'This book is written with a desire to explore how a sensory awareness of the Arnhem Land environment gives rise to an ancestral cosmology of song and sentiment. Each chapter takes up one aspect of how the senses shape Yolngu songs and meditate ritual meaning and feeling.' (p.9) The text of the songs discussed in chapters seven and eight is included on pp.193-203.
'Like many other Aboriginal song traditions, the song tradition that forms the focus of Melodies of Mourning, namely women’s crying songs (ngäthimanikay), is highly endangered and has been repeatedly identified as such by Yolngu associated with the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia (Anon. 2007). Given the fragility of this tradition, and the fact that the loss of song traditions have major implications for their owners, for the health of communities and of individuals, and for the national heritage, this book is particularly welcome and timely.' (Introduction)
'Like many other Aboriginal song traditions, the song tradition that forms the focus of Melodies of Mourning, namely women’s crying songs (ngäthimanikay), is highly endangered and has been repeatedly identified as such by Yolngu associated with the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia (Anon. 2007). Given the fragility of this tradition, and the fact that the loss of song traditions have major implications for their owners, for the health of communities and of individuals, and for the national heritage, this book is particularly welcome and timely.' (Introduction)
