Songs From the Northern Territory 3: Music From Yirrkala and Milingimbi, North-Eastern Arnhem Land Artist/Collector: Alice Moyle Label Information: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS): AIAS 3 CD Media Type: CD Year: Recorded 1963; Released 1997 Availability: AIATSIS

Notes: For the purpose of music description, Eastern Arnhem Land of the Northern Territory is divided here as follows: the north-eastern sector including offshore islands; the eastern sector extending along the coast south as far as the Roper River; and the Groote Eylandt archipelago, north-west of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Field recordings reproduced on this compact disc were collected in the north-eastern sector at Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula and Milingimbi on the Crocodile Islands off the north coast. The Aboriginal communities at these two localities, together with the people on Galiwin'ku (previously called Elcho Island) have, in the anthropological literature, been referred to as the Murngin (WL Warner) and Wulamba (RM Berndt). More recently they have become known as the Yolngu, from a local word meaning 'people'.

The artistic talents of the Yolngu were soon to become widely known and admired. Their bark paintings are now to be found in many Australian galleries and in galleries overseas. Two of their leading painters in the early 1960s, both of the Rirratjingu clan, are to be heard as singers in this series of compact discs (see discs 3 and 4).

Yolngu children excelled as singers and dancers at the Darwin Eisteddfod, an annual 'top end' event which, in the 1960s, drew many Aboriginal entrants from communities within and beyond Arnhem Land.

Since that time, there have been changes. Mission stations and government stations are now Community Centres administered by the Aboriginal people themselves and many have preferred to live more or less permanently on outstations situated within traditional territories or homelands.

Item characteristics of Eastern Arnhem Land clan songs performed and recorded in 1960s-all of which were sung by men-are summarised here as follows: (1) a didjeridu accompaniment which utilises two tones differing widely in pitch (the interval between the higher or overblown tone and fundamental often sounding close to a tenth but varying according to the shape and length of the hollowed branch); (2) a narrow vocal range of pitch (compare them, for instance with Western Arnhem Land songs) which rarely exceeds a fifth or sixth and may be less than a second; (3) clearly audible song words which are translatable, meaningful and appropriate to relevant clan territories and related myths; and (4) the occurrence of an unaccompanied vocal termination (UVT), or termination of a song item by voice or voices alone, after the accompanying instruments have ceased. Good examples of this fourth item characteristic are to be heard on this disc (Track 11) and disc 4 (Track 1).

Song refrains may consist of repeated strings of words and syllables, a prolonged single syllable or a repeated pattern of vocal sounds (for example, bird calls). These calls are incorporated into the particular sectional or phraselike structure of many item sequences performed in Eastern Arnhem Land.

As part of the music survey mentioned above, several visits were made to the north-eastern sector and a fairly comprehensive coverage was obtained of songs by men, women and children. I also made recordings of a number of ceremonial events. An extract from one of these is to be heard in tracks 1-5 on this disc.

