Introduction: Sharing songs, sharing stories
In our song, Ngurruy the Emu, is travelling and he is strong, knowledgeable and knows where he is going; he knows his Ngurrampaa, his homelands. Wungka, his children are following him and learning his Ngurrampaa. That is the responsibility of Ngurruy—to show his children where to go and how to live. And it is the responsibility of Wungka to follow their father, otherwise they won’t learn their Country. If they follow their father, they will learn their CountryFootnote 1 and all the stories in their Country and then they can learn to travel on their own. —Jesse Hodgetts, Mayi group
[The Emu is] a connection for all of us. He knows how to teach his chicks from [when they are] little ones. He’s always looking out for the young chicks and he’s always there with [them], his kurdukurdu [children] from when they were small and growing up to be teenagers and then seeing them go in different directions. It’s like yapa [Aboriginal people] you know. Parents teach their kids from infants to a young age and as teenagers, maybe [when they are] 20 or 30 [years old] they go and maybe join in with other groups learning more culture.—Enid Nangala Gallagher, Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri group.
A shared ceremony in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand
The above statements come from performers of unique Indigenous ceremonies from central, northern and south-eastern Australia and Amami Islands, Japan, reflecting on a shared ceremonial performance in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand (henceforth the Wellington Ceremony) for the 48th International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD) World Conference in January 2025. In response to conference themes emphasising Indigenous peoples and practicesFootnote 2 and a call to showcase the local Australasian region, three Indigenous Australian groups proposed a panel and shared ceremony: the Inyjalarrku (mermaid) ceremony group from Warruwi (on South Goulburn Island) western Arnhem Land, yawulyu-wardingki (ceremony women) from Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri communities of Yuendumu and Nyirrpi in Central Australia and Mayi singers and dancers from various regions across New South Wales (NSW).Footnote 3 These groups were also joined by a Shimauta group from Amami Islands south of Japan,Footnote 4 building on a previous musical collaboration between Shimauta performer Naruse and Inyjalarrku singers Rupert and Renfred Manmurulu at the 2022 ICTMD conference hosted by Nova Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. Like the Emus referred in the beginning statements, who travel widely at a point of their adult lives, to share and expand their knowledge before returning to their own Country, each group used the performance space to showcase the distinctiveness and strength of their song-dance traditions whilst also establishing relationships with each other and in doing so gaining new understandings of what it means to be “same but different” and “different together” in a ceremonial space.Footnote 5
Based at the Tākina Convention Centre, this conference was typical of ICTMD conferences in that it was organised to include performances, participatory workshops, and parallel paper presentations and panels all on diverse topics related to music and dance traditions from across the world. The four groups performed together for the first time in Wellington, sharing Amami people’s Shimauta, Mawng manyardi of western Arnhem Land, Warlpiri women’s yawulyu from Central Australia, and Mayi guthi from NSW—as these song-dance traditions are respectively known. In doing so, they drew on decades-long research relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and practitioners, and—particularly for the Indigenous Australian groups—activated kinship and ancestral relationships that connect through Deep Time.Footnote 6 In this article, we overview histories of sharing song-dance traditions, provide some background to the groups and their song-dance traditions, and examine the significance of the songs and dances they chose to perform. For the Indigenous Australian contributors, we proceed from a framework in which Country holds the ancestral spirits, songs, dances, and designs central to the identity of the performers. We consider how this is brought into a different place through song and dance when performers travel outside their Country. We also discuss how ceremony leaders use these kinds of performance opportunities to showcase the diversity of song-dance traditions whilst also using this space to forge new connections between the groups and ways of knowing the audiences. Additionally, these performances are opportunities to proudly assert sovereignty for Country, people, and ancestral traditions in spaces often dominated by colonial frameworks and structures. We conclude by drawing together performers’ statements about the Wellington Ceremony and their reflections on its purpose in this academic conference space, framed by an Indigenous ontology through which song-dance traditions are performed for particular purposes.
