Conversing tradition: Wägilak manikay ‘song’ and the Australian Art Orchestra’s Crossing Roper Bar Samuel John Curkpatrick August 2013 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University i Declaration This is to certify that this thesis comprises only my original work except where indicated, that due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other materials used and that this thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, excluding footnotes, tables, figures, maps and appendices. Samuel John Curkpatrick 30/8/2013 ii A further declaration The present author is no philosopher, he has not understood the System, nor does he know if there really is one, or if it has been completed. As far as his own weak head is concerned, the thought of what huge heads everyone must have in order to have such huge thoughts is already enough [...] The present author is no philosopher, he is a poetice et eleganter (to put it in poetic and well-chosen terms), a freelance who neither writes the System nor makes any promises about it, who pledges neither anything about the System nor himself to it. He writes because for him doing so is a luxury, the more agreeable and conspicuous the fewer who buy and read what he writes. In an age where passion has been done away with for the sake of science he easily foresees his fate. Søren Kierkegaard 1843, Fear and trembling (1985, 43) iii Acknowledgements Daniel Warrathuma Wilfred, Benjamin Miyala Wilfred, David Yipininy Wilfred, Andy Lukaman Peters, Roy Natilma and family, ever hospitable and trusting, some great adventures have been had. Musicians and management of the Australian Art Orchestra and Tobias Titz, your inspiring artistic ability and openness to share was essential to this work. My supervisors, Prof. Michael Dodson, Dr. Aaron Corn and Frances Morphy, setting in motion my fieldwork and writing with expert advice. My own family and fiancée, Rachel Cashmore, because family is always more important than achievement and you helped to shape this thesis more than you think. My colleagues at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies, the ANU School of Music and the National Museum of Australia, ever supportive in friendship and work. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, who provided valuable financial assistance for travel and recording projects. Greg Dickson and the Ngukurr Language Centre; Bill Blackley, Kevin Rogers and the Yugul Mangi Aboriginal Corporation; Julie North and the Ngukurr Arts Centre; everyone else in Ngukurr who played a role or lent a hand. iv Abstract This thesis is an exploration of tradition as event in the present, realised through the dynamic expressions of manikay (song) in contemporary contexts. Particular focus is given to the collaboration between Wägilak songmen from Ngukurr in Australia’s Northern Territory and the Australian Art Orchestra, known as Crossing Roper Bar. Inquiry into various musicological, performative, narrative, philosophical and historical aspects of Wägilak song and Crossing Roper Bar, draws together abundant examples supporting the thesis that tradition exists as a dynamic interplay, a conversation, between the past and the present, between individual subjects and situations, and amid ongoing iterations of performance. Through involved, creative articulation, tradition is known and sustained into the future. This is true of conservative performance contexts and those dramatically envisioned. Crossing Roper Bar is a laudable approach to musical engagement amid diversity in Australia and this thesis documents some of the history, intentions and achievements of the project. Descriptions of the differing musical cultures of individuals involved mirrors my exploration of tradition as substantiating, effective history (Gadamer) shaping our horizons of performance. Consecutively, the creative possibilities of unique, vocative expression within orientations of situation and orthodox form are also appraised. A dynamic picture of tradition as discursive play emerges, engaging individuals amid an excess of perspectives, forms, motivations, contexts and technologies. Musical and contextual analysis is directed by an interpretation of the Yolŋu hermeneutic of tradition resonant with philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics. This allows the development of an explicit understanding of Crossing Roper Bar as a part of Yolŋu ceremonial tradition, present articulations of performance shown to be legitimate iterations within an ongoing, orienting ancestral groove. Challenging prevalent notions of intangible culture, such tradition is not ossified heritage: the ancestral text is known as it is tangibly engaged and disclosed within the lives of present generations. Investigation into