This week's PBS Feature Album is the debut electronic collaboration from Warlpiri elders Crown and Country.
Step into a world of profound beauty and extraordinary ceremonial knowledge, in the vast desert
landscapes of the immersive First Nations audiovisual project, Crown and Country.
At the heart of Crown and Country is the voice of prolific Warlpiri philosopher, teacher and
visionary, Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu, from the desert community of Lajamanu in the
north Tanami. Wanta Jampijinpa is a critically important figure in contemporary Warlpiri philosophy
and research, a leader in cultural education and community-based art, and an international
ambassador for Warlpiri culture. Wanta Jampijinpa joins his father, First Contact elder and one of
the most important Warlpiri songmen alive today, Jerry Jangala Patrick OAM, whose traditional singing grounds the work in Warlpiri ceremony.
The album was created in collaboration with award-winning music producer and composer Marc
‘Monkey’ Peckham. The three share a remarkable creative relationship spanning 15 years in
Lajamanu, working on the innovative community-based Milpirri Festival. Inspired by early 2000s
Berlin electronica meets rhythm and sound minimal dub techno, the music of Crown and Country is
steeped in Monkey’s signature hypnotic dub-infused grooves: a sonic journey through a brooding,
meditative, synth-laden soundscape. The album encapsulates years of recordings of conversations
between Wanta Jampijinpa and Monkey, and these discussions reflect their deep friendship over 15 years.
Crown and Country translates their deep intergenerational cultural knowledge into an immersive
experience of music and film. Wanta Jampijinpa invites you into the experience of being in the heat
and the vastness of the desert, to glimpse the depths of the Warlpiri cosmological worldview, while
encouraging you to reflect on your position and agency in a shared future. This project is the
distillation of Wanta Jampijinpa’s poetic, evocative and nuanced teachings of Warlpiri knowledge
and culture, driven by his goal for Australians to embrace their shared heritage of Country. It is an
extraordinarily intimate conversation with a fully initiated Warlpiri man, inviting you to reflect on your relationship to Country, your identity, and your own personal journey.
Tune in all this week to hear tracks from Crown and Country and PBS Members have the chance to win a copy of the album on vinyl: simply email your name and membership number to before midnight Sunday August 10.
Not a PBS Member? Join now!
TOP TRACKS WE'RE LOVING THIS WEEK
RONA. - 'Show Me'
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - 'Shapes and Forms'
Kieran Hebden & William Tyler - 'Spider Ballad'
Maxine Fink - 'Nothing To Satisfy My Mind'
ENNY - 'Cabin Feva'
Pugilist & Tamen - 'Limerick'
Sub Basics - 'Plasma'
Foot - 'The Hammer'
Les Thomas - 'The Firing Line'
Carla Geneve - 'Better Believe It'
