Freedom

About

Yothu Yindi had functioned as more of a cultural engine than a simple band ever since their inception in 1986; an engine built from two existing musical groups, one white, one Aboriginal, powered by statements-as-songs that steamed towards understanding and harmony. It is difficult, then, to look at 1993’s <i>Freedom</i> as an album tasked with trying to follow, much less outdo, the significant commercial impact of their 1991 breakthrough, <i>Tribal Voice</i> (led by Filthy Lucre’s landmark remix of “Treaty”). No track on <i>Freedom</i> was overly concerned with finding its way onto the radio or into the charts. They are, collectively, much more concerned with Yothu Yindi’s never-shifting prime movers: awareness and togetherness via jumpily melodic worldbeat storytelling. <i>Freedom</i> embodied the joys of sitting in a yarning circle and put it on disc. “Timeless Land,” “Baywara,” and “Dots on the Shells” are the best places for the uninitiated to take their seat before appreciating the whole—and, like much of the record, are rarely without the appearance of yidaki, clapsticks, and/or vocals sung in Yolŋu matha. Five traditional pieces are featured throughout <i>Freedom</i>’s 16 tracks—“Ngerrk,” “Milika,” “Danggultji,” “Gany’tjurr,” and closer “Gapu”—each arranged by Yolŋu man and activist, Galarrwuy Yunupingu (also the brother of Yothu Yindi lead singer, Mandawuy Yunupingu).

via Apple Music