Track Number	Track Title	Track Time	Notes
01	Mortuary ceremony for the removal of the spirit of the deceased i-v (Yirrkala 1962)	0:03:58	Tracks 1 & 2 contain an excerpt from a mortuary ceremony called Wan'djur. Ten items are to be heard here out of a total of more than seventy continuously recorded items. This was a Dhuwa moiety ceremony of the Djapu clan held in the evening at the lower main camp, just off the Yirrkala beach. It was a bright moonlit night. Thirty or more people were seated on the ground, chief singers and didjeridu players in front, a small fire close by. At certain times during the singing a group of young girls stood together in a line. Small hand movements could be seen as they swayed with the music. The focus of the ceremony was a fire-cleansing rite calculated in the first place to protect the living from the harmful spirits of the dead. On this occasion the passing of leaves and twigs through the smoke of the fire and brushing of the relatives occurred without display. It was said later that during the men's calls of lok and gurtha ('smoke!' and 'fire!') fragments of the deceased woman's clothing were being burnt. Some of the louder ceremonial calls were made by men to chase away the trickish spirit 'so that it cannot bring harm to her children'. Harmful spirits of this kind are called mokuy and are thought to be mischievous and troublesome. Among the subjects of the performed song series were: South-West Wind, Fire (Track 2), Dove, Thunder Man, Clouds, Rain, Feathered String and Morning Star. The voice of the leading singer, Gungata (b. 1930), is heard chanting the names of special sites connected with the clan of the deceased. As each name is called, there is a formal, responsorial call from the assembly. At the time of recording, the wailing voice of a woman mourner in a nearby hut was audible between most of the song items. A change in the stick-beating is notable in these extracts. In the third item of Track 1, for instance, there is a repeated pattern of eight doubles (quavers) and two singles (crotchets). This is followed in Track 2 by continuous doubles, with the didjeridu tolling like a deep-sounding bell (compare the Djambitj sample in this series of recordings (disc 1, Track 8); also disc 4 (Track 5iii). In Track 2 it is possible to follow to some extent the canonic, or imitative, entries of the song leaders. The change in general style of performance at this point is unmistakable. Harmonic intervals are created by a simultaneous sounding of ritual calls. Sustained vocal tones are close to a minor sixth and minor seventh apart. There are also intervals of seconds, not as clearly audible.
02	Mortuary ceremony for the removal of the spirit of the deceased vi-x (Yirrkala 1962)	0:06:31	Tracks 1 & 2 contain an excerpt from a mortuary ceremony called Wan'djur. Ten items are to be heard here out of a total of more than seventy continuously recorded items. This was a Dhuwa moiety ceremony of the Djapu clan held in the evening at the lower main camp, just off the Yirrkala beach. It was a bright moonlit night. Thirty or more people were seated on the ground, chief singers and didjeridu players in front, a small fire close by. At certain times during the singing a group of young girls stood together in a line. Small hand movements could be seen as they swayed with the music. The focus of the ceremony was a fire-cleansing rite calculated in the first place to protect the living from the harmful spirits of the dead. On this occasion the passing of leaves and twigs through the smoke of the fire and brushing of the relatives occurred without display. It was said later that during the men's calls of lok and gurtha ('smoke!' and 'fire!') fragments of the deceased woman's clothing were being burnt. Some of the louder ceremonial calls were made by men to chase away the trickish spirit 'so that it cannot bring harm to her children'. Harmful spirits of this kind are called mokuy and are thought to be mischievous and troublesome. Among the subjects of the performed song series were: South-West Wind, Fire (Track 2), Dove, Thunder Man, Clouds, Rain, Feathered String and Morning Star. The voice of the leading singer, Gungata (b. 1930), is heard chanting the names of special sites connected with the clan of the deceased. As each name is called, there is a formal, responsorial call from the assembly. At the time of recording, the wailing voice of a woman mourner in a nearby hut was audible between most of the song items. A change in the stick-beating is notable in these extracts. In the third item of Track 1, for instance, there is a repeated pattern of eight doubles (quavers) and two singles (crotchets). This is followed in Track 2 by continuous doubles, with the didjeridu tolling like a deep-sounding bell (compare the Djambitj sample in this series of recordings (disc 1, Track 8); also disc 4 (Track 5iii). In Track 2 it is possible to follow to some extent the canonic, or imitative, entries of the song leaders. The change in general style of performance at this point is unmistakable. Harmonic intervals are created by a simultaneous sounding of ritual calls. Sustained vocal tones are close to a minor sixth and minor seventh apart. There are also intervals of seconds, not as clearly audible.
