Nhima Djatpangarri nhima walangwalang

Given most of the readership of this blog is from the UK and America, I doubt many are going to recognise the title to this post. It’s from one of the finest prog house records of the early 90s and still the best dance record ever to come from Australia. It’s a line from Yothu Yindi’s Treaty, the dance version of which was produced by Melbourne based DJ/production outfit Filthy Lucre (Gavin Campbell, Robert Goodge, Paul Main). And the Filthy Lucre remix is available as a free download.

I asked Gavin Campbell what he was aiming for. He sais “for Treaty, the first thing that struck me was how well the ancient chant would lend itself to the new House sounds emerging in the early ’90s, such as progressive house, trance and of course there were late ’80s Balearic and tribal sounding tunes already (Papua New Guinea by Future Sound Of London and Jibaro by Electra spring to mind). With these genres in mind, I was fascinated by the concept of what it would be like to experience the actual sound of an Australian Aboriginal corroboree on a modern dance floor, so asked a couple of mates to help me achieve this and Treaty was the result, a hybrid of things, even ’70 funk (we used a sample from Bohannon’s ‘Let’s Start The Dance’ [see below]), it took around four minutes to introduce the ‘sound’ that would support my idea. When the breakdown occurs, it’s just didgeridoo, sticks and a 400 year old traditional chant and a sublime dance floor experience, out of the leftfield. The Australian industry awards named Treaty as the song of 1991, who would’ve thought?”

From sleeve notes to 1992 single: Yothu Yindi (Pronounced yo-’thoo YIN’dee and meaning Child & Mother) are predominantly Yolngu (Aboriginal) band of traditional and contemporary musicians from the remote coastal communities of Northeast Arnhem Land in Australia. They have shared their ground-breaking blend of contemporary rock and indigenous Aboriginal music with audiences throughout the world over the past six years and were the first Aboriginal band to earn a place in the Australian national Top 10 in 1991 [with single “Treaty”]. Yothu Yindi are committed to the idea of preserving the sanctity of their centuries old culture and at the same time preach tolerance and cooperation between cultures “we always want to have balance in our music between Yolngu Aboriginal things and the other. Western contemporary things, so that the two correspond and appreciate one another. We try to create a fusion, an interface from the modern to the traditional, from present to past.” says lead singer Mandawuy Yunupingu

https://soundcloud.com/razorrecordings/yothu-yindi-treaty-the-filthy [free download]

 

 

‘Treaty’ was produced in mid 1990 by Melbourne based DJ/production outfit Filthy Lucre (Gavin Campbell, Robert Goodge, Paul Main) and released as Yothu Yindi/Filthy Lucre on Campbell’s dance label, Razor Records, in February, 1991. The song was available on 12″ and as a ‘cassingle’, in radio, club and dub versions. ‘Treaty’ is the first international club hit from Australia and the first Australian Record Industry Association, certified gold record awarded to an Australian DJ. In mid 1992, ‘Treaty’ reached #6 on the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart, received A.R.I.A. awards for Australian Song Of The Year, Best Australian Single, Best Engineer and Filthy Lucre were nominated for Best Producer. In 2009 ‘Treaty’ was added to the Australian National Film and Sound Archive’s Sounds Of Australia Registry, chosen that year, to represent the 1990’s. The 1989 Yothu Yindi album ‘Tribal Voice’ was re-released in September, 1991 by Mushroom Records, with the addition of the Filthy Lucre version of ‘Treaty’. ‘Tribal Voice’ peaked at #4 on the A.R.I.A. album chart, in early 1992.

 

~ by acidted on July 20, 2014.