MELBOURNE, AUS (CelebrityAccess) – The prestigious and highly-coveted Australian Music Prize has been won by Gurrumul, for his 2018 posthumous fourth LP Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow).
The album was chosen by a panel of 21 judges including artists, journalists, retailers, programmers and others, to be the most important Australian album release of the year, walking away with $30,000 courtesy of principal partner PPCA.
Over four years in the making and completed just weeks before his passing in 2017, Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow) is an astounding achievement of music. Presenting traditional songs and harmonized chants from his traditional Yolngu life with dynamic and hypnotic orchestral arrangements in a blend of the highest forms of both his culture and European orchestral culture, the album stands as the final masterpiece from one of Australia’s most important artists.
“I am very pleased to announce that Djarimirri by Gurumul has won the 14th Australian Music Prize. Every year, The AMP is a testament to the vibrancy and importance of the album as an art form in today’s music landscape,” said judging panel leader, journalist and Hoodoo Gurus frontman Dave Faulkner. “As Gurrumul proves, albums are more than just a collection of singles, they are a statement, a message, a story that adds an artist’s voice to our nation’s cultural fabric and this is something that Gurrumul and indeed all of our finalists have achieved.”
Other albums also shortlisted for the 2018 prize were: Courtney Barnett’s Tell Me How You Really Feel, The Presets’ Hi Viz, Abbe May’s Fruit, Dead Can Dance’s Dionysus, Laura Jean’s Devotion, Grand Salvo’s Sea Glass, Sam Anning’s Across A Field As Vast as One, and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s Hope Downs.
Past winners of The Australian Music Prize include: The Drones, A.B. Original, Courtney Barnett, Sampa the Great, Lisa Mitchell and The Jezabels among others.