the musical and personal interactions between different individuals and cultures in Crossing Roper Bar begins from musical v analysis that pursues: textures of sound, textures of situation and layered media; the animation of musical forms; the vocative expression of individuals. This thesis draws on diverse sources including extensive fieldwork and ongoing relationships with the Young Wägilak Group and the Australian Art Orchestra, as well as the writings of Yolŋu leaders and other academics. The conversation generated presents, itself, an image of discursive engagement with diverse perspectives — a key motivation behind the Crossing Roper Bar collaboration. Subsequently, a rich demonstration of tradition emerges as something more vocative than essentialist, as something that speaks uniquely into our lives and is simultaneously sustained by creative articulation and performance. vi Table of contents Page Acknowledgements iv Abstract v List of figures xi Listening examples xv Conventions xviii Acronyms and abbreviations xix Introduction Chapter One Introduction – Basic issues and dynamics 2 . Thesis narrative and objectives 11 . Fieldwork 16 . Situating this research 19 . (Ethno)musicology 27 . Further relevant literature, recordings and 28 performance First Part: ‘That’s the Wägilak culture’ Chapter Two Setting the scene – Ŋilipidji 37 . Brief history of Ngukurr 45 . Wägilak connections – A history of collaboration 52 . Full time ceremonial practitioners 59 vii Chapter Three Yolŋu hermeneutics: Piecing together the text 69 . The revealed, tangible text 72 . Revelation 77 . Disclosing the text 81 . New expressions 93 Chapter Four The Wägilak narrative 100 . The narrative of Ŋilipidji 106 . Manikay connections 117 . Elaborating key elements 124 - Wata (wind) – Purification after death - Likandhu-ŋupan (elbow-pointing) – Connections - Märi-gutharra – Social backbone - Guku (honey) – Life’s path - Strings, baskets and bags - Lutunba – Deep significant waters . Rich articulation 150 Chapter Five The bones of manikay 152 . Orthodox elements 156 . Productive ambiguity 166 . Yuta manikay (new song) 173 . Living bones 182 Second Part: Conversing Tradition Chapter Six Shifting horizons 186 . Gadamer the philosopher 187 . Prejudice and postcolonial angst 189 . An event of address 199 viii . Conversing new horizons 203 . Historical reconstruction 210 . An illustration 212 . Gularri (floodwaters) 215 Chapter Seven Reflexive groove 220 . Reclaiming groove 224 . Beginnings – The early sessions 231 . Gara (spear) 239 . Emerging 250 . Beyond form 263 Chapter Eight Conversing tradition 266 . The Young Wägilak Group 268 . Conversive-discursive play 272 . Performing movement 280 . Textures of situation 290 . Concluding remarks 297 Chapter Nine ‘It’s our tradition too’ 300 . The language of the Australian Art Orchestra 305 . Musical voices 312 . Something emerges 324 . Crossing over 328 Chapter Ten Involved heritage 329 . Phenomenological excess 332 . Intangible culture? 340 . Living heritage 349 ix Conclusion Chapter Eleven Conclusion 353 . Possibility 356 Bibliography and appendices Bibliography . Conferences and other public presentations 359 . Documents, musical scores and online sources 361 . Fieldwork interviews 375 . Sound recordings and films 377 Appendices . Appendix one: Song texts transcribed in thesis 379 . Appendix two: Defining ‘ancestral text’ 384 . Appendix three: Crossing Roper Bar and Tract tour 386 and performance history x List of figures Figure Type Description1 Page Chapter one 1a Image Benjamin Wilfred 15 1b Image David Wilfred 15 1c Image Daniel Wilfred 15 1d Image The Roper Bar Crossing 18 1e Image The Roper Bar Crossing (Virginia Curkpatrick) 18 1f Image Gurrumul Yunupiŋu on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine 26 (Rolling Stone) 1g Image Paul Grabowsky and David Wilfred 34 1h Image Musicians on the 2010 Crossing Roper Bar tour 35 Chapter two 2a Image Wunungirrna (Walker River) at Ŋilipidji 41 2b Image Benjamin Wilfred smoking many’tjarr (leaves) 42 2c Image Benjamin Wilfred at Ŋilipidji 42 2d Map Map of Arnhem Land showing Ŋilipidji and Yolŋu homelands 43 2e Map Location of Ŋilipidji in relation to Blue Mud Bay 44 2f Image The Anglican Church in Ngukurr 51 2g Image The Roper River (Virginia Curkpatrick) 51 2h Map Language groups in South East Arnhem Land 58 2i Image Ŋilipidji outstation 67 2j Image Daniel Wilfred recording manikay (Sidha Pandian) 68 Chapter three 3a Image Daniel Wilfred with his son Isaiah 91 3b Image John Wilfred, Benjamin’s son 91 3c Image Burning off near Ngukurr 92 1 Brackets ( ) after a description indicates the photographer where this is not Samuel Curkpatrick xi Chapter four 4a Image Birrkpirrk and wata design in a cave south of Ngukurr (Simon 105 Normand) 4b Image CRB