| Track
Number |
Track
Title |
Track
Time |
Notes |
|
01
|
Rak
Badjalarr |
0:01:43 |
1986:4,
item 6. Songmen: Bobby Lane (and sticks) and Tommy Barandjuk;
Didjeridu: Nicky Djarug. Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen
on 24 Jun 1986. In 1993 Bobby said that this song was
associated with a vision he had in 1956 of Audrey Lippo
sitting eating oysters near some rocks at Mandorah (an
important site for the Belyuen people, where there is
now a hotel and wharf). This made him think about Rak
Badjalarr (North Peron Island, Bobby's father's country,
and Audrey's birthplace), and the song is one of longing
for that country. Different performances of this song
are presented on tracks 16-19. |
|
02
|
Winmedjem
ngandjinyene ngami |
0:01:19 |
1986:4,
item 5. Songman: Bobby Lane; Didjeridu: Nicky Djarug.
Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 24 Jun 1986. This
song was inspired by Audrey Lippo. Speaking in Audrey's
presence, Bobby told us that both he and Audrey's brother
Benmele (Rusty Moreen) were involved in creation of the
song: 'At one stage we were sitting outside camp, me and
Audrey, and watching Audrey, this one here. She was sitting
there with a rock, she [was] knocking these oysters, and
[her] brother made this song 'winmedjem'. 'Winmedjem'
mean 'oysters' on the rocks, she been belting them out.
He made that song up for her and I picked it up. I put
that in the picture. Like singing a corroboree that is.
And we made that song about Audrey this one here lady. |
|
03
|
Karra-fe
kanya ferfer tedi |
0:01:09 |
1986:4,
item 1. Songman: Bobby Lane; Didjeridu: Nicky Djarug.
Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 24 Jun 1986. This
beautiful song, which like song 1 expresses heartfelt
longing for Badjalarr, was received by Bobby in a dream
from a maruy spirit. He imagined himself lying down on
the island with fresh air blowing: 'The wind's blowing
and I'm lying down here. I slept and dreamt and a maruy
spirit came and sang the song. I got that picture and
I sang the song'. The text is partly in Batjamalh and
partly in Emmi. Alice Moyle recorded Bobby singing this
song in Darwin in 1962 (found in Songs
From The Northern Territory Volume 1, Track 10). See
track 15 of this album. |
|
04
|
Bandawarra-ngalgin
kadjenmene |
0:04:48 |
1986:4,
items 2 and 3. Songman: Bobby Lane; Didjeridu: Nicky Djarug.
Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 24 Jun 1986. This
song, which Bobby also linked with Peron Island, refers
to a place called Bandawarra-ngalgin, a deep hole in the
ocean bed that lies between South Peron Island and the
mouth of the Daly River. Bobby dreamt this song. His 'cousin
brother', Mun.gi, appeared to him in a dream 'like Bing
Crosby of Frank Sinatra'. 'I was fast asleep and I could
hear although my eyes [were] open, but I can hear this
... spirit come and sing to me. Next day I wake up and
I keep on practising wherever I go, then I get that song'. |
|
05
|
Tjerrendet-maka
kangadje |
0:01:03 |
1986:4,
item 4. Songman: Bobby Lane; Didjeridu: Nicky Djarug.
Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 24 Jun 1986. Tjerrendet
(a name that in Emmi means a traditional loincloth tied
at the sides) was the Aboriginal name of Roy Mardi Bigfoot,
an old Emmiyangal man formerly resident at Belyuen who
had been crippled as the result of a car crash. One day
a long time ago, Bobby saw him walking past his camp. |
|
06
|
Karra
blhak Malbak-karrang-maka |
0:02:03 |
1986:4,
item 8. Songmen: Bobby Lane and Tommy Barandjuk; Didjeridu:
Nicky Djarug. Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 24
Jun 1986. The name 'Malbak' in the first line of the song
refers to Aguk Malbak, the famous songman who was Mun.gi's
adoptive father and Bobby's father's brother. According
to Bobby, this song was originally Made by Aguk's brother
and eventually passed on to Bobby by Mun.gi. Bobby commented
'Mun.gi ... taught me these things, and ... here I am,
keeping the song going'. |
|
07
|
Tjendabalhatj
mibe-maka nyennene kanyedjanga |
0:01:41 |
1986:4,
item 10. Songmen: Bobby Lane and Tommy Barandjuk; Didjeridu:
Nicky Djarug. Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 24
Jun 1986. Bobby told us that Tjendabalhatj (whose 'whitefeller'
name was old Charlie Elliyong) was an old man, crippled
since a stroke as a young man. Bobby called him 'grandpa'.
