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about

An Evocative work about the gulf of carpentaria. There's no chorus in the poetry, so I made a haunting instrumental chorus, adding ocarina and whistling to it.

lyrics

Grey Gulf Water
Far to the Northward there lies a land,
A wonderful land that the winds blow over
And none may fathom nor understand
The charm it holds for the restless rover;
A great grey chaos - a land half made,
Where endless space is and no life stirreth;
And the soul of a man will recoil afraid
From the sphinx-like visage that Nature weareth.
But old Dame Nature, though scornful, craves
Her dole of death and her share of slaughter;
Many indeed are the nameless graves
Where her victims sleep by the Grey Gulf-water.

Slowly and slowly those grey streams glide,
Drifting along with a languid motion,
Lapping the reed-beds on either side,
Wending their way to the Northern Ocean.
Grey are the plains where the emus pass
Silent and slow, with their staid demeanour;
Over the dead men's graves the grass
Maybe is waving a trifle greener.
Down in the world where men toil and spin
Dame Nature smiles as man's hand has taught her;
Only the dead men her smiles can win
In the great lone land by the Grey Gulf-water.

For the strength of man is an insect's strength
In the face of that mighty plain and river,
And the life of a man is a moment's length
To the life of the stream that will run forever.
And so it cometh they take no part
In small-world worries; each hardy rover
Rideth abroad and is light of heart,
With the plains around and the blue sky over.
And up in the heavens the brown lark sings
The songs that the strange wild land has taught her;
Full of thanksgiving her sweet song rings --
And I wish I were back by the Grey Gulf-water.

credits

from Aussie Art Song - Banjo Paterson Edition, released February 13, 2020

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Niq Reefman Sydney, Australia

Niq trumpets like a singer, keyboards like a bass player, sings like a narrator and ukuleles like an electric guitar - his musical performance is best described by picturing “Tim Minchin, flying a trumpet through a thunderstorm”.
He spreads songs of beauty, mirth, camaraderie, inspiration and action to a world that craves the social zest of an Irish pub and the hopeful melodies of nature.
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