Conference Papers
Session CG1.1 Connecting Generations: Cultural Transmission
1. Sam Curkpatrick: The Young Wägilak Group – sustaining connection and conversation
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Wägilak musicians and songmen from Ngukurr have responded to the decline of interest in and transmission of traditional manikay song and dance repertoires by forming the Young Wägilak Group – an attempt to ‘keep culture strong,’ to continue traditional ceremonial practices and bring these into the lives of younger generations. My paper will explore: the ways in which Benjamin and Daniel Wilfred are achieving this goal, especially through the support of the Australian Art Orchestra and its collaborative project Crossing Roper Bar; the aspects of manikay song which connect generations through form, sound and experience. This presentation will introduce my concept of conversing tradition as an approach which sustains the possibility for ongoing iterations of tradition.
Author bio: Samuel Curkpatrick is a PhD candidate at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies, ANU. His research concerns Wägilak (Yolŋu) song and ceremony, the mediation of tradition in contemporary reality, hermeneutics and ‘effective’ heritage. Sam has a background in classical performance, studying at the Australian National Academy of Music and playing clarinet with numerous professional Australian orchestras. He enjoys teaching/lecturing and adventurous outdoor activities.
2. Bill Edwards: Pukultu Tjungungku Inka –Sing Happily Together: Journeying with the Ernabella Choir
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Music is a unifying force in traditional societies as it links groups and generations, Song is a central feature in Aboriginal societies. Music also promotes relationships across cultural barriers. There is evidence of this in White/Aboriginal contact in Australia. In modern societies music sometimes divides groups and generations as they follow different musical styles. This paper outlines the significance of song in Pitjantjatjara society and the development of the Ernabella Pitjantjatjara Choir from its origins in the early mission school in the 1940s through its role in Christmas and Easter pageants at Ernabella and visits to Adelaide (1954, 1966, 2004), Alice Springs, (1956), Melbourne and regional centres (1966), Fiji (1979 and Sydney (1979, 1984). As the influence of western music and rock and roll increased in following years the next generations was less attracted to choir music. However in recent years school teachers have cooperated with older members of the choir to re-form the Ernabella School Choir, with grandparents teaching their grandchildren the parts they had learned. The school choir has visited Alice Springs, Darwin and Adelaide and has been invited to sing in Melbourne later this year. Music is once again connecting Pitjantjatjara generations.
Author bio: W. H. (Bill) Edwards, ordained as a Minister of the Presbyterian Church in 1958, was Superintendent of Ernabella Mission (1958-72), Superintendent of Mowanjum Mission (1972-73), Minister of the Pitjantjatjara Parish based at Fregon (1973) and based at Amata (1976-80). He trained and conducted the Ernabella Choir from 1958 to 1980 and has since conducted them on visits to Sydney, Alice Springs and Adelaide. He lectured in Aboriginal Studies at the Torrens College of Advanced Education (1975) and at the South Australian College of Advanced Education, and from 1991, the University of South Australia, (1981-1996). In retirement he remains an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University, where until 2004 he conducted Summer Schools in Pitjantjatjara language, and interprets in Pitjantjatjara in hospitals and courts. In 2008 he was awarded a PhD in history at Flinders University for a thesis, Moravian Aboriginal Missions in Australia. He is the author of An Introduction to Aboriginal Societies, Tuggerah, NSW: Social Science Press, 2nd ed. 2004, and editor of Traditional Aboriginal Society, South Melbourne: Macmillan, 2nd ed. 1998. He was awarded membership of the Order of Australia in 2009.
3. Yukihiro (Jungarrayi) Doi & Steven Wanta Jampijinpa Patrick: Milpirri's Cosmology in Considering the Future
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The Milpirri event began in 2005 based on a relationship between its creator Steve Wanta Jampijinpa Patrick, Elders and the Community Education Centre in Lajamanu, a remote Aboriginal community in Tanami Desert, and Tracks Dance Company in Darwin, Northern Territory. The Milpirri 2009 that Doi observed was the third show and contained eighteen sections: ten of which were traditional by young and senior women and men and eight contemporary by school children for six weeks taught by instructors from the Track dance company. The traditional Emu story derived from the idea of Jardiwarnpa ceremony which features the series of Milpirri events can be interpreted even as the determinant of the future of this continent. In this presentation, we will consider how the cosmology of the indigenous ritual can be a national symbol that makes waves in the cultural and political public opinions.
Author bio: Yukihiro (Jungarrayi) Doi was born in Hokkaido, Japan. He is a PhD Candidate at the School of Music, Australian National University. He was a Research student of Oyasato Institute for the Study of Religion, at Tenri University in 2007, and Tenrikyo Graduate Seminary (Postgraduate Qualification) in 2004. Tenri University (BA), 2000. He was a member of Gagaku concert tours of Tenri University (Japan, Korea, Russia, Spain, Australia, Malaysia and China) from 1996 to 2008 and also a member of Hideki Togi's tours (around Japan) from 2003 to 2008. Part-time lecturer of the Gagaku Ensemble of Cologne University, Germany, 2004. He has several joint presentations with Mr Steven Jampijinpa Patrick: at the Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Dance of Oceania (September 2010, School of Music, ANU); a joint presentation to the ICTM Colloquium on Laments and the National Folklore Conference (National Library of Australia, April 2011); a joint presentation at a session on Indigenous Modernities at the World Conference of the International Council for Traditional Music (Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada, July 2011); joint presentations in Osaka and at Tenri University (Nara) (Japan, July 2011).
Author bio: Steven Patrick is a fully initiated Warlpiri man from the Northern Territory community of Lajamanu. He has been an assistant teacher with Lajamanu School for several years. He was awarded a National Curriculum Award for his work at Lajamanu School in 2007. He has been pivotal in many projects, most recently as the creator of the innovative Milpirri cultural event which is now in its forth event. In 2006 he presented a paper on Milpirri at the Garma Festival, and in 2008 he presented a paper at the Australian National University’s Symposium on Intangible Cultural Heritage. He also presented in several countries such as Canada, South Africa and Japan. One of the main publication is Ngurra-kurlu: A Way of Working with Warlpiri People with M Holmes & A Box in 2008