"Yil Lull" is a song written and performed by Joe Geia

Joe Geia

Joe Geia is an Australian musician of Murri Aboriginal heritage from North Queensland. He is best known as the composer of the song "Yil Lull", which has been recorded by many other artists including Paul Kelly, Archie Roach, Jimmy Barnes, and most recently by the Singers for the Red, Black and...

. It originally appeared on his 1988 album of the same name. Yill Lull means sing in Guugu Yimithirr

Guugu Yimithirr language

Guugu Yimithirr is an Australian Aboriginal language, the traditional language of the Guugu Yimithirr people of Far North Queensland. Most of the speakers today live at the community of Hopevale, about 46 km from Cooktown...

. The colours used in the lyrics are the colours of the Aboriginal flag.

"Yil Lull" is considered an aboriginal anthem. It was performed by The Black Arm Band

The Black Arm Band

The Black Arm Band is a collection of some of Australia's premier Indigeous musicians. The band, conceived by Artistic Director Steven Richardson, was brought together "to perform, promote and celebrate contempary Australian Indigenous music". Members come from all over the country and have diverse...

 in their murundak concert. It has been covered by Singers For The Red Black & Gold, Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...

 and Marcia Howard (Goanna

Goanna (band)

Goanna is an Australian folk rock group which formed in 1977 in Geelong as The Goanna Band with mainstay Shane Howard as singer-songwriter and guitarist...

).

Singers For The Red Black & Gold

In 1998 "Yil Lull" was released as a single by Singers For The Red Black & Gold. This version was sung by Archie Roach

Archie Roach

Archie Roach is an Australian musician. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, he survived a turbulent upbringing to develop into a powerful voice for Indigenous Australians, a storyteller in the tradition of his ancestors, and a nationally popular and respected artist.- Biography :In his own words,...

, Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...

, Christine Anu

Christine Anu

-Early life:Anu was born in Cairns, Queensland to a Torres Strait Islander mother from Saibai and Mabuiag Islands.-Career:Anu began performing as a dancer and later went on to sing back-up vocals for The Rainmakers, which included Neil Murray of the Warumpi Band. Her first recording was in 1993...

, Judith Durham

Judith Durham

Judith Durham, OAM is an Australian jazz singer and musician who became the lead vocalist for the Australian popular folk music group The Seekers in 1963. She left the group in mid-1968 to pursue her solo career...

, Kutcha Edwards

Kutcha Edwards

Kutcha Edwards is an Indigenous singer and songwriter. He was born in Balranald, New South Wales in 1965. A member of the stolen generation, he was removed from his parents at the age of 18 months. He is a Mutti Mutti man...

, Renee Geyer

Renée Geyer

Renée Rebecca Geyer is an Australian singer who has long been regarded as one of the finest exponents of jazz, soul and R&B idioms. She had commercial success as a solo artist in Australia, with "It's a Man's Man's World", "Heading in the Right Direction" and "Stares and Whispers" in the 1970s and...

 and Tiddas

Tiddas

Tiddas are a three piece all-girl folk band from Victoria, Australia.-Biography:Originally the three women, Amy Saunders , Lou Bennett and Sally Dastey combined their vocal talents as backing singers for Aboriginal band Djaambi, led by Saunder's brother Richard Frankland in 1990...

 with the music performed by Stephen Hadley (Paul Kelly Band

Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...

, Professor Ratbaggy

Professor Ratbaggy

Professor Ratbaggy is a sometime four-piece band based in Melbourne, Australia. Sometimes thought of as a side-project of iconic Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, the band is in fact its own entity: Kelly is one of the four members .The band's name is derived from the 1960s Australian TV...

) (bass), Bruce Haymes (Paul Kelly Band

Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...

, Professor Ratbaggy

Professor Ratbaggy

Professor Ratbaggy is a sometime four-piece band based in Melbourne, Australia. Sometimes thought of as a side-project of iconic Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, the band is in fact its own entity: Kelly is one of the four members .The band's name is derived from the 1960s Australian TV...

) (keyboards), Spencer P. Jones

Spencer P. Jones

Spencer P. Jones is a Melbourne based guitar player from Te Awamutu, New Zealand. He has been a member of The Emotional Retreads, Country Killed the Cow Penalty, Escape Committee, Cuban Heels, Beats Working, North 2 Alaskans, The Johnnys, The Beasts of Bourbon, Olympic Sideburns, Paul Kelly and The...

 (guitar), Peter Luscombe (drums), Shane O'Mara (Paul Kelly Band

Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...

, Rebecca's Empire

Rebecca's Empire

Rebecca's Empire were an indie pop-rock band from Melbourne, Australia. They released two full-length albums and two EPs in a six-year career lasting from 1994 to 2000.-History:...

, Tim Rogers and the Temperance Union

Tim Rogers

Tim Rogers is the frontman of Australian rock band You Am I. He is also a solo artist, as well as having fronted and released albums with bands The Twin Set and The Temperance Union.-History:...

) (guitar). This version also appeared on a compilation for the 2000 Olympics called Our Island Home (2000, Festival Mushroom Records).

• "Yil Lull" (1998) White/Mushroom

1. Singers For The Red Black & Gold - "Yil Lull" (Joe Geia
   Joe Geia
   Joe Geia is an Australian musician of Murri Aboriginal heritage from North Queensland. He is best known as the composer of the song "Yil Lull", which has been recorded by many other artists including Paul Kelly, Archie Roach, Jimmy Barnes, and most recently by the Singers for the Red, Black and...
   
   )
2. Christine Anu
   Christine Anu
   -Early life:Anu was born in Cairns, Queensland to a Torres Strait Islander mother from Saibai and Mabuiag Islands.-Career:Anu began performing as a dancer and later went on to sing back-up vocals for The Rainmakers, which included Neil Murray of the Warumpi Band. Her first recording was in 1993...
   
    - "Island Home (The Chant Mix)" (Neil Murray
   Neil Murray (Australian musician)
   Neil Murray is an Australian musician and writer. He was a founding member of the Warumpi Band that formed in the early 1980s, the first major Aboriginal rock group and influential Aboriginal rock band.-Biography:...
   
   )
3. Blackfire
   Blackfire (Australian band)
   Blackfire was a Melbourne based Koori band. They were formed in late 1992 and disbanded in 1999. Members included Kutcha Edwards, Grant Hansen, Selwyn Burns , Kelli McGuiness and Bradley Brown...
   
    - "Got To Be A Chance" (Grant Hansen
   Grant Hansen
   Grant Hansen is an Australian Indigenous musician and broadcaster.Hansen works as a host of the Marngrook footy show, broadcast on National Indigenous TV and Channel 31, and as a presenter on Melbourne's Indigenous radio station 3KND. Hansen won a Deadly in 2000 for Aboriginal Broadcaster of the...
   
   )