Songs from the Stations: Wajarra As Performed by Ronnie Wavehill
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Indigenous Music of Australia Linda Barwick, Series Editor The many forms of Australia’s Indigenous music have ancient roots, huge diversity and global reach. The Indigenous Music of Australia series aims to stimulate discussion and development of the field of Australian Indigenous music (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music) in both subject matter and approach. For the Sake of a Song: Wangga Songmen and Their Repertories Allan Marett, Linda Barwick and Lysbeth Ford Reflections and Voices: Exploring the Music of Yothu Yindi with Mandawuy Yunupingu Aaron Corn Songs from the Stations: Wajarra as Sung by Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpnga, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal and Dandy Danbayarri at Kalkaringi Myfany Turpin and Felicity Meakins Wurrurrumi Kun-Borrk: Songs from Western Arnhem Land Kevin Djimar Wajarra as Sung by Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpnga, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal and Dandy Danbayarri at Kalkaringi Myfany Turpin and Felicity Meakins, with photographs by Brenda L Croft The Gurindji knowledge in this book is the intellectual property of Gurindji people. This knowledge should only be used with written consent of the intellectual property owners and with proper attribution. © Gurindji people 2019 First published by Sydney University Press 2019 © Myfany Turpin and Felicity Meakins 2019 © Ronnie Wavehill, Topsy Dodd and Dandy Danbayarri 2019 © Sydney University Press 2019 Reproduction and Communication for other purposes Except as permitted under the Act, no part of this edition may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or communicated in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All requests for reproduction or communication should be made to Sydney University Press at the address below: Sydney University Press Fisher Library F03 University of Sydney NSW 2006 AUSTRALIA [email protected] sydney.edu.au/sup A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia. ISBN 9781743325841 paperback ISBN 9781743325858 epub ISBN 9781743323427 mobi Cover design by Miguel Yamin. Cover photograph: Girls dancing to the wajarra ‘Freedom Day’ song set, Kalkaringi, 2016 (detail) © Brenda L Croft. Maps by Brenda Thornley; used with permission. Unless otherwise credited, photographs by Brenda L. Croft; used with permission. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following organisations for their contribution to this book, and the several projects that contributed to its development: the Australian Research Council; the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language; the Australian government’s Indigenous Language and Arts Program; DOBES; Karungkarni Art; the University of Queensland; the University of Sydney. Ngumpit-tu janka-ku yunparnup an warrkap, kuya, nyila-ma wajarra-ma. Kamul, Mintiwarra, Laka, Juntara nyampa nyila wajarra. Ngurnalu wanyjanana-ma ngumpit yunparnani-ma janka or purrupurru. Nyawa-ma wajarra-ma ngu punyu ngu yunparnu, kula wankaj mamurung lawara. Ngurnalu yunparnana ngumpit-tu janka-ku-purrupurru, nyamu-rnalu karrinyana kulpap wajarra-la-ma yala-ngka- ma. Ngulu wanyjarnani na ngaringka-lu na yirrap-kulu-ma. Ngumpit-tu janka-ku warrkap-ma kuya-ma an yunparnup- ma wanyjarnana parlak-kulu. Kula nyampayila mamurrung, marntaj. The corroborees [in this book] – Kamul, Mintiwarra, Laka, Juntara – are for everyone to sing and dance. We all perform them, men and women alike. Wajarra is open to all, not closed by any means. Both men and women sing it when we’re together at corroboree time. Another group of women might dance. But men and women dance and sing together as a group. It’s not restricted in any way, OK. —Ronnie Wavehill 2017 Contents List of figures ix List of musical examples xi List of tables xiii List of maps xv List of plates xvii Preface xix Acknowledgements xxi Contributors xxv A note on orthography xxxi Abbreviations, terms and conventions xxxvii Introduction 1 1 Social, linguistic and geographic origins of the songs 27 2 Performing wajarra 83 3 The wajarra song sets 115 Mintiwarra 117 Kamul 139 Freedom Day 149 Laka 157 Juntara 177 Conclusion 185 Appendix 1: The recordings 189 Appendix 2: Song items 193 References 201 Index 213 vii List of figures Figure i.1 Men performing wangga at Wave Hill Station in 1925. 12 Figure i.2 Men practising the didjeridoo in the ‘blacks camp’ at Wave Hill Station in 1925. 12 Figure 1.1 Line of descent of Tinker Rarrawal and Smiler Kartarta. 30 Figure 1.2 Line of descent of Yawalyurru, the man to whom many of the wajarra are attributed. 