Gurrumul & Blasko – Bayini

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Fresh from his performance at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Gurrumul had almost 1 million Australians (metro, regional & online) glued to their TVs for an updated documentary on his life and career on Australian Story.

The documentary has rocketed both his albums “Gurrumul” and “Rrakala” back into the Top 10 this morning on iTunes as his new single “Bayini”, a duet with acclaimed singer/songwriter Sarah Blasko is released.

“Bayini” is a breakthrough track, reworked from the album “Rrakala” and has already been spun on triple j and ABC radio nationally and is breaking new territory and formats for Gurrumul.
“Bayini” sees Gurrumul continue his exploration of Australia’s land and ancestory, a story that he tells in the emotive and fragile tenor that’s made him famous across the planet. Blasko counterpoints with her own haunting contribution, completing the journey of a song that has meant so much to Gurrumul fans the world over.

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Michael Hohnen, producer tells of the collaboration:

“This for me, is the key song on Rrakala. The English verse wasn’t working in Gurrumul’s voice so we left it as all language on his Rrakala album. After the album release we were heading to the UK and Gurrumul and I wanted a counter-balance for the English verse and approached Sarah Blasko, a fellow labelmate on (UK independent label) Dramatico.

Sarah and I spoke about her voice embodying that female ancestral spirit character and I think she has captured it absolutely beautifully in even a more classical side to her voice, perfectly complementing Gurrumul. Gurrumul loves performing this live with Sarah which has now happened across a few continents”

Gurrumul has had a busy and inspirational time bringing his near-platinum album “Rrakala” to the world. He performed last week at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert with the likes of Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Cliff Richard in front of Buckingham Palace watched by over 100 million people across the globe, is just the latest in a long line of honours.

Gurrumul also features on “Sing” the diamond jubilee song co-written by Take That’s Gary Barlow and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber with some of the best talent from across the Commonwealth, which is currently sitting at #1 in both the UK albums and singles charts.

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