with Neparrŋa Gumbula, in Graeme Ward & Adrian Muckle (eds), The Power of Knowledge, The Resonance of Tradition: Electronic publication of papers from the AIATSIS Conference September 2001, AIATSIS, 2005, pp. 31–68

Abstract

In 1970, Soft Sands from Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island (Northern Territory, Australia) was one of the first popular bands to form in Arnhem Land. This article addresses the wide influence of Soft Sands on popular song composition in this region, and culminates in a discussion of original repertoire recorded in 1997 by one of its longstanding members, Neparrŋa Gumbula, for his debut solo album, Djiliwirri, and its companion music-video. Yolŋu musicians from Northeast Arnhem Land draw themes and musical materials from their durable canons of hereditary names, songs, dances and designs in the composition of their original repertoires for popular band, and, through them, project their profound religious and legal ties to family, ancestors and country. Both the naming and repertoires of popular bands from Northeast Arnhem Land can deliberately express the following of ancestral precedent by contemporary Yolŋu, and hold significant philosophical implications and creative possibilities for Yolŋu cultural intermediaries seeking to engage with new media and technologies.