Prior histories of sharing song-dance traditions
Before we overview the Wellington Ceremony, it is important to trace the throughline to other contexts of ceremonial sharing held through Deep Time. As with Emus, it is these contexts of travel outside of home communities in which people from different cultural and language identities come together with others and share their stories and knowledges through embodied practices of song, dance, and art (including body painting and carving etc.), and learn new knowledge, which they then bring back to their home community. Oral histories from Elders and ethnographic documentation detail a widespread practice of travelling broadly to share and exchange ceremonial songs, dances, designs, and objects. This has long been, and still is, a primary way in which Indigenous Australian groups interact politically and form networks of trust with each other (Enoch & Curran Reference Enoch and Curran2025).
Alongside inter-Aboriginal networks linked by ceremony operating across Indigenous Australia, the last century has seen ceremonial performers travel widely across Australia and internationally. Many performers from across Australia took opportunities to travel outside of their communities and beyond the restricted environments of Aboriginal reserves during this time through events such as festivals and organisations such as Aboriginal Artists Agency, sharing their songs and dance traditions with international audiences (see Harris Reference Harris2020 for some examples). In order to achieve this, groups from different regions of the Top End (the Arnhem Land region in northern Australia) often learned to accompany one another on didjeridu or to dance to another singer’s songs, as they did for the 1970 Japan Expo in Osaka.Footnote 7 In NSW and other areas of south-eastern Australia in particular, ceremonial songs were impacted by the loss of language and culture as a result of government decisions and colonial violence. Many were held in secret through Aboriginal families and communities and are being recovered and revitalised today (Beetsin & Associates 2017; Wiltshire, Bird & Harwick Reference Wiltshire, Bird and Hardwick2022). With the explosion of global interest in Indigenous Australian art, exhibition openings brought opportunities for international travel, and performance of the ceremonial song-dance traditions which are central to the artwork being circulated globally (see for example Myers Reference Myers1994).
Across a broad region of the Asia-Pacific, festivals have risen as sites for ceremonial sharing between Indigenous groups bringing together different song-dance traditions to be showcased side-by-side (e.g. Laura Quinkin Dance Festival, Barunga Festival, the Garma Festival in Australia, and the Okinawa Eisa and Otaru Marino festivals in Japan). Whilst these festivals continue to be regionally focused, host groups also invite others who have previously been incorporated into their political and ceremonial networks. Indigenous-curated and produced programmes featuring exchange of ceremonial song, dance, and art are also part of art exhibition openings, dance competitions, theatre performances, and performances at major festivals in every state and territory capital of Australia (for example, the Tanderrum diplomacy ceremony which opens the Melbourne International Festival/Rising, bringing together singers and dancers from each of the Kulin nations, see Brown and Treloyn Reference Brown and Treloyn2024: 20–21).
In 2004, the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia (NRPIPA) was launched at the Garma Festival to set up strong networks between Indigenous performers, scholars, music industry professionals, and community stakeholders and ensure support for recording, documenting, and archiving endangered Indigenous performance traditions (Corn Reference Corn2012, 4). This created a space within academic conferences for ceremonial sharing between Indigenous Australian groups. Across a 20-year period (2002–2022), supported by applied research projects involving engagement with Indigenous knowledge holders, ceremony leaders, and community-led initiatives, the Symposium for Indigenous Music and Dance was scheduled alongside the Garma Festival, and in the years following aligned with the Musicology Society of Australia annual conferences. The decision to facilitate the Wellington Ceremony was informed by these ideas around the interaction of research, ceremony, and relationality (for example, Wilson Reference Wilson2020) and based on experience of Curran, Brown, Hodgetts, and Naruse at previous conferences, festivals and performance events (see Curran and Gallagher Reference Curran and Gallagher2023; Brown et al. Reference Brown, O’Keeffe, Manmurulu, Manmurulu, Manmurulu, Curran and White-Radhakrishnan2025: 195). The ceremony was also achieved with sensitive support from colleagues, each with deep engagements in Indigenous ceremonial practices and communities.Footnote 8 The four groups came together through their involvement in research projects all with a central focus on music traditions as relevant to ICTMD.Footnote 9 Figure 1 outlines the details of the performers, the song-dance traditions they performed, and their roles in the ceremony.
Details of the Wellington Ceremony performers, the songs-dances presented, and performance roles. For the Warlpiri yawulyu-wardingki group the performance role of singers and dancers did not necessarily represent their own Country affiliations.