He was a dawarraborak 'sorceror' or 'clever man'. This
song was performed for young men's dancing in 1991, when,
instead of the 'aaaa' performed in this 1986 version,
the exhortation 'nyamuyang nyedjang-nganggung' (stand
up and dance, woman, for us both) occurred in the break
between vocal sections. This phrase also occurs in the
Main Text of track 4, and with the variation 'nyamuyang
nyedjang-ngarrka' (stand up and dance, woman, for me)
in the Main Text of track 11. |
|
08
|
Benmele-maka
kurratjkurratj kabindje-nong |
0:02:04 |
1986:4,
item 9. Songmen: Bobby Lane and Tommy Barandjuk; Didjeridu:
Nicky Djarug. Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 24
Jun 1986. Benmele is the Aboriginal name of Audrey Lippo's
brother Rusty Moreen. Kurratjkurratj, which Bobby originally
translated as 'kookaburra' is the Channel-billed Cukoo
(Scythrops movaehollandiae), or 'Storm Bird'. There are
a number of different interpretations of the meaning of
this song, all of which people at Belyuen now agree are
correct. |
|
09
|
Walingaba-maka
bangany ngabindjang |
0:01:24 |
1991:4,
item 6. Songmen: Bobby Lane and Tommy Barandjuk; Didjeridu:
Ian Bilbil. Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 15
Nov 1991. 'Now this song is about a place called Wali,
Walingaba. It's near Peron Island there somewhere, and
what I'm singing there is I just repeat the same old word:
Wali, Walingaba.' It is unclear exactly where Walingaba
is located. |
|
10
|
Tjappana
rdinyale |
0:04:12 |
1991:5,
item 4. Songmen: Bobby Lane and Tommy Barandjuk; Didjeridu:
Eric Martin. Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 15
Nov 1991. Ruby Yarrowin, an Emmi speaker living at Belyuen,
says that Tjappana is a place on the northern shore of
the Daly River. |
|
11
|
Bangany
nyebindjang nyamu-ngarrka yamara |
0:01:53 |
1991:3,
item 4. Songman: Bobby Lane; Didjeridu: Nicky Djarug.
Recorded by Allan Marett at Belyuen on 13 Nov 1991. Dance
calls and the dance steps of young men can be heard; the
percussion instruments are beer cans. This song was used
to accompany young men's dancing on one occasion in 1991,
and there is some text variability between that performance
recorded on 1991:3 and the elicited performance recorded
two days later on 1991:4. In the earlier danced performance
(1991:3) the term for women's dancing 'nyamuyang' was
used, despite the fact that no women were present. In
the later elicited performance (when dancing did not take
place), the word for men's dancing 'yamara' was substituted
for 'nyamuyang'. |
|
12
|
Karra
mobagandi |
0:05:35 |
DAT
97/5, item 1. Songman: Rossy Yarrowin; Didjeridu: Nicky
Djarug. Recorded by Allan Marett and Linda Barwick at
Belyuen on 1 Aug 1997. In August 1997, when Belyuen people
were shown a pre-publication copy of this recording and
booklet, Bobby Lane's son, Daniel Lane, said that a young
Emmiyangal man, Roger Rarrowin (Rossy), had another song
by Bobby Lane. This song, described as Bobby's 'last song',
was given to Rossy by Bobby shortly before the death of
Rossy's father, who had been a very important man in the
Belyuen community. Rossy agreed to sing this song for
inclusion on this CD, in the presence of Daniel and his
sister Loraine. The performance begins with two ritual
cries (malh). Men present explained that they were calling
out to the ghost of Bobby Lane. A noteworthy feature of
this song is that when, as in the first and third item,
there are two verses, the lead singer's sticks (but not
the handclapping of the others present) are omitted for
all or part of the second verse. |
|
13
|
Karra
balhak-fe belleny nyebindjange |
0:03:03 |
A1243.
Songmen: Bobby Lane and Rusty Moreen; Didjeridu: Alan
Nama. The Brolga is a large grey bird common in the wetlands
of Northern Australia that is noted for its elaborate
courtship dances. This song recorded by Alice Moyle at
Bagot (a suburb of Darwin) in 1959, is noted in her fieldnotes
as a 'song from Peron Island'. The singers are Bobby Lane
and Rusty Moreen, accompanied by Alan Nama on didjeridu.