03	(a) Wind (i-ii), (b) 'Lullaby' by blind female singer Bundarrngu (c) Dog by Gubiyarrawuy (d) Mokuy by Bundarrngu (e) Clouds by Bundarrngu, Barralpiwuy and Mitjamitjawuy (Milingimbi 1963)	0:06:02	Women's Songs: Singing (or wailing) by Eastern Arnhem Land women is usually heard immediately following the announcement of a death and during subsequent mortuary ceremonies. These 'crying' songs were an urgent formality in traditional times to let others know that the singer had no part in the cause of death. As a rule they demonstrate the mourner's kinship with the deceased and can often be genuine-though stylised-expressions of personal grief. In cases when their form and metric structure became apparent, women's 'crying' songs are simpler than men's clan songs; and, in the absence of didjeridu accompaniment and the metronomic beating of sticks, they are slow in tempo and more sustained by comparison. Track 3a: The first song is about the crying of the North Wind (dirrmala) and the clouds which stand waiting, black with rain. As part of her song the blind singer, Bundarrngu (b. 1912) also known as Bambay, included one or two asides such as 'I have gone wrong' and 'get me some water'. These additions were regarded by the others as comical. North Wind and Wuyuwuyu (or gaymurramurra, 'a yellow insect') were learnt by Bambay from her husband, a Wangurrispeaking man. Track 3b: The words of Wuyuwuyu (similar to those of a Warramiri item about the buzzing of a 'hornet') include an Aboriginal reference to the English word 'pillow' (belali). The main theme is sleep. This song item is sometimes used as a lullaby. Track 3c: The song by Gubiyarrawuy (b. 1934) about the dog (watu) scratching for shell fish and rats is in the Guyamirrilili dialect. It ends, after a pause, with a few additional words in which the singer gives the names of the dog. Track 3d: The Mokuy song was learnt by the older woman, Bambay, from her grandmother. It refers to places visited by this mischievous, dancing being on a journey taken through the bush. Track 3e: The Clouds song, so-called by the three women singers, refers to the red glow after sunset (warrarra). The song is about an ancestral being who speared the kangaroo and ate it raw. Blood flowed over the sky.
04	Children's Songs: Children's songs (a) Wind, (b) Buffalo, and (c) Pussy Cat by children (d) Dog by Dhuwanydjika (e) 'Thunder Man' and 'Sick Person' by Dhuwanydjika and children (Yirrkala 1962)	0:02:28	Track 4a This song starts with the words 'wind blows' (wata galkina). It also contains play, or nonsense, words made up by children. Track 4b: This is a chanted story, or rhythmic description of a buffalo (gatapanga) hunt: first the tracking, then the spearing and finally the wounded animal's charge into the water. Track 4c: The word balawu (translated at Milingimbi as 'old people') was said to be really the Pussy Cat (native cat) song. Track 4d: The subject of the fourth song is Gepa, the dog who wanted to eat cooked turtle's eggs while they were still hot. At Yirrkala the syllables no-no-no were said to represent the whining of the dog. The song ends with a rhythmic imitation of the didjeridu. Track 4e: Thunder Man (bokngu) is a mythical being associated with fishing. At Milingimbi the song-word bokngu was interpreted as the cry which goes up when a large shoal of fish is sighted. English words have entered the song Sick Person (rerrimerri), which is joined to the Thunder Man song. The phrase operationbuy operationbuy doktorwungu has been translated 'as the result of the operation by a doctor'. In the performance of some of the above songs the children were assisted by the young woman, Djuwanydjika (b. 1939). Interpretations of some of the words differed. Many appeared to be better understood at Yirrkala than at Milingimbi, implying that they may have originated at the former locality. Some of the tunes have a noticeably European flavour though their origin is not known.
