World renowned rhythmic didgeridoo virtuoso and percussionist Ganga Giri (pronounced gun-gah gear-ree) has announced that he will be heading out around the country to launch his new album Good Voodoo.
A pumping percussive multi-layered experience of complex grooves and raw natural sounds, Ganga Giri’s music is a melting pot of genres and cultures. Ganga mixes an array of tribal percussion (congas, djembe, bougarabou, Nigerian talking drum, mbira) and indigenous flavours (didgeridoo and dance) into a deep earth dance experience – fusing aspects of dub, dancehall, reggae and electro genres.
A lauded international performer, Ganga Giri has appeared everywhere from Glastonbury Festival (UK), Woetsjtock Festival (Netherlands), Boom Festival (Portugal), Fusion Festival (Germany) and the Vancouver Folk Festival (Canada) through to the Woodford Folk and Falls Festival’s here in Australia. This, coupled with multiple tours of Canada, USA, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand and Europe, has ensured that Ganga Giri and his band are widely & wildly appreciated by audiences all over the world.
Good Voodoo – The Album
After a session busking on the streets of London a few years ago, Ganga Giri received a call from former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel inviting him down to his studio’s to record some didge. The resulting recording ended up as the soundtrack to the internationally acclaimed film; Rabbit Proof Fence.
It’s this innate sense of ‘collaboration, inspiration and fate’ that is the foundation behind both Ganga Giri and more specifically, his new album Good Voodoo. Says Ganga: “The doors keep opening and new inspiration keeps coming. Many people hear the word Voodoo and get a bit scared but it is just energy. The Ganga Giri show and performance is all about Good Energy and sharing the celebration through the live experience, so ‘Good Voodoo’ seemed a very appropriate name for this album.”
In keeping with ‘sharing the celebration’, Good Voodoo draws inspiration from all parts of the globe, bringing together a host of collaborators including famed Canadian blues artist Harry Manx, Yeshe Reiners, Gnarnayarrahe Waitare, Deya Dova, Gumaroy Newman and French Guianese vocalist Jornick Joelick .
Summarises Ganga: “I like to bring people together to celebrate. I see myself more now as a producer, and as a producer and community builder, it’s not just about me playing didgeridoo anymore but more about directing a multicultural musical platform. I am inspired to fuse that sound and for it to become absorbable by a really wide audience internationally.
Due to the fact that Ganga wanted people to be able to understand the message as well as dance to it, Good Voodoo has a lot more vocal content than his previous albums. But this is also due to the presence and key contributions across the album of vocalist Jornick Joelick. Ganga tells the story: “an amazing vocalist we found in Canada a few years ago, Jornick just literally wandered in out of the bush on Saltspring Island (off the coast of British Columbia). He was staying nearby, fresh out of France and first time in Canada. Whilst walking in the bush he heard the dub coming from our bass players Sean’s place and just wandered in. A week later we were touring Canada so he came on tour with us, he got up on for a song at some stage, it synced in amazingly and so he joined us on the rest of the tour and then came back to Australia with us afterwards. We’ve been hanging out, recording and touring the world ever since.”
As well as Jornick singing on the album, ‘Good Voodoo’ also features the indigenous artists Ganga Giri perform’s with in Australia and around the world lending their vocals to tracks. Specifically Gumaroy on Byami who is a regular feature of Ganga’s band, Gnarnayarrahe Waitairie (actor, singer and didge player) with story-telling on Travelling Too and Uncle Owen (elder) on Sacred Words.
Ganga Giri – A Bit Of Background
“Years ago, I was a drummer and percussionist and went off travelling to India to either find or lose myself. I was playing a little bit of didgeridoo that I had taught myself from having had it appear in a dream one night but was also doing yoga which gave me the science behind the breath. By the time I got back to Australia I wanted to go to the source of the Yidarki, and knowing my grandfather, who I had never met, was living up in Arnhem Land, I figured two birds, one stone.
I was living in Numbulwar, teaching percussion, giving a hand in the tuckshop, hanging out around the community and the people when one day some young kids came back to my donga and were like … “you play that bamboo”. I said “yeah a bit” and I started playing my own funky kinda rhythmic style that I had taught myself derived from being a drummer. They all started dancing and laughing and got on the table and started shaking a leg….
From that point forth, I went from not seeing any didges at all in the community to people coming out and saying ‘come over and play this one’. They were really happy that this white fella was playing the instrument from their culture. All of this helped pave the way for me to be invited by the leaders to a traditional ceremony. Hence through the Yidaki, a door was opened and what it showed me was that what was known at that time as a very rough and troubled community, was still very rooted in its tribal ways, and empowered in tradition and ceremony. To this day it is still one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had; it was a gift I can now share.
I found out later, at the same time I was picking up the didge, my white grandfather was living a fairly traditional Indigenous life, speaking the language and married into the community. It turns out I went to the community where he was living but didn’t realise it was his community or who he was. My family wasn’t too interested in knowing, because when my grandmother had died many years ago, my grandfather didn’t handle it too well. The children (including my Dad) were all adopted out and my grandfather headed north. He ended up in Arnhem Land, married into the community and living there but the family didn’t know or care too much about him until recently when he died.
The other major experience that happened to me up in Arnhem land was that I was able to meet Djalu Gurruwiri, one of the traditional custodians of the Yirdaki (didgeridoo). He was kind enough to make me an instrument and, taking me into his family, he shared a deeper knowledge of traditional playing with me. He is a custodian elder of the instrument, a wonderful man and one of the key figures trying to inspire the young ones in the community to play Yidarki, be involved in traditional ceremony and to learn about their tribal law. Again – it was a gift I can now share.”
‘Good Voodoo’ – The Tour
The release of Good Voodoo kicks off a massive run of national dates through May and June, before the crew head back to Canada and the US in July.
Joining Ganga Giri on stage is rich dub/reggae dancehall vocalist and celebrator Jornick Joe Lick – hailing from French Guyana, drummer Dan Pearson playing live electronic beats, Indigenous songman and dancer Gumaroy and Yeshe Reiners on percussion and melodic world instruments (Mbira and Kamele N’goni).
