Tribal voice

Spotlight Online provides you with previews of magazine pages to whet your appetite. This month, you can download the first three pages of Graham Simmons's art tour of Australia's Arnhem Land. There, the Yolngu people create works of art that are both spiritual and decorative.

The Yolngu are very much in touch with their ancient traditions, but are equally in tune with the modern world. About 20 years ago, the most popular band from the region, Yothu Yindi, blended rock 'n' roll guitars and traditional instruments like the yirdaki, their specific type of didgeridoo, in empowerment songs like "Tribal Voice", invoking "an awakening of a rainbow dawn":

All the people in the world are dreaming.
(Get up! Stand up!)
Some of us cry, cry, cry for the rights of survival, now,
(Get up! Stand up!)
saying, "Come on! Come on! Stand up for your rights!"
while others don't give a damn.
...
You'd better listen to your tribal voice!

Today, blind Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, featured in the Spotlight article, has achieved best-selling world-music status in Germany and Switzerland singing in his native tongue, as he does in "Bapa":

This week, download and read the preview of the article: Australian art tour. Study the artwork and consult a map to get your bearings, if necessary, and you will be able to answer the comprehension questions on the next page.

Anne Hodgson

This is my last exercise, as I'm off to other things. It's been a great pleasure! Dagmar Taylor will be providing exercises from next week.