Paul Grabowsky on Ruby Hunter

In today's Melbourne Age Paul Grabowsky has written a moving tribute to his musical colleague and friend Ruby Hunter who died this week. His piece starts with this:

"With the passing of Ruby Hunter, Australia has lost one of its truly great, and unique, voices. Her sound nursed somewhere at its heart a moan, a lament, which came from a deep place, a place outside of particularities of space and time, but a singularity, nonetheless?"

Grabowsky goes on to ask- What is greatness in music?

"It is a distillation of all of life's imponderables into sounds which articulate, in time - that dimension over which we have least control - the beauty and sadness of life's river."

Grabowsky has no doubt of Ruby Hunter's musical greatness:

".....Somehow she blended all of these tributaries into her voice, creating a seamless bond between the past and present, and thereby projecting a clear way forward. Her lesson was gentle, but profound. That she possessed greatness is beyond doubt.

Grabowsky urges us all to listen to Ruby Hunter's music

"If you haven't had the opportunity to enjoy Ruby, it's time. Her recorded legacy lives on, and if being Australian is an idea that holds significance for you, her voice will remind you of the rare and singular beauty of this old, old land."

An earlier piece I wrote on the death of Ruby Hunter can be found here.