Frontman of Australian indigenous band dies at 56
Source: Agencies |
June 4, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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MANDAWUY Yunupingu, the former lead singer of Australian indigenous band Yothu Yindi and one of the country's most famous Aborigines, has died. He was 56.
Yunupingu, who gained worldwide fame in the 1980s and 1990s with his hits "Treaty" and "Tribal Voice," died on Sunday night at his home in a tiny Outback Aboriginal settlement in the Northern Territory.
Officials haven't released a cause of death, but he struggled for years with kidney disease.
"We have lost a uniquely talented musician, a passionate advocate for Aboriginal people and a truly great friend," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a statement.
Yunupingu began his career as a teacher, and became the first indigenous Australian to be appointed a school principal. He developed what he called the "both ways" educational philosophy, which utilized both Western and Aboriginal teaching techniques.
His penchant for blending cultures carried over to his music career, with the formation of his band Yothu Yindi in 1986. The group included both Aboriginal and white musicians and won fans with its unique combination of traditional indigenous sounds and modern pop and rock.
The band's most famous song "Treaty" was written in response to an unrealized promise then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke made in 1988 to formalize a treaty between the government and Aborigines. In 1992, Yothu Yindi performed the song in New York at the launch of the United Nations' International Year of the World's Indigenous People.
In recent years, he was forced to undergo dialysis three times a week as he struggled with kidney disease.
Aborigines, who make up 2.3 percent of Australia's 23 million people, die more than a decade younger than other Australians. They are four times more likely to die of chronic kidney disease than other Australians, and are far less likely to receive an organ transplant, according to a 2011 report by the government's Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Yunupingu, who gained worldwide fame in the 1980s and 1990s with his hits "Treaty" and "Tribal Voice," died on Sunday night at his home in a tiny Outback Aboriginal settlement in the Northern Territory.
Officials haven't released a cause of death, but he struggled for years with kidney disease.
"We have lost a uniquely talented musician, a passionate advocate for Aboriginal people and a truly great friend," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a statement.
Yunupingu began his career as a teacher, and became the first indigenous Australian to be appointed a school principal. He developed what he called the "both ways" educational philosophy, which utilized both Western and Aboriginal teaching techniques.
His penchant for blending cultures carried over to his music career, with the formation of his band Yothu Yindi in 1986. The group included both Aboriginal and white musicians and won fans with its unique combination of traditional indigenous sounds and modern pop and rock.
The band's most famous song "Treaty" was written in response to an unrealized promise then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke made in 1988 to formalize a treaty between the government and Aborigines. In 1992, Yothu Yindi performed the song in New York at the launch of the United Nations' International Year of the World's Indigenous People.
In recent years, he was forced to undergo dialysis three times a week as he struggled with kidney disease.
Aborigines, who make up 2.3 percent of Australia's 23 million people, die more than a decade younger than other Australians. They are four times more likely to die of chronic kidney disease than other Australians, and are far less likely to receive an organ transplant, according to a 2011 report by the government's Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
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