Cirrus@Austlit

This publication consists of an audio CD of 32 songs of the Aboriginal genre Jurtbirrk and a 48-page accompanying booklet. Jurtbirrk are Indigenous to the Iwaidja people of the Coburg Peninsula in the northwestern Arnhem Land, who now mostly live on nearby Croker Island. The genre is described in the accompanying booklet as ‘love songs’ since the lyrics are about the intimate affairs of the Iwaidja people, although the references to these affairs are cryptic and indirect.' [Review Essay] 

'Following a field trip in 1966 to a number of Central Australian Aboriginal communities collecting and studying children's art as a member of a party led by the late W D Nicol, Noel Wallace embarked on a 12-year field study of Pitjantjatjara religion and culture. Every year Noel and his wife Phyl travelled from Melbourne to Central Australia to spend four months in Pitjantjatjara communities. These field trips were partly self-funded and partly funded by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.'  (Introduction)

'This book was intended as a chapter in the book: Missing in Action: Australian Popular Music in Perspective (volume 1 is published by Verbal Graphics, Kensington, Victoria 1987), but it became too large and Aboriginal Studies Press accepted it for separate publication. The book is mainly concerned with Aboriginal popular music, especially over the period about 1975-85 (with an update to 1988). Considering the large size of the subject as revealed in the book, it is surprising that so tittle of a general nature about it has been published. This constitutes its importance since so few are aware of the vitality of Aboriginal music-making beyond traditional music. A s the authors ruefully point out, Tribal music has mad e more forays into the white world than non-tribal, because it has had more support from the establishment both at home e and overseas' (p 109).'  (Introduction)

'This is the second of Richard Moyle's books on central Australian Aboriginal music, following Songs of the Pintupi (R. Moyle 1979). In general, it follows the same format with an ethnographic introduction, an account of song categories, a chapter each on musical instruments, musical ethnography, musical analysis and notation, and a conclusion. In Alyawarra Music, the ethnographic component is considerably extended in comparison with Songs of the Pintupi, both in the general introduction and in the musical ethnography. Otherwise, the organisation of the material, the issues addressed, and the style of analysis are essentially similar. The author himself acknowledges that Alyawarra Music builds on the ideas and methods of Songs of the Pintupi. A bonus of this book is the small disc of recorded musical examples that comes in a cover sleeve. There are few commercially available recordings of central Australian Aboriginal music. Of the nine short examples on the disc (they range from seventeen seconds to one minute in duration) only four are represented in musical notation in the book, although the texts of all examples are given. It is a pity that the matching of recorded music with musical notation in general is not better facilitated, especially as it would have been a relatively simple matter to give references to the AIAS tape archive where the recordings are lodged. Despite this and the small number and duration of recorded examples, w e must be grateful for this addition to the readily available recordings of central Australian songs.'  (Introduction)