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Acclaimed musician Dr G Yunupingu has been remembered as a dear friend and a talented artist after his death in Darwin aged 46.
Fellow musicians, as well as his family and friends have mourned the singer, with many paying public tribute to him.
Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett expressed his sadness at the death of his "dear friend" while on stage in Paris before dedicating a song to the artist.
"Dr Yunupingu is someone that Midnight Oil toured with and knew from a very young age," he said.
"We saw his career take off not only in Australia but also in other parts of the world singing in Yolngu language.
"And creating music which was beautiful, culturally strong and lifted people's spirits all over the world."
The band also closed their show with a recording of one of Dr Yunupingu's songs.
Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly also shared his condolences for both Dr Yunupingu and Aboriginal activist Yami Lester, who also died recently.
"Cry, my country. Two of our tallest trees have fallen in the space of a few days," Kelly wrote.
"Dr G Yunupingu, with the voice of sweet longing. And my old friend, Y Lester, with the big laugh and smile, who as a child saw an atomic bomb fall on his country at Maralinga.
"Both were blind yet far-seeing. Both were fighters. Both will be sorely missed and long remembered."
Other artists and politicians shared their messages of shock and grief.
Mark Grose, the managing director of Skinnyfish, Dr Yunupingu's record label, fought back tears to describe the artist as a "musical genius", unlike any to be seen again.
"A humble man, he had a powerful voice and beautiful songs, he is a national treasure," Mr Grose said.
"It's is a testament to Australia that they have supported an artist who they don't understand, but who they relate to for the sheer beauty of what he's done."
Mr Grose said he "doubts" the world would ever see a musician like Dr Yunupingu again.
"He was something beyond anything we have seen before," he said.
"A self-taught musician, blind at birth, picked up a right-hand guitar and learnt how to play it left-handed."
Mr Grose said he fondly remembered the moment he told Dr Yunupingu he had been asked to play for Barack Obama, to which the artist responded "who?".
Dr Yunupingu collaborated with a wide range of artists from different genres, from classical music to hip hop.
One artist he worked with, Australian rapper Briggs, said the pair changed people's expectations of Indigenous music.
"His voice cut through everything else. You could sit in front of a symphony, 62 pieces or whatever, and his voice cut through as it was meant to.
"It cut through so many different barriers, culturally as well as it caught the ear of people like Quincy Jones, one of the greatest voices in the world."
Briggs said his legacy would be "unforgettable".
"People are going to be talking about G for the next 100 years," he said.
"He used his success, of course, as a platform to give back to the community.
"It was very relevant to him to give back so much because that is where he lived, so he was amongst his family, so giving was a part of that, as it is with so many Indigenous artists."
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, music, indigenous-music, death, aboriginal, darwin-0800, nt
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