Mokuy is a new EP, and Hand to Earth’s first release as an independent ensemble. Now available for pre-order on Room40
A Note from Daniel Wilfred, David Wilfred, Aviva Endean, Sunny Kim and Peter Knight…
The process of making music together in Hand to Earth is unlike any other we have experienced. It is not free improvisation but it is not composed either. It is somewhere in between, and it feels like ‘weaving.’ Through Hand to Earth, we weave the threads of our different histories, different lives, and different perspectives together, and become family.
Daniel weaves the ‘Manikay’ (public songs) in his first language, Wagiläk – into the syntax of our shared practices. He talks about the ‘raki’, the string that is used to make the dilly bag that the Mokuy (spirit) can be seen carrying in many of the paintings by Djambu Burra Burra, Wally Wilfred, and others. Raki exists in the world we can touch, but it is also a metaphysical connecting thread that draws us together to the ‘buŋgul’ (ceremony, or gathering ground). When we play music, the raki pulls us all together – Yolŋu and balander – we are joined by this invisible thread, and under its guidance, we gather to sing, play, dance, and listen.
Like the wind that blows through different countries to bring people together – which Daniel sings about in Wata… more
credits
releases November 24, 2023
Daniel Wilfred – voice and biḻma
David Wilfred – yiḏaki and voice
Sunny Kim – voice, electronics, timpani (Wata Dhärranhayŋu)
Aviva Endean – clarinets, electronics, harmonic flute
Peter Knight – trumpet, electronics, Revox B77 reel-to-reel, percussion
Additionally
Lawrence English – Atmospheres and treatments, field recordings, electronics
Recorded by Pat Telfer at Brian Brown Studio, University of Melbourne, and Peter Knight at Florence St Studios
Mixed and Produced by Lawrence English at Negative Space
Image by Sung Hyun Sohn
Design by T.Pakioufakis
all rights reserved