05	Children's Songs: (a) Two Men (i-ii) sung by Mitjamitjawuy (Milingimbi 1962); (b) Children's songs: Rabbit and Fire, sung by girls: Debil and Piggy sung by Gurawul and Bandarang with Wuyal aged eleven years (didjeridu) (Numbulwar 1963)	0:02:29	Track 5a: Mitjamitjawuy (b. 1934) of the Yirritja moiety sings in Gapapuyngu about the two men (marrma' yolgnu) rowing a dinghy. The verses were said to be composed by the singer's sister at the age of sixteen years. The tune is similar to Wind, Pussy Cat and others in Tracks 4 and 5. Track 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e: The young Yolngu singers of these songs were living at Numbulwar on the east coast at the time of recording. They left soon afterwards with a group travelling north. The Rabbit or Bandicoot (wan'kurra) and Bush Fire (gurtha) songs which were sung by these little Balamumu girls, belong to the same quintal order as the songs by Yolngu children at Yirrkala and Milingimbi and probably were learnt there. They were accompanied by sticks beaten by Jimmy Dagdag who on this occasion assumed the role of master of ceremonies (see disc 2, Tracks 11 and 12). The songs Devil ('Debil') and Piggy were sung at Numbulwar by two small boys aged ten to twelve years. The didjeridu player Wuyul was eleven years old. When these songs are accompanied by mime, the youngsters engage in a humorous display of catching and dodging. Piggy refers to a Disney cartoon. Like many of the fun songs performed by young single men, it originated during the Second World War when young Aborigines in Arnhem Land saw films (at air bases) for the first time.
06	(a) East Rain (b) East Wind sung by Mawalan with DjaIalingba (didjeridu) (Yirrkala 1962)	0:03:12	Didjeridu by: Djalalingba. Mawalan (b. 1908), a Rirratjingu speaker and well-known figure with his Makassan-style beard, was head of a talented family of singers, didjeridu-players, dancers and bark-painters. As a bark-painter himself he frequently travelled from his home at Yirrkala to some of the larger capital cities in the south. His songs, and those of Mathaman (disc 4), were said to be 'really Yirrkala' songs or 'first Yirrkala' songs. To the listener who knows only what he or she hears, the songs in question are about the rain, the wind, the seagull, the home of the morning star, and so on. These same songs have a special and deeper significance for senior members of the Rirratjingu clan and, when performed at ceremonies, may be used as sources or instruments of spiritual power. East Rain (bulwunu) (Track 6a) is connected with the need for rain. Accordingly, this particular song is also an invocation. East Wind, also referred to as bulwunu (Track 6b), is more declamatory in style and may well be described as 'accompanied recitative'. These two songs were attributed to a predecessor in the singer's patriline.
07	Didjeridu Solo By Djalalingba (Yirrkala 1962)	0:01:11	The solo demonstrations of didjeridu (yidaki) playing by Djalalingba (b. 1936) of the Yirritja moiety and Mawalan, Dhuwa moiety, developed into something of a contest, during which the excited audience chattered incessantly. In the younger man's performance the single upper tones stand out with the predominance of drum beats, and the player can be heard tapping on the side of his instrument with his finger. As if determined not to be outdone by his younger 'opponent' Mawalan played for a longer duration (one minute twenty-six seconds). Shortness of breath may have been responsible for the muffled upper tone at the end. The performance was greeted with delight by the younger members of the audience.
08	Didjeridu Solo By Mawalan (Yirrkala 1962)	0:01:37	The solo demonstrations of didjeridu (yidaki) playing by Djalalingba (b. 1936) of the Yirritja moiety and Mawalan, Dhuwa moiety, developed into something of a contest, during which the excited audience chattered incessantly. In the younger man's performance the single upper tones stand out with the predominance of drum beats, and the player can be heard tapping on the side of his instrument with his finger. As if determined not to be outdone by his younger 'opponent' Mawalan played for a longer duration (one minute twenty-six seconds). Shortness of breath may have been responsible for the muffled upper tone at the end. The performance was greeted with delight by the younger members of the audience.
09	(a) Spring Water (b) Red Kangaroos sung by Mun-gurrawuy with paired sticks (Yirrkala 1962)	0:04:21	The items by Mun-gurrawuy (b. 1907) belong to a relatively high order of songs. Accompanied only by stick beating, Spring Water and Red Kangaroos are associated with the myth of Lany'tjun and Banatja and are sung only by senior members of clans of the Yirritja moiety. Such songs as these were said to be performed after a fight, to heal the wounded. Banatja, apparently an unpopular hero, was himself speared and, according to one version of the story, he leapt into the water and changed into Lany'tjun. Mun-gurrawuy's second song refers to the red kangaroo hunted by Lany'tjun and/or Banatja. Both Yirritja items end with a prolonged 'ee' followed by 'girriri'. These are terminating vocal sounds characteristic of Eastern Arnhem Land songs of this type.
