Cool eh? The artwork on this yirdaki is just amazing. It was painted by Marrakulu artist Boliny Warnambi. When I first heard about Boliny she was an artist who had not yet exhibited. Over the years she has established a name for herself and in 2006 had her first commercial exhibition, at the Framed Gallery in Darwin.

Part of the reason for her rise in status, apart from her amazingly intricate and dynamic work, is the knowledge that she assisted Banduk Marika is her award-winning bark painting submitted to the 2005 Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Banduk brought home the first prize for the Bark Painting category.

This yirdaki was made by Djalu Gurruwiwi. It is fitting that Djalu and Boliny have had their hands on this instrument. It was a Galpu and a Marrakulu artist, Mithinarri Gurruwiwi (Andy Watjuku's father) and Mithili Warnambi (Boliny's father) respectively whom some Yolngu say were the first artists in the Gove area to paint yirdaki entirely with miny'tji (sacred clan designs).

This yirdaki plays in the key of F fundamental. It has a foghorn E overtone which despite being less than a octave apart from the fundamental note is easy to hit, can be fired at rapid succession, and has a fantastic purity to its tonality.

This is a very well made instrument that is fairly light by Djalu's standards. It has a bore that is almost totally natural - just a bit of scrapping in the inside. Back pressure is wonderful, the power and loudness is immense, and because of the relatively thin walls, has an excellent resonance. A superb yirdaki in all respects, which plays exactly as you hear it here on YouTube, ably demonstrated by Boliny's gurrung or son-in-law, the one and only Larry Winiwini! Djalu himself gives this one a blow despite having the flu at the time.

The artwork features 'swarms' for which Boliny and her brother acclaimed artist Dennis Wukun Warnambi are well-known for. Swarms of Dhuwa bees and Wawurritjpal (fish) are subject matters often painted by Boliny and Wukun respectively on their monumental barks, which have enjoyed critical acclaim and high collectibility status as a result of sell-out shows at exhibiting galleries.

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