32 Figure 2.1 Gurindji boys dancing wajarra at Kalkaringi School in the late 1970s or early 1980s. 87 Figure 2.2 Tempo (y-axis) of song items in each of the five song sets (x-axis). 102 Figure 3.1 Yitakatji or ‘bunch panic’ (Yakirra [Panicum] australiense. 124 Figure 3.2 Collecting seeds of ‘bunch panic (Yakirra australiense) in the Great Sandy Desert. 124 Figure 3.3 A station camel team taking wire to the fence line on Wave Hill Station on 9 September 1921. 140 Figure 3.4 Yirtingki ‘bush orange’ (Capparis mitchellii). 154 Figure 3.5 Lukarrarra ‘slender pigweed’ (Portulaca filifolia). 155 Figure 3.6 Sand goanna (Varanus gouldii), the subject of Verse 12. 175 ix List of musical examples Musical Example 2.1 Metrical alignment of percussive accompaniment and singing. 95 Musical Example 2.2 A vocal break, shown as rests, occurs at the end of every second cycle of the verse. 96 Musical Example 2.3 An example of the rare tremolo percussive accompaniment instead of vocal breaks. 99 Musical Example 2.4 The galloping beating accompaniment (short-long). 100 Musical Example 2.5 The bi-verse is the preferred point in the melodic phrase in which to take a breath in single line verses. 105 Musical Example 2.6 Preferred phrasing and breath points are at the end of the verse in AABB verses. 106 Musical Example 2.7 Phrasing and breath points in slow Laka. 107 Musical Example 2.8 Phrasing and breath points at the end of the hemistich in Kamul. 108 Musical Example 2.9 Diphthongisation on phrase-final notes (Laka, Verse 9). 110 Musical Example 2.10 Three different rhythmic cells (a, b and c) in one rhythmic line of the Mintiwarra song set. 113 Musical Example 2.11 Regular grouping of beats (Laka, Verse 3). 114 Musical Example 2.12 Complex groupings of beats in a line (Mintiwarra, Verse 2). 114 Musical Example 3.1 The Mintiwarra scale is hexatonic with a minor third (A, B, C, E, F, G). 119 Musical Example.3.2 Mintiwarra Verse 11 performed by Gurindji men at Wave Hill. 134 xi Songs from the Stations Musical Example 3.3 Mintiwarra Verse 11 performed by Kukatja men at Balgo. 135 Musical Example 3.4 Melody in the slow Kamul. 142 Musical Example 3.5 Melody in the fast Kamul. 143 Musical Example 3.6 The melody of Laka Verse 15 sung in 2015. 160 Musical Example 3.7 The melody of Laka Verse 15 sung in 2016. 161 Musical Example 3.8 The melodic range of Juntara. 179 xii List of tables Table i.1 Gurindji consonants. xxxiii Table i.2 Gurindji vowels. xxxiv Table 2.1 Organisational units of a wajarra performance showing how a performance consists of a selection of verses. 91 Table 2.2 Different durations of the vocal breaks in eight song items of Mintiwarra, Verse 2. 97 Table 2.3 Song sets grouped by the four different types of percussive accompaniment. 101 Table 2.4 The six song sets grouped by their tempo bands. 103 Table 2.5 Tempo of the 18 song items of Mintiwarra Verse 11. 104 Table 2.6 Verse structures in the wajarra corpus. 112 Table 3.1 Wajarra corpus. 117 Table 3.2 Mintiwarra corpus. 118 Table 3.3 Mintiwarra rhythmic patterns. 120 Table 3.4 Mintiwarra rhythmic cells. 121 Table 3.5 Kamul corpus. 141 Table 3.6 Kamul rhythmic patterns. 144 Table 3.7 Freedom Day corpus. 149 Table 3.8 Freedom Day rhythmic patterns. 150 Table 3.9 Laka corpus. 159 Table 3.10 Melodic shape of the seven song items of Laka Verse 15. 162 Table 3.11 Laka rhythmic patterns. 163 Table 3.12 Laka rhythmic cells. 164 Table 3.13 Juntara corpus. 177 Table 3.14 Juntara rhythmic patterns. 178 Table 3.15 Juntara rhythmic cells. 180 xiii List of maps Map 1 Communities and cattle stations in the Victoria River District. 6 Map 2 Along the Victoria River to Inverway Station, Limbunya and beyond to Gordon Downs, a popular holiday-time route. 52 Map 3 Languages and regions through which some wajarra songs may have travelled. 54 Map 4 The Central Australian musical region. 66 xv List of plates Plate 1 Wantarnu at nighttime during a performance of yawulyu and jarrarta. 67 Plate 2 Crayon drawing produced for Ronald and Catherine Berndt of two men dancing by an unknown artist at Jinparrak (old Wave Hill Station). 67 Plate 3 (Right) Smiler Kartarta Jangala in the late 1970s or early 1980s. 67 Plate 4 Smiler Kartarta Jangala teaches Gurindji boys wajarra at Kalkaringi school in the 1980s. 68 Plate 5 John King is painted up by George Kalapiti Jangala at Kalkaringi school in the 1980s. 68 Plate 6 Freedom Day songs performed at the fortieth anniversary of the Wave Hill walk-off at Kalkaringi in 2006. 69 Plate 7 Violet Wadrill and Theresa Yibwoin collect ochres near Mount Possum. 70 Plate 8 Violet Wadrill wearing four colours of ochres. 71 Plate 9 Violet Wadrill holding yatu collected at Latajarni. 71 Plate 10 Karntawarra (yellow ochre) being used to paint up women. 71 Plate 11 Violet Wadrill paints Nazeera Morris in preparation for dancing wajarra. 72 Plate 12 Topsy Dodd leads the Freedom Day wajarra dance.