It is not known whether the song was composed by Bobby,
though both text and musical structure are consistent
with his style, and Bobby dictated the words for the song
in a later recording made by Moyle at Bagot in 1962. |
|
14
|
Limarakpa
limarakpa |
0:01:56 |
A1370,
item 3. Songmen: Bobby Lane and Douglas Rankin; Didjeridu:
John Scroggi {Scrubby). Recorded by Alice Moyle at Bagot
on 21 May 1962 and included on Songs
From the Northern Territory Volume 1, Track 10. Although
Bobby dictated the song words, it is not known whether
he composed the song. Belyuen people say the words are
meaningless 'just for song'. |
|
15
|
Karra-fe
kanya ferfer tedi |
0:03:01 |
A1370,
item 4. Songmen: Bobby Lane and Douglas Rankin; Didjeridu:
John Scroggi {Scrubby). Recorded by Alice Moyle at Bagot
on 21 May 1962 and included on Songs
From the Northern Territory Volume 1, Track 10. Like
the previous track, this song was recorded by Alice Moyle
at Bagot in 1962. In this case, we are fortunate to have
a later performace and commentary by Bobby to confirm
that he was the composer (see track 2). Compared to the
1986 recording, this 1962 recording is structured quite
differently. |
|
16
|
Rak
Badjalarr (version 2) |
0:01:36 |
Songman:
Bobby Lane; Didjeridu: Douglas Rankin. Recorded by Alice
Moyle at Bagot in 1962. Although the recording has significant
technical flaws as a result of its having been originally
recorded at a very low level, we decided to include it
here because of its significance within Bobby Lane's repertoire.
It differs in a number of ways from the version that Bobby
was singing by the time Marett met him in 1986. Although
the text rhythm and melodic structure are identical, both
the stick beating and the text of the fist line are different.
Whereas in the later recordings the accompaniment takes
the form of a repeated gapped pattern (xxo), here the
stickbeating is an unbroken stream of regular beats. |
|
17
|
Rak
Badjalarr (version 3) |
0:02:17 |
Songman:
Lawrence Wurrben (a Wadjiginy man living at Beswick);
Didjeridu: Dick Linjirbanji (Gunej). Recorded by LaMont
West at Beswick on 28 Oct 1961. The text is very similar
to that of track 1, with the exceptions that Wurrben sometimes
sings bangany 'song' instead of banganyung 'for the song',
and the word ngami 'I sit' is absent from the second line
of text. The continuous stickbeating accompaniment occurs
at double the rate of that performed by Bobby Lane in
track 16, and the text rhythm is swung differently, while
maintaining clear similarities in the order of short and
long notes. |
|
18
|
Rak
Badjalarr (version 4) |
0:02:44 |
Songmen:
Rusty Moreen (Emmiyangal) and Lawrence Wurrben (Wadjiginy)
Didjeridu: Billy Brab (Wadjiginy). Recorded by LaMont
West at Beswick on 7 Nov 1961. The text and melodic structure
are almost identical to the version sung by Bobby in 1986
(track 1), although as in Lawrence Wurrben's solo version
(track 17), the word ngami 'I sit' is absent from the
second line of text. According to West's comments, the
song was originally composed by Jimmy Bandak, an old Wadjiginy
singer then resident at Delissaville (Belyuen). |
|
19
|
Rak
Badjalarr (version 5) |
0:02:06 |
Songman:
Colin Warrambu Ferguson; Didjeridu: Nicky Djarug. Recorded
by Allan Marett at Mandorah on 8 Nov 1997. Sung on the
beach at Mandorah in November 1997 (recording by Allan
Marett). It has a number of features that link it with
an early version sung by Bobby Lane in 1962 (track 16).
As in Bobby's earlier version, Colin sings Rak Badjalarr
bangany nyebindjang 'Rak Badjalarr: you sing a song' rather
than Rak Badjalarr-maka banganyung 'a song for the sake
of my father's country, North Person Island'. While in
the first three vocal sections he uses the stickbeating
commonly found in Bobby's most recent performances, namely
the repeating gapped triple pattern (xxo), he changes
to the even beating of the 1962 version for the final
section. A unique feature of Colin's performance is the
inclusion of the line Rak Badjalarr bangany nyebindjang,
sung sotto voce after the line 'winmedje ngandjinyene'.
On the occasion of this performance, Bobby Lane's ghost
appeared, manifesting itself as blue-green lights and
a cool breeze. Participants commented on his presence
both at the time of the performance and afterwards. The
performance concludes with a ritual call (malh) for the
country and for Bobby's spirit. |
