Geoffrey Gurrumul provides a vivid experience of life in Arnhem Land The Sydney Symphony and Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu perform under the big video screen. Gurrumul with members of the Sydney Symphony. Gurrumul Vivid Live, Sydney Opera House, May 28. GEOFFREY Gurrumul Yunupingu was back in the charts this week, hitting the top spot on iTunes on Tuesday after his performance on The Voice the night before with Delta Goodrem and the Sydney Symphony. Lending his deeply emotive voice to orchestration is just the latest triumph among many for Australia's most successful Aboriginal performer. This show, with the Sydney Symphony and his band, further demonstrated how powerful is his reach, singing songs in his Yolngu language about a culture most of his audience know little about. The audience left the theatre knowing more than they did before, however. Complementing the largely successful arrangements by conductor Erikki Veltheim of Gurrumul's usually stark acoustic songs was a video component, a bridge, his bassist and musical director Michael Hohnen called it, to the blind singer's roots and culture on Elcho Island in Arnhem Land. Gurrumul doesn't speak during performances, but the film of family members and friends on the island told an enthralling story of his heritage, his early forays into music and the themes of family, culture, nature and spirituality that are central to his songs. Occasionally, such as on the reggae-tinged Marwurrumburr, strings, horns and woodwinds were out of place. Much more sympatico and rousing were Wiyathul and the closing Gurrumul History (the only song he sings in English), during which the orchestra complimented Gurrumul's beautifully soulful voice. More than that, the blend had the effect of a chemical reaction, sending a glorious explosion of sound towards the Opera House rafters. And at times the lush strings added a stirring backdrop to the scenes of Aboriginal ritual and domesticity on Elcho Island, a moving soundtrack to an extraordinary life and talent.