This week's feature album is Gordon Goang's Unity - his eleventh full-length album, and his first since coming to Australia. It is his only recorded output in the painstakingly long six years of living as an asylum seeker, and the album was completed just weeks before Gordon was awarded his permanent residency.
He could have had no way of knowing the immediacy of this reward, and yet there is no frustration in the songs, no impatience or anger - only Gordon’s unending positivity, his love of all people and of the world he has never seen.
The Nuer musician, hailing from the banks of the River Nile in what is now South Sudan, is a legend in his own right. Born blind, he began playing music on the streets of Juba as a young man, where he quickly gained notoriety. Accompanied by his cousin and lifelong companion Paul Biel, Gordon began self-producing tapes and CD’s, which were sold on the street and changed hands between communities. Before long, others had caught on, and Gordon became a grassroots hero, the voice of the Nuer people and a prominent figure in the fight for cultural independence in South Sudan.
Whilst touring in Australia in 2013, Gordon and Paul heard of renewed conflict in their home country and made the difficult decision to stay and apply for humanitarian protection in Australia, leaving behind wives and children.
It has been a long journey for the pair; creating a life on the fringes of Australian society has not been easy but they have persisted and have build a community around them and their music.
As Unity is released out into the world, Gordon and Paul await the result of their families application process for asylum in Australia with hope. As Gordon sings on the closing track of the album:
“I am in a very far place, in Australia, and you are there. You are there and we are here. There will be a time when we are together. Even though we are here in a very far place, you are there together with our children, we are alone without you. We will not lose you and you will not lose us. We will meet again in a future time!”.
Unity is out now via Music in Exile / Light in the Attic. Treat yourself to a copy today.
TOP TRACK'S WE'RE LOVING
Maria Moles - 'Trace'
friendships - 'happyness'
Havukruunu - 'Pohjolan Tytär'
Ólafur Arnalds, JFDR - 'Back To The Sky'
TFS - 'Legal Ghost'
Elsie Lange - 'Talk to Me'
Alma Negra - 'Back In Town'
Gregor - 'The Rock (and the Stars)'
Vintage Crop - 'First In Line'