Die australischen Ureinwohner verzichteten bewusst auf Ackerbau und Viehzucht. Das Land war ihnen heilig. Neuere archäologische Forschungen scheinen zu bestätigen, dass die Kultur der Aborigines, die sich u.a. in Felszeichnungen erhalten hat, gut 50.000 Jahre alt, der Kontinent jedoch wenigstens 176.000 Jahre von Menschen bewohnt ist. Das Hauptmusikinstrument vieler Aboriginesvölker, ein von Termiten hohlgefressener Eukalyptusstamm, erlebt bei uns im Westen unter dem Namen 'Didjeridu' (auch Didgeridoo, kurz „didge“) einen wahren Boom. Bei den Ureinwohnern hat das Instrument entsprechend den vielen verschiedenen Sprachen viele Namen. So simpel das Rohr aussieht - wird es von Könnern wie den Aboriginal-Musikern David Hudson, Matthew Doyle, Alan Dargin und Mark Atkins geblasen, entstehen Klangwelten von unerschöpflicher Vielfalt. An den Produktionen wirkten mit: Michael Atherton (Professor und Leiter/Gründer der Musikfakultät der Universität von Western Sydney), Steve Roach u.a

Gunyal ist der Name eines riesigen Reptils, das - wie Ausgrabungen bestätigten - vor 20.000 Jahren in Australien lebte und in den Traumzeitgeschichten noch lebendig ist. David beschwört mit der Didjeridu und alten Stammesgesängen die unheimliche Atmosphäre, unterstützt von Steve Roachs weiten eletronischen Klangräumen und Naturaufnahmen.

the project

The ancient northern Australian wind instrument—the didjeridu—speaks with an unforgettable primordial voice to all who hear it. With the vast array of intricate rhythms and other-worldly tone colors, the elaborate improvisations that result strike a deeply buried chord in the mysteries of creation which seems to resonate at the core of humankind. Gunyal is an unforgettable illustration of this mysterious link.

The first evidence that Australia was once home to a large array of giant marsupials, reptiles and birds was discovered in 1831. The compositions on this recording center around the tale of the giant goanna, one of the most fearsome of these creatures. The giant goanna, along with all the other large animals of this time, was killed off by terrible droughts about 20,000 years ago. Aboriginal oral history remembers the giant goanna as Mungoon-gali and tells how it would lie in ambush and dash out to catch unwary animals or people.

From the beginning, Burunga pierces deep into the soul with the simple sound of a rumble. Yet as this rumble swells upward and outward, it creates a stirring within that is sustained throughout the recording. Hudson also uses Burunga to phenomenally set the scene, literally transporting listeners to a vast, lively, and evolving untamed land, recreating the era of the giant goanna.

David Hudson has perfected and surpassed his best in preserving the ancestral sounds while expressing the continued evolution of the Aboriginal experience. Aside from pure listening pleasure, especially of Hudson's mastery of the didjeridu and sounds from down under, Gunyal can also be experienced as a story or a journey, offering a personal adventure unique to each listener.

the artists

Australian Aboriginal artist David Hudson is a world-renowned pioneer of the art of the didjeridu. A member of the Tjapukai tribe in Kuranda, northern Queensland, he mastered the didjeridu and interpretive dances of his tribe at an early age. Armed with a profound understanding of the didjeridu, he possesses an exceptional talent of spontaneously creating/performing multi-leveled compositions, as evidenced in his first solo recording, the highly acclaimed Woolunda: Ten Solos for Didgeridoo (13071-2). It is regarded by many experts as a ground-breaking experiment in the creative possibilities of the didjeridu.

Known primarily for his traditional styles and use of the traditional technique of circular breathing, Hudson is credited for taking the art form to a new level through an innovative combination of extended techniques and modern compositional ideas. So much so, his inventive use of voice, space and explosive blasts of sound have sometimes more in common with 20th century avant-garde music than ancestral Aboriginal music.

Teamed with longtime collaborator and producer Steve Roach, the two have written an array of seamlessly organic compositions, creating Hudson's most subterranean and textural release to date. Hudson features various self–made didjeridus, click sticks and boomerang clapsticks. Roach accompanies with assorted percussion and rocks, and provides a constant flow of dreamtime soundworlds.

biography

discography

tracklist