GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU

Last night Deeplode went to the old Palais Theatre in St. Kilda. A beautiful venue which is now the subject of a development plan.
He hopes any development is done well.
But he went to hear Gurrumul Yunupingu.
Deeplode listened, Deeplode shed a tear or two, Deeplode jumped to his feet and gave, along with a full house, a standing ovation for something electric and spiritual.
Gurrumul firstly though silenced a Melbourne crowd packed into one of our favourite venues (Paul Kelly packed it out the night before.) and gave us something never before heard or experienced.
If you have not heard Gurrumul sing then you must... at least to understand the stories he tells.
Here is a review of his London concerts which sums it up nicely.

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
Union Chapel, London
* Robin Denselow
* The Guardian, Monday 18 May 2009

It is dangerous making predictions, but here goes. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - better known as just Gurrumul - is going to be the next world-music celebrity. He is a blind Aboriginal songwriter who sings in the Yolngu dialect of the Gumatj clan, but this compelling British solo debut proved he has the ability to move from the remote territories of Australia's Arnhem Land to the world's concert halls.

A slight figure sporting cropped hair and a black jacket, he sat motionless throughout the concert, singing and playing acoustic guitar but never saying a word until the final thank you. "He won't talk‚" explained his producer, Michael Hohnen. "But I can feel that he's happy."

Yet Gurrumul totally dominated the hall, from the first notes until the standing ovation. Backed by a classy acoustic band comprising a string quartet, a second acoustic guitar and Hohnen's double bass, he started out like an Aboriginal answer to Nick Drake, with a soulful and emotional treatment of what could have been a sturdy western folk melody, but with lyrics that dealt with the importance to the Gumatj nation of the orange-footed scrubfowl.

It is this unlikely mixture that explains Gurrumul's appeal. His singing was gentle and heartfelt, his lyrics (translated on a screen beside the stage) dealt with subjects ranging from the forces of nature to his ancestors, and yet the melodies were so straightforward and powerful that any western songwriter would have been jealous. Folk, soul and gospel influences were all there, along with a dash of reggae, and he ended with a personal song in English, I Was Born Blind, the screen showing images of his own history. Gurrumul deserves to become a star.

About this article
World music review: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Union Chapel, London
This article was first published on guardian.co.uk at 00.01 BST on Monday 18 May 2009. It appeared in the Guardian on Monday 18 May 2009 on p34 of the Reviews section.

Argonauts set the sails

Lets think about a tenement fifty kilometres from Teck Cominco's Carapateena copper/gold discovery and 75 kilometres from BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam monster. The prospect contains the sort of magnetic and gravity anomalies that get explorers for so-called iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) deposits excited.
What's more, the group that discovered Olympic Dam (now BHP) — dug some holes into the property and intersected "intense magnetite and haematite alteration typical of Olympic Dam and Carapateena".(Thanks to Barry Fitzgerald for his help there.)

And now after the downturn the tenement owners are valued at less than 10c.
Deeplode is checking out Argonaut Resources very carefully. Add its very prospective ground in Laos.

And Kroombit is a looming, and I mean a looming, positive...Some research would be advisable. ARE is a watch indeed.About to run. Like this week!
Deeplode has no idea and posts on his blog for fun!!

Reporters without Borders claim kidnap by North Korea

Reporters without Borders are claiming on news wires that North Korean forces crossed the frozen and narrow Tumen River which marks the border with China to seize the reporters who are currently the centre of a diplomatic incident.. and on the eve of the controversial rocket launch.
A diplomat's nightmare and China is in the spotlight.
Let's hope it is worked out quickly as Japan and the USA are quite rightly jumpy!!!

North Korea testing the world again

Two American journalists detained in North Korea will be tried on charges of perpetrating "hostile acts" against the Communist state, a crime punishable by years in a labor camp, the North’s state-run news agency said today.The news agency is of course the regime's mouth piece to let the world know what it is thinking.
The decision to put Laura Ling and Euna Lee on trial is a strong message from North Korea and coincides with concerns about the launch of a test rocket by the North Koreans next week. Both Japan and the USA consider this "experimental space launch" as another test of North Korea's long range missile program. These two events are timed to test the outside world when its resources are already stretched to the limit.
The North Koreans are on the news wires tonight as saying they will declare war on Japan if there is any interference with the launch. Dangerous words from a dangerous regime...and the USA will be relying on China to tone down the North Koreans...China has some political and economic power at a crucial time in world events.

When an Irish hopeful went FAR away on a slight hope

Deeplode has ventured into the archives to remind us all that Tullow Oil, which is being touted as FAR's partner in its Senegal lease, in fact started its history with another outside punt also in Senegal.Twenty years ago Aidan Heavey then an Irish accountant followed a hunch that changed his life.
A friend told him that Senegal was looking for a company to develop the country's oil and gas fields which were too small to be of interest to major companies.
"Like most people in Ireland back then, I knew little about oil except what I learned from J.R. on Dallas," he is reported as saying.
But Heavey flew to Senegal on the basis of what was there to lose!!
He read up on the way so he at least knew the jargon.
He won the contract.
After mortgaging his house and calling in a few favours he bought a used oil rig in Texas.
It made it to Senegal but the crew forgot the basics..passports..not exactly surprising for Texans..(ask Geo W.)
The first well was dry but the rest is history!

Now is history about to repeat itself through FAR...with its maybe partner Tullow..which in DeepLode's guess may then be in Chinese hands.
What a story!

Follow the drama as it unfolds on hotcopper.com.au.

China, Tullow and a little far away Australian spec

In spite of a €1.6bn refinancing and a surprise €430m rights issue recently, Tullow apparently faces major funding hurdles over its oilfields in landlocked Uganda. Reports suggest it might have to sell part of the oilfield to a partner because Uganada has no oil infrastructure and a vast pipeline would need to be constructed to bring the oil across Uganda and through Kenya to the sea where it could be exported. The cost of building such an enormous pipeline would be prohibitive for Tullow.
It would need a partner!
And of course which sovereign wealth fund has that capability and has been engaged in extreme dollar diplomacy in West Africa?
And which sovereign entity has been running the ruler over Tullow as a whole?
DeepLode has written extensively on the activity of China in West Africa and of its interest in Tullow. There is no doubt Tullow needs another huge injection of money to keep up its activities in West Africa. China has both the cash, the willingness to take the risk and the political debts it can call in to get it all happening.
And of course there is the matter of our tiny spec First Australian Resources which has a huge acreage off shore from Senegal courtesy of the Senegal Government which is now almost totally reliant on China (and to some extent Indian) support.
FAR is about to announce its Joint Venture partner…..and has been a bit slow to do so…
Maybe a waiting game while China decides which of its three giants gets the partnership…or to avoid criticism of its “oil diplomacy”.. backs Tullow into it under its control.
Whatever DeepLode is watching closely.

As is the thread on hotcopper.com.au
If you are not there you will miss it all.

AMERICAN CORPORATE ETHICS ARE DEAD

The news wires are reporting tonight that the American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.
These payments are in addition to $US121m in bonuses already committed!!!

The U.S government now owns 80% of AIG....and they must stop this payout if the US financial system is to hold the little respect left for it.

DeepLode is outraged! Are you?