WOMAD – East Journey

From north east Arnhem Land, a group of school friends under the mentorship of Yothu Yindi’s Mandawuy Yunupingu bring their smooth rock tunes to WOMAD, on the back of their new album, entitled “Guwak“. East Journey play straight-ahead rock with the occasional reggae backbeat and soulful ballad. Super-cool guitarist PJ White looks like Vernon Reid and plays like Carlos Santana, but the really wonderful element that comes only from seeing them perform live is to watch traditional dancers interpret the lyrics with evocative movements echoing the soulful singing of frontman Rrawun Maymuru. The songs are mixed English and traditional language and despite their conventional rock aesthetic each has an intangible magnetic quality that will see the set-list fly by. A powerful new Australian act; catch them if you can.