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Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Gathu Mawula - Album Gurrumul

Dr G Yunupingu: An exquisite singer who 'spoke to the soul' By Trevor Marshallsea

His debut solo album (simply titled as his first name) went triple-platinum in Australia after its 2008 release, with sales of around 210,000, and silver in the UK, where it sold 60,000 copies. Around the time of the album's release, Yunupingu played as a support act for Elton John on his Australian tour. Like his first album, his second and third - Rrakala and The Gospel Album - reached number three on the Australian charts.

Yunupingu won five of Australian music's most prestigious awards - the Arias - with his first three offerings named Best World Music albums. He finished his last - and what promoters call his most powerful - album, two months ago.

Former Sydney Morning Herald music writer Bruce Elder wrote in 2008 that Yunupingu had "the greatest voice this continent has ever recorded", and one "which is so beautiful and so emotion-laden that it invests every song with a passion and pathos which are quite overwhelming".

"It is as though Yunupingu has reached into a wellspring so deep it transcends cultural barriers. He has found an emotional bridge which is genuinely universal."