Gurrumul - Banbirrngu - The Orchestral Sessions (2024) Hi-Res

The legacy of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, one of Australia's most culturally significant and highly decorated artists, continues later this year with the release of a new posthumous album.

Banbirrngu — The Orchestral Sessions is out on November 8 and features re-workings of the acclaimed Yolŋu singer-songwriter's music from across his career.

The album follows on from the multiple award-winning Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow), which was completed in 2017, just weeks before Gurrumul's untimely death due to liver and kidney damage related to a hepatitis B infection he carried since childhood.

This new symphonic project was recorded in Prague by the Prague Metropolitan Orchestra, conducted by Jan Chalupecký, and features new arrangements by Australian composer Erkki Veltheim.

The project was produced by Gurrumul's longtime friend and collaborator Michael Hohnen, who is the co-director of Darwin label Skinnyfish Music, which will put out Banbirrngu — The Orchestral Sessions alongside Universal Music Australia.

"[Gurrumul] was working on three or four projects before he got too sick that were different and new and really interesting," Hohnen told ABC earlier this year.