About Murriny Patha song

Transcription

1 About Murriny Patha song Linda Barwick and Michael Walsh University of Sydney ICLDC, Honolulu, 14 March 2009)

2 Murriny Patha Song Project Team ARC Discovery Project Preserving Australia s endangered heritages: Murrinh patha song at Wadeye DP Singers Lawrence Piyalem Karramanyi Kolumboort (d. 2006), Felix Yampunyi Bunduck (d. 2008), Mary Thirrinyngara Bunduck, Elizabeth Kalingkun Cumaiyi (d. 2008) Musicologists Allan MareY and Linda Barwick; Linguists Michael Walsh, Joe Blythe, Nick Reid, Lysbeth Ford Other Wadeye par]cipants: Mark Crocombe, Boniface Ngiparl Perdjert, Ernest Mawurt Perdjert, Mary Magdalen Manman Dungoi, Phyllis Yuwirrnga Bunduck, Delores Thalampa Narbarup, Lucy Thangkirra Tcherna, Rita Thuykem Tharwul, Bernadine Yillimu Kungul, Majella Pinpirrith Chula Photo: Linda Barwick, 2005 bolded: team members who have particularly contributed to the present paper

3 Songs as an endangered domain of Murriny Patha strong language but endangered domain project partly ins]gated by community concern for this endangered domain domain consists of songtexts highly condensed versions of more extensive everyday narra]ves typically in language but need specialist knowledge to interpret (and gloss) understanding talking about the songs also requires understanding of the song domain

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5 Murriny Patha language murriny patha good language Polysynthe]c non Pama Nyungan language belonging to the Daly group At least 38 verb classes, complex pronominal system Approx 3000 speakers, the majority living at Wadeye Community includes 7 Murriny Patha owning clans MP has also become the lingua franca for speakers of neighbouring languages (another 12 clans) who have seyled at Wadeye

6 Corpus of Djanba songs Composed by several members of Dimirnin and Nangu clans from 1961 onwards Dream recep]on from ancestors (djanba or /dha) Some 108 song texts matched to variety of different melodies and rhythmic modes Themes relate to ac]vi]es of ancestors situated in ]me and place Harry Luke Palada Kolumboort ( s), linguist and composer of djanba songs, pictured in 1960s (Wadeye Knowledge Centre Collec]on)

7 Djanba musical prac]ce Public performance directed by ceremonial leader (lead singer) Sung by mixed group of men and women with claps]cks and handclapping accompaniment Men typically sing first part of each verse, women second part Text is rela]vely fixed within the verse (not subject to improvisa]on) Several verses per item, each item repeated several ]mes Danced by men and women (different typical movements), matching musical structure

8 Djanba/Malgarrin song documenta]on session, 10 April 1997 Convened by Wadeye Aboriginal Languages Centre as part of community oral history project (government funding) Content decided by song leader, with contribu]ons from other senior performers present songs plus interpreta]ons for future genera]ons Mul]ple layers of recording audio (4 mikes plus a mixer) video Postproduc]on edited recording with addi]onal English commentary/transla]on recorded the next day Issues for interpreta]on, 12 years later song leader and many of the other senior par]cipants now deceased working with the right people (compe]ng demands; loss of domain knowledge) Issues for documenta]on and archiving mul]ple copies of the recording in the WALC collec]on, some poorly digi]sed or late genera]on copies managing par]al or mul]ple interpreta]ons

9 Gender and clans Lawrence Kolumboort ( ) Dimirnin composer & lead performer brother of major composer HLK MaYhew Pultchen (1944 ) Dimirnin specialist dancer and occasional backup singer, involved since 1960s Gypsy Jinjair ( ) Dimirnin knows lots of older songs, leads singing (s]cks), sits with men formerly lived on cayle sta]ons in East Kimberley

10 Manman Dunggoi (1920 ) Nangu specialist dancer, sister of Elizabeth, widow of Joe Birrarri (Dimirnin) djanba composer and singer Mary Bunduck (1940 ) Yederr, wife of Felix Bunduck (Dimirnin) LK s usual backup singer Rita Tharwul (1929 ) Dimirnin, sister in law of Elizabeth Cumaiyi and Mary Bunduck Elizabeth Cumaiyi ( ), Nangu, daughter of wurltjirri composer, knows lots of songs and leads singing (uses s]cks)

