Witiyana Marika

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Witiyana Marika is an Aboriginal Australian musician, filmmaker and elder, known for being a founding member of the band Yothu Yindi and producer of the film High Ground .

Contents

Early life and family

Marika was born into the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory of Australia, [1] and raised in Yirrkala. [2]

He a member of the Marika family, and is also a son by lore of the actor David Gulpilil (who died in 2021). [3] [4] His mother was noted artist Ms. D. (Djerrkngu) Eunice Yunupingu (c.1945–2022), [5] [6] whose sisters included artists Gulumbu Yunupingu, Barrupu Yunupingu, and Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu. [7] among others.

Music career

Marika was in the original line-up of Yothu Yindi when they formed in 1986. He sang in traditional style, singing clan songs of the Yolngu people known as manikay, played bilma clapsticks, and danced. [8] [9]

In 2017, along with fellow longtime members Malngay Yunupingu and Stuart Kellaway and several new musicians, including his son Yirrmal, he played in Yothu Yindi & The Treaty Project, [10] with the newly-formed band performing live across Australia into 2019. [11]

Film

Marika played the role of the grandfather as well as being co-producer and senior cultural advisor to the film High Ground , which took around 20 years to make and is based on true events. [1] The film was directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson, who is a friend of Marika since they met in 1989 [12] and who had made the music video for the Yothu Yind's second single, "Djäpana", which won an ARIA award. Taking part in the project was important to Marika, as he is passionate about the necessity to educate broader Australia about past history of massacres and colonial violence. As a teenager, as part of a ceremony undertaken with his grandfather on their homeland Gäṉgän (Gan Gan), he was taught about the massacre of over 100 people of his grandmother’s clan, Dhalwaŋu. He had further researched the details of the massacre with his friend and cousin Dr M. Yunupingu, who shared the same grandmother. [1] Two men survived the massacre by hiding in the water and using rushes to breathe through, a trick used by a little boy in the film. [13]

Marika said the film was taking his people's story to the world, in the same way that Yothu Yindi took their music to the world. [1] He played an essential role in navigating relations between the mostly white ("balanda") filmmakers and the traditional owners of Cannon Hill, Gunbalanya and Gunlom, where filming took place and permissions were needed to access the land. [12]

Other roles

Marika is a senior member (or elder [2] ) of the Rirratjingu clan, and a senior ceremonial leader and a teacher of songlines and ceremonies for his clan and community. [14]

He has worked as a co-presenter in cross-cultural education, delivering seminars to businesses and academia. He was formerly vice chair of the Aboriginal Resource Development Services (ARDS) and chair of Buku-Larrngay Mulka Arts Centre Committee and Dhimurru Land Management. He is a director of Rirratjingu Mining Pty Ltd and Rirratjingu Investments Pty Ltd. [14]

In 2021 he directed the Yarrapay Festival at Buku-Larrngay, where he played with Yothu Yindi. [14]

Personal life and family

Marika has two wives (as of 2014), as is customary among Yolngu people, in order to form larger clans and stronger families. Marika says that the women are treated equally, and there are many benefits to growing up in a large extended family. [2]

The blues singer Yirrmal is Marika's son. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yothu Yindi</span> Australian musical group

Yothu Yindi are an Australian musical group with Aboriginal and 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 on drums, Witiyana Marika on manikay, bilma and dance, Milkayngu Mununggurr on yidaki, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu on keyboards, guitar, and percussion, past lead singer Mandawuy Yunupingu and present Yirrnga Yunupingu on vocals and guitar.

<i>Homeland Movement</i> 1989 studio album by Yothu Yindi

Homeland Movement is the debut studio album by Australian rock band Yothu Yindi that was released in April 1989 on the Mushroom Records label. The album peaked at number 59 on the ARIA Chart in 1992.

<i>Tribal Voice</i> 1991 studio album by Yothu Yindi

Tribal Voice is the second studio album by Yothu Yindi, released in September 1991 on the Mushroom Records label. The album peaked at number 4 on the ARIA Charts and was certified 2× Platinum.

<i>Freedom</i> (Yothu Yindi album) 1993 studio album by Yothu Yindi

Freedom is the third studio album by Australian band, Yothu Yindi released in 1993. The album peaked at number 31 on the ARIA charts.

<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.

<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">Yolŋu</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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yirrkala</span> Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

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.

<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.

