Legendary South Sudanese pop star and 2019’s BIGSOUND Levi’s Prize winner Gordon Koang announces his eleventh album, Unity, out August 14th on Music in Exile / Light in the Attic, and presents its lead single/video, “Tiel e Nei Nywal Ke Ran (We Don’t Have a Problem With Anyone).” Unity is Gordon’s first album since coming to Australia in 2013. It is his only recorded output in the painstakingly long six years of living as an asylum seeker, and the album was completed just weeks before Gordon was awarded his permanent residency. He could have had no way of knowing the immanence of this reward, and yet there is no frustration in the songs, no impatience or anger – only Gordon’s unending positivity, his love of all people and of the world he has never seen. With a beaming smile that is unfettered by his blindness, a condition he has lived with since birth, Gordon is a fountain of warmth and joy, immediately accepting of any stranger who finds themself in his presence.
Following previously released “Mal Mi Goa (Ginoli Remix)” “Tiel e Nei Nywal Ke Ran (We Don’t Have a Problem With Anyone)” is a jubilant blend of Gordon’s signature thom (an East African stringed instrument that he has modified to suit his unique style of playing), light percussion, and Gordon’s jubilant vocals. “We don’t have a problem with anyone! Music is the friend of everyone in the world,” says Koang. “We are doing it with happiness, we love people, we love our audience and we know our audience loves us.”
Directed by Nick McKinlay (Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly), the video features footage from the Cranbourne Botanic Gardens and from Gordon’s home in Frankston. Warm and joyful, the clip visually captures the sentiments that are so clearly heard in Gordon’s music. “I had never met Gordon, but was familiar with his colourful live shows and friendly, matter-of-fact demeanour,” says McKinlay. “Joe and I met both Gordon and Paul at their place, an old motel turned apartments in Frankston, where we started to play in the shared garden. Before too long, there were several people watching and clapping as they finished performing. Watching these two play in public, two instruments that not many people had seen before was a pretty gleeful watch.”
Watch the Video for “Tiel e Nei Nywal Ke Ran (We Don’t Have a Problem With Anyone)”
Unity was recorded by Stefan Blair and James Mannix in various parts of Melbourne over the course of 2019. With Unity, Gordon hopes to reach as many new listeners as he can in his adopted country, and around the world. He wants everyone, and he means everyone, to hear his message of peace and unity, regardless of religion or cultural differences. After a painfully first-hand experience of what these rifts between people can create, Gordon has devoted his life, and his music, to a simple message of peace, love and unity.
Gordon began playing music from an early age, busking on the streets of Juba. Crowds would gather to hear his music, predominantly gospel hymns or extended, historical pieces charting the history of the Nuer people and their heroes. Accompanied by his cousin and lifelong companion Paul Biel, Gordon began self-producing tapes and CD’s, which were sold on the street and changed hands between communities. His music went viral, spreading throughout the country, and his reputation quickly grew as the poet and homegrown hero of the Nuer people, sometimes called the “Michael Jackson of South Sudan.”
In 2013, while Koang was performing to expatriate Nuer communities in Australia, renewed conflict broke out at home. He made a difficult and heartbreaking decision to not return to Sudan, applying to the Australian government for humanitarian protection. After six long years of waiting, living in a foreign country far away from his family, he now proudly calls himself an “Australian,” and eagerly awaits the day he will rejoin his wife and children in safety.
There have been changes at home over those six years. Gordon’s wife and children no longer live in a refugee camp, but have moved to a slightly safer, roofed building in a nearby city, aided by Gordon’s income from performing in Australia. Income from every gig, every club show or festival appearance, has been mailed home. He has a daughter now, five years old, whom he has never met. And the application process has begun for both families to come to Australia; hope has not been lost. As Gordon sings on the closing track of the album, “I am in a very far place, in Australia, and you are there. You are there and we are here. There will be a time when we are together. Even though we are here in a very far place, you are there together with our children, we are alone without you. We will not lose you and you will not lose us. We will meet again in a future time!”
Watch the Video for “Mal Mi Goa (Ginoli Remix)”
Unity Tracklist
1.Asylum Seeker
2. Stand Up (Clap Your Hands)
3. Kone Ke Ran
4. South Sudan
5. Mal Mi Goa
6. Y Dah
7. Tiel E Nei Nywaki Ke Ran
8. Te Ke Mi Thile Ji Kuoth Nhial
Keep your mind open.
[I don’t have a problem if you don’t subscribe, really, but it would be nice of you.]
[Thanks to Brid at Pitch Perfect PR.]
