a major influence on the development of popular music in top end. The members are Yolŋu and they sing in English and Yolŋu Matha. Soft Sands was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 2006 NT Indigenous Music Awards

It has released two self-titled albums. It also accompanied Neparrŋa Gumbula on his unreleased solo album Djiliwirri.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandawuy Yunupingu</span> Australian musician (1956–2013)

Mandawuy Djarrtjuntjun Yunupingu, formerly Tom Djambayang Bakamana Yunupingu, and also known as Dr Yunupingu, was a teacher and musician, and frontman of the Aboriginal rock group Yothu Yindi from 1986. He was an Aboriginal Australian man of the Yolŋu people, with a skin name of Gudjuk.

Djalu Gurruwiwi, written Djalu, was a Yolngu musician, artist, and leader from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He was globally recognised for his acquired skill as a player, maker, and spiritual keeper of the yiḏaki. As a respected artist with many of his works in several galleries, he aimed to spread his culture and traditions past his own community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous music of Australia</span> Music of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders

Indigenous music of Australia comprises the music of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, intersecting with their cultural and ceremonial observances, through the millennia of their individual and collective histories to the present day. The traditional forms include many aspects of performance and musical instrumentation that are unique to particular regions or Aboriginal Australian groups; and some elements of musical tradition are common or widespread through much of the Australian continent, and even beyond. The music of the Torres Strait Islanders is related to that of adjacent parts of New Guinea. Music is a vital part of Indigenous Australians' cultural maintenance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galarrwuy Yunupingu</span> Aboriginal Australian activist (1948–2023)

Galarrwuy Yunupingu, also known as James Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Dr Yunupingu, was an Indigenous Australian activist who was a leader in the Aboriginal Australian community. He was involved in Indigenous land rights throughout his career. He was a Yolngu man of the Gumatj clan, from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. He was the 1978 Australian of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yolngu</span> Aggregation of Indigenous Australian people in northeastern Arnhem Land

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.

<i>Ten Canoes</i> 2006 Australian film

Ten Canoes is a 2006 Australian historical drama/docudrama film directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and starring Crusoe Kurddal. The film is set in Arnhem Land in northern Australia, before Western influence, and tells the story of a group of ten men doing traditional hunting in canoes. A narrator tells the story, and the overall format is that of a moral tale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elcho Island</span> Island of the Northern Territory, Australia

Elcho Island, known to its traditional owners as Galiwin'ku (Galiwinku) is an island off the coast of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located at the southern end of the Wessel Islands group located in the East Arnhem Region. Galiwin'ku is also the name of the settlement where the island's largest community lives. Elcho Island formed part of the traditional lands of the Yan-nhaŋu, according to Norman Tindale. According to J. C. Jennison, the Aboriginal inhabitants were the Dhuwal, who called themselves the Kokalango Mala

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yolŋu languages</span> Family of Australian Aboriginal languages

Yolŋu Matha, meaning the 'Yolŋu tongue', is a linguistic family that includes the languages of the Yolngu, the indigenous people of northeast Arnhem Land in northern Australia. The ŋ in Yolŋu is pronounced as the ng in singing.

Australian Aboriginal culture includes a number of practices and ceremonies centered on a belief in the Dreamtime and other mythology. Reverence and respect for the land and oral traditions are emphasised. Over 300 languages and other groupings have developed a wide range of individual cultures. Due the colonization of Australia under terra nullius concept these cultures were treated as one monoculture. Australian Aboriginal art has existed for thousands of years and ranges from ancient rock art to modern watercolour landscapes. Aboriginal music has developed a number of unique instruments. Contemporary Australian Aboriginal music spans many genres. Aboriginal peoples did not develop a system of writing before colonisation, but there was a huge variety of languages, including sign languages.

Dhuwal is one of the Yolŋu languages spoken by Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory, Australia. Although all Yolŋu languages are mutually intelligible to some extent, Dhuwal represents a distinct dialect continuum of eight separate varieties. In 2019, Djambarrpuyŋu became the first indigenous language to be spoken in an Australian parliament, when Yolŋu man and member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Yingiya Guyula gave a speech in his native tongue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu</span> Indigenous Australian musician

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, commonly known as Gurrumul and also referred to since his death as Dr G. Yunupingu, was a Yolŋu Aboriginal Australian musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he played drums, keyboards, guitar and didgeridoo, but it was the clarity of his singing voice that attracted rave reviews. He sang stories of his land both in Yolŋu languages such as Gaalpu, Gumatj or Djambarrpuynu, a dialect related to Gumatj, and in English. He began his career as a member of Yothu Yindi and later Saltwater Band, and his solo career brought him wider acclaim He was the most commercially successful Aboriginal Australian musician at the time of his death. As of 2020, it is estimated that Yunupingu has sold half a million records globally.

Nabarlek are an Indigenous Roots band from Manmoyi, a tiny community in Arnhem Land, 215 kilometres from the remote community of Gunbalanya. The band formed in 1985 as a group of singers and dancers with a couple of busted guitars and flour tins for drums. The members are Bininj and they sing in the Kunwinjku language and in English, trying to reach across the cultures and to pass their knowledge from one generation to another. Their songs are traditional songs of the Kunwinjku people of western Arnhem Land with a rock/reggae arrangement. They call themselves the garage band that never had a garage.

East Journey are a rock/reggae band from North East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. They combined modern and traditional music and sing in both English and Yolŋu.

The Yan-nhaŋu, also known as the Nango, are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. They have strong sociocultural connections with their neighbours, the Burarra, on the Australian mainland.

The Dhuwal are an indigenous Australian people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

The Ritharrngu and also known as the Diakui, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, of the Yolŋu group of peoples. Their clans are Wagilak and Manggura, and Ritharrŋu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloud 9 (Baker Boy song)</span> 2017 single by Baker Boy featuring Kian

"Cloud 9" is a song by Indigenous Australian musician Baker Boy featuring Australian musician Kian. It was released in April 2017 as both artists' debut single. It is credited as the first original rap to be recorded and released in Yolŋu Matha language.

Ishmael Marika is a Yolngu musician, filmmaker, director and producer. His installations have been exhibited in many of Australia's most important museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide. He is currently the Creative Director for the pre-eminent Indigenous media unit in Australia, the Mulka Project, based at Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre at Yirrkala in Northeast Arnhem Land. The Mulka Project seeks to preserve and disseminate the sacred languages and cultural practices of the Yolngu people by collecting and archiving photographs, audio and video.

<i>The Gurrumul Story</i> 2021 compilation album by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu

The Gurrumul Story is the first compilation album from Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. The album was announced on 6 August 2021 and was released on 10 September 2021 on digital platforms, CD, deluxe CD+DVD and vinyl. The deluxe edition features a DVD including a 25-minute documentary covering Yunupingu's life and rise to stardom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Stingray</span> Australian rock band

King Stingray is an Australian rock band from Northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. With a sound self-described as "Yolŋu surf rock", the band perform songs with lyrics in both English and Yolŋu Matha. King Stingray released their debut single, "Hey Wanhaka", in October 2020, and their self-titled debut album on 5 August 2022.

References