Cirrus@Austlit

Brian Geytenbeek' first became aware of the wealth of descriptive and poetic material in the Ngarla language while teaching Alexander ' Sandy' Brown to read and write. At that time (1984)....it became obvious to Geytenbeek that Brown knew a lot Ngarla songs' and over time he supplied Geytenbeek with the words to many Aboriginal songs from several different language groups.

'The particular selection from Brown's repertoire contained in these pages has been restricted to Ngarla songs.' Source: Ngarla Songs (2003)

'The yirraru , of which sixty-eight are presented in this book, were anecdotal songs...The yirraru... were composed about specific events or experiences which captured the emotions or fired the imagination, which the composer shared by describing them poetically and musically...

Yirraru could be sung by anybody, at any time. Some people were gifted at remembering such songs and built up huge repertoires of them, often in several different languages. Alexander Brown is one such person.' Source: Ngarla Songs (2003)