Yunupingu, also spelt Yunupiŋu, 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.

Raymattja Marika, also known as Gunutjpitt Gunuwanga, was a Yolngu leader, scholar, educator, translator, linguist and cultural advocate for Aboriginal Australians. She was a Director of Reconciliation Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She was also a director of the Yothu Yindi Foundation and a participant in the 2020 Summit, which was held in April 2008. Marika advocated understanding and reconciliation between Indigenous Australian and Western cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulumbu Yunupingu</span>

Gulumbu Yunupingu, after her death known as Djotarra or Ms Yunupingu, was an Australian Aboriginal artist and women's leader from the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty (song)</span> 1991 single by Yothu Yindi

"Treaty" is a protest song by Australian musical group Yothu Yindi, which is made up of Aboriginal and balanda (non-Aboriginal) members. Released in June 1991, "Treaty" was the first song by a predominantly Aboriginal band to chart in Australia and was the first song partly in any Aboriginal Australian language to gain extensive international recognition, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play singles charts. The song contains lyrics in Gumatj, one of the Yolngu Matha dialects and a language of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in northern Australia.

<i>High Ground</i> (2020 film) 2020 Australian film by Stephen Maxwell Johnson

High Ground is a 2020 Australian film directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson, based on historical events that took place in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, set just after World War I. It has variously been called a revisionist Western and meat pie Western. However it tells of a true historical event in a fictionalised manner but with very close attention to and respect for Aboriginal culture.

Yirrmal Marika, known mononymously as Yirrmal, is an Indigenous Australian vocalist. A Yolngu man, his music features traditional sounds and elements of Yolŋu music.

Banula (David) Marika is an Aboriginal Australian dancer, actor, singer and performer from Yirrkala in North East Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. The son of Roy Marika, he is a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people, and is known for his performances with the Bangarra Dance Theatre since the 1990s.

Gavin Campbell is an Australian club DJ and remixer based in Melbourne, Victoria. He created the dance music production outfit known as Filthy Lucre, which is known for its 1991 remix of Yothu Yindi's single, "Treaty", known as "Treaty ".

Stephen Maxwell Johnson is an Australian filmmaker, best known for his films Yolngu Boy (2001) and High Ground (2020). He is also known for directing Yothu Yindi's music videos in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu was a senior Yolngu artist and matriarch, who lived in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia. She worked at the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, where her work is still held, and is known for her graphic art style, bark paintings and printmaking.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Quinn, Belinda (27 January 2021). "'High Ground' producer Witiyana Marika: "I would like to show Australia to the world"". NME . Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "Witiyana Marika". SBS News . 25 September 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  3. ↑ Garrick, Matt (7 December 2021). "Sydney Opera House illuminates life and career of late NT actor David Gulpilil". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  4. ↑ "Tributes pour in from across the world for Northern Territory actor David Dalaithngu". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  5. ↑ Eccles, Jeremy (1 July 2022). "Mrs D Yunupingu 1945/2022". Aboriginal Art Directory. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  6. ↑ "Ms. D. (Djerrkngu) Eunice Yunupingu (c.1945 - 2022)". Alcaston Gallery (in Polish). Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  7. ↑ "Bark Ladies centres female Yolŋu artists". Art Guide Australia. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  8. ↑ McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Yothu Yindi'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop . Allen & Unwin. ISBN   1-86448-768-2. Archived from the original on 30 September 2004.
  9. ↑ Ed Nimmervoll (ed.). "Yothu Yindi". HowlSpace. Archived from the original on 26 July 2012.
  10. 1 2 "Mixing EDM & Manikay To Touch The Heart Of The Country". The Music. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  11. ↑ Treaty - Yothu Yindi & The Treaty Project (Live) on YouTube (29 April 2019) "Filmed live across Australia and New Zealand, between November 2017 and March 2019."
  12. 1 2 Zhou, Debbie (9 February 2021). "'I did this for my family': how High Ground uses a 'both ways' approach to tell Australia's story". The Guardian . Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  13. ↑ Johnson, Stephen Maxwell; Marika, Witiyana (3 January 2021). "Interview: Stephen Maxwell Johnson & Witiyana Marika". Glam Adelaide (Interview). Interviewed by Ellis, Jordan. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 Rirratjingu Aboriginal Corporation. "Annual Report 2021–2021" (PDF). p. 15, 59. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
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