Musical form and style in Murriny Patha djanba songs at Wadeye (Northwest Australia)

Abstract

This chapter concerns the musical form and social history of djanba songs—public dance-songs in Murriny Patha language from Wadeye, in Australia's northwest Northern Territory—and how they fit within the musical landscape of traditional Australian Indigenous song styles. One djanba song composed by Lawrence Kolumboort is compared with exemplars of other relevant public dance-song genres, namely junba (from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, composed by Ngarinyin-Miwa composer Scotty Nyalgodi Martin) and lirrga (a didjeridu-accompanied dance-song in Marri Ngarr language, composed by Pius Luckan and often performed alongside djanba in the community of Wadeye). Analysis shows how encounters and exchanges with other musical styles have been of profound importance in the genesis and development of djanba song style, and suggests that composers consciously refer to and adapt elements of other musical styles to maximize the effectiveness of their performance.