10	Ship sung by Rrikin, Djalalingba with Reiman (didjeridu) (Yirrkala 1962)	0:01:39	Didjeridu by: Reiman. Ship (balawurr), sung by two Yirritja men with didjeridu accompaniment was, at the time of recording, keenly enjoyed by the Aboriginal audience. The chief singer, Rrikin (b. 1932), well known for his dancing and mime, sang with Djalalingba in a deliberately comical mannerturning, then nodding his head. Commencing in speech-song style they tell of the ship's arrival. It is first seen heading east with cargo on board. At a later point in the song a word imitating the noise of the ship's turning may be heard: bilpil bilpil. In the final section, where polyphony occurs, other words including miyaman ('sing') and marayarryu ('mast') are sung. And here Mawalan (the Dhuwa singer in Track 6) stepped forward to control the tempo. His handclaps are clearly audible in the recording.
11	(a) Flat Fish (i-ii) sung by Buranday with Darringguwuy (didjeridu); (b) Flat Fish (iii) sung by Buranday and Djatjamirrilil with Darringguwuy (didjeridu); (c) Seagull (i-iii) sung by Buranday, and Djatjamirrilil with Darringguwuy (didjeridu) (Milingimbi 1962)	0:03:55	Didjeridu by: Darringguwuy. Buranday's items would be performed, as are other clan songs, during ceremonies held at time of family stress, illness and death. The six items of this track, sung in the Djambarrpuyngu dialect, represent subjects or clan emblems associated with the Dhuwa moiety: in the first, the Flat Fish (milika) (Tracks 11a and 11b), delighted with the return of the East Wind, jumps happily in and out of the water; in the second, Seagull (djarrak), out hunting for fish at the end of the day, swoops down to make his catch. In (a) Buranday sings the first two Flat Fish items alone; in (b) he is joined in the third Flat Fish item by his son, Djatjamirrilil; and in (c) they both contribute to the three Seagull items. The unaccompanied vocal termination (UVT) mentioned above as a characteristic trait of north-east Arnhem Land clan songs, is well demonstrated in these items, first by the senior singer, then by father and son simultaneously.
12	Diatpangarri (Comic) (i-ii) sung by Minydjun with Djigalulu (didjeridu) (Milingimbi 1962)	0:02:19	Didjeridu by: Djigalulu. Dance songs called Djatpangarri (Djedbangari) belong to a special category in the music of this region. The singers who are generally young, single men, describe them as fun songs and the laughter which breaks out during the singing of a Djatpangarri item is usually caused by the apt mimicry of one of the dancers. This 'Comic' Djatpangarri sung by Minydjun (b. 1944) originated as the result of a Disney film cartoon seen by Yolngu people at one of the air bases during the Second World War. Donald Duck is the subject of the associated dance. The Djatpangarri dance form and its bipartite song are attributed to Dambidjawa, a well-remembered Gumatj speaker of the Yirritja moiety. It was said at Yirrkala that Djatpangarri could be sung either by Dhuwa or Yirritja men. Many of the subjects of these dances are non-traditional. (A Djatpangarri item has recently made its appearance as a record produced by an Aboriginal rock group from Yirrkala.)
13	Song words for 6a and 9a spoken by Wandjuk; for track 12 spoken by Baya (Milingimbi 1962)	0:03:33	The two men, whose voices are heard in this track, Wandjuk and Baya, were well practised in linguistic work of this kind. The long text for Mawalan's East Rain song (Track 6a) was obtained from the field recording only slowly. There was less difficulty in following the words of Spring Water (Track 9a) sung by Mun-gurrawuy, leading singer of the opposite (Yirritja) moiety. The task of Baya, a younger man at Miligimbi, was an easier one. These formal Djatpangarri utterances were known at the time to almost every young male singer in north-eastern Arnhem Land.