Daniel Wilfred, Paul Grabowsky, Peter Knight - Raki
Released 16 May 2025, on digital only
Daniel Wilfred - voice and bilma
Paul Grabowsky - piano,
Peter Knight - trumpet, electronics, and live signal processing
Daniel Wilfred, Paul Grabowsky and Peter Knight’s Raki is a profound and innovative collaboration rooted in Yolngu manikay (song cycles) and the spontaneous energy of master improvisers and sound artists. Raki is a musical dialogue of sound and tradition, building on decades of creative partnership between an Aboriginal ceremonial leader and two of Australia’s leading improvisers.
Raki is a distinctive musical statement bridging ancient and modern traditions. Recorded live in concert at Monash Performing Arts Center, Raki is a testament to the enduring power of manikay, the Yolŋu song tradition performed across Arnhem Land (far northern Australia) to celebrate and strengthen connections between families and their homelands. At the heart of this recording is a deep receptivity and trust, with the addition of Grabowsky’s piano and Knight’s electronic textures and trumpet improvisational interplay.
In Yolŋu culture, raki means ‘string’—woven from pandanus fibers, used for fishing, weaving, and sacred ceremonies. It symbolizes interconnection, continuity, and the passing of knowledge across generations. This spirit is embodied in the album’s creation. Just days before traveling to Melbourne for this project, Daniel Wilfred was given a pair of bilma (clapsticks) by senior elder Walter Rogers in Ngukurr, a reminder of his responsibility to carry forward his ancestral songs while sharing them with new audiences.
The collaboration between Wilfred, Grabowsky, and Knight is the latest evolution of their ongoing creative partnerships, emerging from Grabowsky and Knight’s time at the helm of the Australian Art Orchestra. Iterations have included Wata, a bold, large-scale work for Symphony Orchestra, Bambula, Crossing Roper Bar, and Hand to Earth. Their shared history fosters a rare musical synergy—one where deep listening, reverence for tradition, and fearless innovation come together. As Wilfred explains, "Like when we gather for a meeting to make a decision, that’s how we meet up with these songs. Even today, when I perform with Peter and Paul, it’s the same. The old story in a new generation."
This album is a powerful reminder that these stories do not change; rather, they grow and evolve. The music invites listeners to engage with music as an active, living tradition—one that connects past, present, and future.
“What we are doing is no different to what my grandfather did.”
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Daniel Wilfred is a Yolŋu songman from Ngukurr, South East Arnhem Land, and a ceremonial leader for the Wägilak people. He has performed around the world, bringing manikay to diverse collaborations including Hand to Earth and Wata with Paul Grabowsky and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. His recent documentary Djuwaḻpada has been screened at major film festivals across Australia.
Paul Grabowsky AO is one of Australia’s most distinguished pianists, composers, and arts leaders. His career spans jazz, film composition, opera, and orchestral works, earning multiple ARIA awards. He was the founding artistic director of the Australian Art Orchestra and has collaborated with artists ranging from Archie Roach to Kate Ceberano.
Peter Knight is an acclaimed trumpeter, composer, and sound artist known for his genre-defying work at the intersection of jazz, experimental, and electronic music. As the former Artistic Director of the Australian Art Orchestra, he has led major intercultural collaborations and received multiple awards for his innovative approach to music-making. -
What we are doing is no different to what my grandfather did – Daniel Wilfred
Raki is a groundbreaking recording. Unprecedented within Australian music, it extends from a partnership between Aboriginal ceremonial musicians and leading Australian improvisers, sustained over two decades.
Raki is built on a delicate receptivity to the musical forms and poetry of manikay. This musical tradition is performed by Yolŋu people across Arnhem Land, to celebrate and strengthen connections between different family groups and their homelands.With joyful enthusiasm, this recording acclaims the power of manikay to shape new connections and friendships.
Moreover, the album represents a distinct evolution from previous collaborations between Daniel Wilfred, Paul Grabowsky and Peter Knight. Pared down to three musicians, the music is interactive and playful, weaving together many musical influences and styles.
Given the exemplary direction this sets for Australian music, Raki might be described as virtuous. What we see on stage is a forward-looking demonstration of liberal inclusivity and reconciliation. Yet this view of virtue is somewhat superficial. In Raki, something more profound than virtue signalling is going on.
For the ancient Greeks, virtue had to do with capacity: to fulfil one’s role and to do so with excellence. This resonates with the Wägilak notion of gakal, ‘skill’ or ‘capacity’ in performance. A performance is considered virtuous if it issues from skills carefully honed over many years of disciplined learning. This includes skills of musicianship, such as performing with melodic finesse, rhythmic energy, poetic interpretation and nuance of timbre. Such skills are honed by all musicians, through attentiveness, persistence and a readiness to explore new configurations.
In this way, a virtuous performance is the fulfilment of capacity. Virtue is also ascribed to the exceptional realisation of an inheritance. The singer of ceremonial songs whose performance exemplifies gakal also extends the richness of law and tradition to others.
Thinking about virtue can help us understand the significance of Raki. While it is an innovative performance that captures our attention, this album holds a deeper purpose: it continues to weave the raki (string) given by the Wägilak ancestor, Djuwalpada. As the song describes,
Mälka dil’yun marrayi bulunyirri
Rrr, rrr, rakirri; Rrr, rrr, gawudjurru
That string bag – now we are painting up
Rolling that string; rolling and making it longer
Quite simply, raki translates as ‘string.’ It is made by rolling together the fibres of the pandanus plant. This string can be used for everyday things like fishing or weaving. It also has a ceremonial purpose: sacred strings are made from the hair of family members, woven together over many generations.
These strings symbolise ancestral connections and identities that are carried through song.
A few days before travelling to Melbourne to perform Raki, Daniel was called to visit a senior elder in the Ngukurr community, Walter Rogers, who had heard of his upcoming trip. Rogers reminded him of his responsibility to hold tightly to his ancestral songs and stories, even as he shared them with new audiences.
Walter gave Daniel a pair of bilma (clapsticks), which are played on this recording. The bilma are integral to the continuation of the manikay tradition: to lead songs with the bilma means respecting those who have gone before and the songs they passed on. Through the generations, the clapsticks call everyone together, to listen closely to what is being handed on.
This passing on of responsibility is raki. Daniel explains:
Like when we gather for a meeting, to make a change or to make a decision, that’s how we meet up with these songs. Even today, when I perform with Peter Knight and Paul Grabowsky, it’s the same. When we all come together, you have to decide if you are going to listen to the old story – the old story in a new generation.
It doesn’t change, that story, it just grows. You have to study and learn your discipline, your story, your song. With your instrument, decide what you want to do, which way are you going to follow, and grow that thing.
Stick with it! Keep going, keep rolling, for your gakal.
Raki demonstrates the potential of manikay to shape future generations, through the excellence of performance.
The virtue of this album can be seen in the nuance with which many musical inheritances are woven together, and the exuberance of discovering the ways these inheritances give impetus to the new.
As Daniel reflects, ‘Raki is pulling everybody together. Raki means to be one.’
