Rak Badjalarr: Wangga songs for North Peron Island by Bobby Lane Artist/Collector: Bobby Lane Label Information: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). AIATSIS CD 93-17006-00015C ISBN: 0-85575-364-1 Media Type: CD Year: 2001 Availability: Skinnyfish Music Notes: CD includes 39 page booklet by Allan Marett, Linda Barwick and Elizabeth Ford.

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.