The contemporary works of Indigenous Australian outfit Waak Waak Djungi will be reissued on Efficient Space in June.
The record Waak Waak Ga Min Min, which translates as "Black Crow, White Cockatoo," compiles five contemporary versions of traditional songs from the Yolngu people of Northeast Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory. The music featured on the album Crow Fire Music was originally recorded and released in the mid-'90s by Bobby Bunnungurr, Jimmy Djamunba and Peter Milaynga, three Yolngu songmen, in collaboration with a Victorian musician, Peter Mumme, who added synths and various other modern instrumentation to the traditional recordings with the others.
"The songs are of instruction, story and ceremony," the label explains, calling them "sprawling vocal/electronic soundscapes and field recordings that reimagine the traditional songs of black crows and white cockatoos, sharing, creation spirits and of leaving and returning home to country."
The release is the result of the Melbourne artist András finding a CD of the group's 1997 album in the library of local radio station 3RRR FM and sharing it with Efficient Space label head Michael Kucyk, AKA Noise In My Head. Together the pair spent three years contacting and meeting with Mumme and Bunnungurr to arrange the reissue package. Along with the five tracks sourced from the original album, Waak Waak Ga Min Min also includes one previously unreleased song, "Gandi Bawong" while Bunnungurr contributes new cover art.
Listen to "Mother I'm Going."
Tracklist
01. Rainbow Serpent
02. Djambaku
03. White Cockatoo
04. Mother, I'm Going
05. Gandi Bawong
06. Black Crow
Efficient Space will release Waak Waak Ga Min Min on June 6th, 2018.