11 a yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda a mulumulu Kunybinyi tjingarru wurdamardurduy dimya ah son poor old Kunybinyi keeps changing conical paperbark headdress, conical paperbark headdress aa yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda a mulumulu Kunybinyi tjingarru wurdamardurduy dimya ah son poor old Kunybinyi keeps changing conical paperbark headdress, conical paperbark headdress a yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda a mulumulu Kunybinyi tjingarru wurdamardurduy dimya ah son poor old Kunybinyi keeps changing conical paperbark headdress, conical paperbark headdress Djanba 17 composed by Lawrence Kolumboort a yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda a mulumulu Kunybinyi tjingarru wurdamardurduy dimya ah son poor old Kunybinyi keeps changing conical paperbark headdress, conical paperbark headdress a yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda a mulumulu Kunybinyi tjingarru wurdamardurduy dimya ah son poor old Kunybinyi keeps changing conical paperbark headdress, conical paperbark headdress a yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda a mulumulu Kunybinyi tjingarru wurdamardurduy dimya ah son poor old Kunybinyi keeps changing conical paperbark headdress, conical paperbark headdress Kunybinyi because the song text is triple dis]lled, everyday op]onal nice]es like explicit nominal classifica]on are usually jepsoned. So, Kunybinyi can pivot between Kunybinyi man and Kunybinyi place/]me. tjingarru across Aboriginal Australia there is a recurring expression glossed as something like poor thing poor fellow. When referring to a person, one might think of a favorite but flawed uncle who is prone to get drunk and raucous at a wedding where there is a mixture of affec]on tempered by regret or sadness Wisrulness and poignancy are part of it too. kadjawula this term has a presumably unrelated synonym mutura, which appears neither in the songtext nor in its exegesis it is possible that this is a loan word from the Kimberleys a yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda a mulumulu Kunybinyi tjingarru wurdamardurduy dimya ah son poor old Kunybinyi keeps changing conical paperbark headdress, conical paperbark headdress keeps changing is a reflec]on of a recurrent rhetorical theme in the song texts of emergence or revela]on of the hidden/unknown parallelism the reduplicated form yileyile is paralleled by mulumulu in the next sec]on

12 mulurndirrirndirrirndirri mulurndirrirndirrirndirri note triplica]on (extremely rare) =kadjawula?? interpreta]ons pivot on implicit nominal classifica]on of mulurn leaf/leaves vs shade - shade nestx3 MW hat leaf nestx3 LB/JB maybe leaves? ]ed to (ankles, knees and elbows) in kadjawula style ceremonies from Kimberley

13 _ Wel us mob here, eh, like him Well, us mob here, like him [interrupted] nandjika ngamam nandji kanyi ngumartnuyu we're gonna sing this song now _ Ngarra ngalantharr ngan gika bangamnganmarikerdek kanyiwangu. Ngarrampuntharrpu. Ya ngarrampuntharrpu, ngarrampuntharrpu, "Yawu, da mani Kunybinyi nangarrangkardanu," ngumampirra. All our ancestors were gone from us. We've asked them [for permission]. We've asked them, we've asked them, "Hey, can you show us where Kunybinyi is?", we told them. aa yileyile Kunybinyi mani nangarrangkarda my father(s) can you point out Kunybinyi to us? _ Ya, mulukya, ngarrangkarda nawa kayyu. Numarikerdeknukunnira yawu. Hey boys (sons, nephews), you reckon I'm going to show you that place? You might take it all. aa mulumulu Kunybinyi tjingarru wurdamardurduy dimya ah son(s), poor old Kunybinyi keeps changing _ Kakardawu wurdidi wurdamardurduymanadim panguyu. "Da mere ngarra nubaduknukun," pamamngarra. Amba, ngumpanwarda pamam. Here, he was going in, he turned things around there. "You won't find it now," he told us mob. Right, we're leaving now, they said. conical paperbark headdress, conical paperbark headdress

14 Conclusion Understanding talking about the songs also requires understanding of the song domain Project adds to layers of interpreta]on and adding to interpre]ve canon for future genera]ons (community impetus for project) Need to preserve the different interpreta]ons of same object Different interpreta]ons from different cultural inputs should be separable Extent to which this is general issue?