Muluk's Wangga

Abstract

Jimmy Muluk (born c. 1925, died sometime before 1986) was one of the great wangga songmen, whose musical virtuosity and love of diversity and variation are exceeded by no other singer. A Mendheyangal man, he held traditional country around the Cape Ford area south of the Daly River mouth, but he lived most of his life in and around Belyuen on the Cox Peninsula. For many years he led a dance troupe presenting performances for tourists at Mica Beach, and later at Mandorah. He also mentored younger generations of singers to perform with him in public at tourist corroborees and the Darwin Eisteddfod. The success of his strategy for intergenerational transmission of knowledge was evident when Marett and Barwick recorded the same singers, now men, in the 1990s. Muluk’s mentee, Colin Worumbu Ferguson, leads the Kenbi dancers today.