It had been four years since his last album when Gurrumul Yunupingu completed Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow), just two weeks before his tragic death in July 2017. Recounted in a 2017 documentary, the album represented the culmination of an illustrious career; a marrying together of the many complex worlds he had been forced to navigate as a Yolŋu man and musician.

It has been four years since Buŋgul was first set to premiere at Darwin Festival. Commissioned as part of the Major Festivals Initiative, it brings together traditional dance, music and videography to transport audiences into the world of his album. Supported here by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for the RISING festival, it is a singular achievement; a lovingly rendered, and expertly executed homage to a titan of Australian music that thrillingly replicates the power of his music, as well as the man behind it.

Buŋgul. Photo © Tiffany Garvie

The 90-minute show, like the album, is divided into 12 sequences that bear the name of a particular aspect of Yolŋu culture and lore (introduced with title cards that specify moiety, clan and language).

A circle of thick sand is laid...