Yirimi Gundir Tea Towel

A limited first edition run of 250

The debut single by Fred Leone breaks new ground for Indigenous music
both in Australia and worldwide.

This story began over 65,000 years ago, with the world’s oldest living culture,
the Australian First Nations people, spreading their knowledge and their
lessons through a combination of song and dance.

Fast forward to the 21 st century and Fred Leone (Butchulla Songman) is
bringing traditional knowledge to the forefront of contemporary Australian
culture. Yirimi Gundir, written by Fred and sung in Butchulla, is his first solo
single and has been remixed by his friend and musical accomplice, trials.

Yirimi Gundir, tells the story, through song and movement, of three animals a
young person will see before they are old enough to go into the bush by
themselves to hunt. There are three animals mentioned in this song cycle;
Guruman – Kangaroo, Budjar – Eagle, and Ngurunj – Emu.

trials’ production masterpiece takes Fred’s powerhouse vocals, his sound
effects, his Bargans (boomerangs) and incorporates them as rhythmic
elements in the track. The kick drum remixes a kangaroo skin, to a modern
specification, the fire stick and leaves, originally elements of Fred’s traditional
sound pallet – remixed by trials become a new entity altogether. (Also –
whose kids are those in the background?)

Releasing both the original traditional version, and the remix at the same time
is a statement; that you cannot truly understand the present without
acknowledging the past. Only by listening to both tracks will you understand
the trajectory of this piece.

Fred says “To bring the song into the contemporary world I have structured it
like a western song. This makes it accessible to a wider audience, as
traditional songs, song cycles and even Songlines contain rhythms unfamiliar
to modern ears - particularly for Non-First Nations people.”