Witiyana Marika

Witiyana Marika was born in 1961 into the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory of Australia, a member of the Marika family. His father was land rights activist Roy Dadaynga Marika, whose sisters included artists Gulumbu Yunupingu, Barrupu Yunupingu, and Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu, among others. Marika was raised in Yirrkala, Marika is also a son by lore of the actor David Gulpilil (deceased 2021), and Mandawuy Yunupingu was his uncle. ==Music career==

Marika's uncle, Mandawuy Yunupingu, spotted his nephew singing and dancing, and asked him to join him in a new band, which was Yothu Yindi, formed in 1986. Marika sang in traditional style, singing clan songs of the Yolngu people known as manikay, played bilma clapsticks, and danced. Marika was an international star in his 20s. He was dubbed "the black Elvis" owing to his "onstage swagger and electric smile". The band's most famous song was about Indigenous land rights in Australia, called "Treaty". Re-released in 1991, it was the first song by an Indigenous-led band to achieve chart success in Australia, and reached number 6 on the US's Billboard Hot Dance Club songs. Yothu Yindi toured the world, including a performance at the United Nations in New York for the launch of International Year for the World's Indigenous People in 1993. The huge cultural change and rock and roll lifestyle took its toll, and he abused alcohol at times, leading him to return home and aim to be a cultural leader. with the newly-formed band performing live across Australia into 2019. In 2021 Marika, by then a clan elder, directed the Yarrapay Festival at Buku-Larrngay, where he played with Yothu Yindi. He continues to perform as a musician . ==Film==

Marika played the role of the grandfather as well as being co-producer and senior cultural advisor to the film High Ground, which took around 20 years to make and is based on true events, and who had made the music video for the Yothu Yind's second single, "Djäpana", which won an ARIA award. Taking part in the project was important to Marika, as he is passionate about the necessity to educate broader Australia about past history of massacres and colonial violence. As a teenager, as part of a ceremony undertaken with his grandfather on their homeland Gäṉgän (Gan Gan), he was taught about the massacre of over 100 people of his grandmother’s clan, Dhalwaŋu. He had further researched the details of the massacre with his friend and cousin Dr M. Yunupingu, who shared the same grandmother. Marika said the film was taking his people's story to the world, in the same way that Yothu Yindi took their music to the world. He played an essential role in navigating relations between the mostly white ("balanda") filmmakers and the traditional owners of Cannon Hill, Gunbalanya and Gunlom, where filming took place and permissions were needed to access the land. ==As elder==

After his father became gravely ill, at the height of Yothu Yindi's fame, Marika returned home. After a car crash caused by drunkenness in which his son was involved, Marika resolved to become sober, to return to culture, and become an elder. Will Stubbs, director of Yirrkala Arts Centre, likens his roles to those of archbishop, High Court judge, professor, counsellor, and lord mayor, embodied in one person. With challenges ahead, as the Gove bauxite mine closes down and royalties dry up, Marika remains committed to unity and harmony among the various clans. He has worked as a co-presenter in cross-cultural education, delivering seminars to businesses and academia. He was formerly vice chair of the Aboriginal Resource Development Services (ARDS) and chair of Buku-Larrngay Mulka Arts Centre Committee and Dhimurru Land Management. As of 2021 he was a director of Rirratjingu Mining Pty Ltd and Rirratjingu Investments Pty Ltd. In mid-2021 Marika became a board member of the North East Arnhem Land Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the 26 Yolngu clans of the region, and remains a member . he is cultural advisor to the Rirratjingu Aboriginal Corporation. ==Personal life and family==

Marika has two wives (as of 2014), as is customary among Yolngu people, in order to form larger clans and stronger families. Marika says that the women are treated equally, and there are many benefits to growing up in a large extended family. His wife Dipililnga Bukulatjpi is the mother of artist Burrthi Marika, and blues singer Yirrmal is Marika's son. He suffers from rheumatic heart disease; his symptoms were improved after open heart surgery. ==References==