Figure 1. Long description
The table contains four columns: Performer name, Language-Community, Song/ Songset/ genre performed, and Performance role.
* Marin Naruse, Amami Islands (Amami Oshima), Shimauta, Utasha (Singer)/sanshin player.
* Miharu Tamukai, Amami Islands (Kikaijima), Shimauta, Utasha (Singer)/sanshin player.
* Suekatsu Kyono, Amami Islands, Shimauta, Drummer/senior Shimauta knowledge holder.
* Etsuko Naruse, Amami Islands (Amami Oshima), Shimauta, Dancer/senior knowledge holder.
* Yasuaki Naka, Amami Islands, Shimauta, Dancer.
* Masakazu Kawabata, Amami Islands, Shimauta, Dancer.
* Jenny Manmurulu, Mawng/Kunwinjku/Warruwi, Inyalarru (mermaid) manyardi, Senior knowledge holder/lead women's dancer.
* Rupert Manmurulu, Mawng/ Warruwi, Inyalarru (mermaid) manyardi, Lead arrapujpa (songman).
* Renfred Manmurulu, Mawng/ Warruwi, Inyalarru (mermaid) manyardi, Arrapujpa (songman).
* Alfred Gawaraidji, Mawng/ Warruwi, Inyalarru (mermaid) manyardi, Yartparrawarra (didjeridu player).
* Tamia Fejo, Mawng/ Warruwi, Inyalarru (mermaid) manyardi, Lead dancer.
* Reuben Brown, Balanda (non-indigenous/European) with Kunwinjku adopted family connections and responsibilities, Inyalarru ‘mermaid’ manyardi, Ethnomusicologist with responsibilities to dance manyardi and backup singing where invited.
* Enid Nangala Gallagher, Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri/ Yuendumu, Ngapa (Rain) yawulyu, kirda (main), lead dancer.
* Lee Nangala Wayne, Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri/ Nyirrpi, Ngapa (Rain) yawulyu, kirda (main), lead dancer.
* Lorraine Nungarrayi Granites, Southern Ngaliya and Wakirti Warlpiri/ Yuendumu and Willowra, Ngapa (Rain) yawulyu, kurdungurlu, lead singer.
* Samantha Napaljarri Watson, Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri/ Yuendumu, Ngapa (Rain) yawulyu, kurdungurlu, dancer.
* Marlette Napurrurla Ross, Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri/ Yuendumu, Ngapa (Rain) yawulyu, kirda, dancer.
* Alice Napanangka Granites, Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri/ Yuendumu, Ngapa (Rain) yawulyu, kurdungurlu, dancer.
* Nancy Nungarrayi Collins, Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri/ Yuendumu, Ngapa (Rain) yawulyu, kurdungurlu, dancer.
* Georgia Nungarrayi Curran, kardiya (non-Indigenous) with Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri family connections and responsibilities, Ngapa (Rain) yawulyu, kurdungurlu, guardian/receiving dancer.
* Martin Gordon, Wangaaypuwan Ngiyampaa, Karulkiyalu, Ngiyampaa ‘shake-a-leg’; Kunii Thakun, guthibilaarr and lead wakathaayn.
* Jesse Hodgetts, Wangaaypuwan Ngiyampaa, Bunggan.gal, Ngiyampaa Emu songs, lead guthingan, guthibilaarr.
* Marc Sutherland, Gamilaraay, Gamilaraay ‘shake-a-leg’, Saltwater, lead guthingan and guthibilaarr.
* Marcus Rowsell, Birrbay Gathang, Ngurruwiyn, makurr, lead wakathaay and guthibilaarr.
* Jayden Kitchener-Waters, Gamilaraay, Wangaaypuwan Ngiyampaa, Gamilaraay Emu, Saltwater, guthingan and guthibilaarr.
* Ben Kitchener, Dharawal, Ngiyampaa Emu songs, lead wakathaay.
* Jonathon Captain-Webb, Gamilaraay, Ngiyampaa Emu songs, lead wakathaay.
Shimauta group from Amami Island, Japan
The Amami group from Japan, consisting of two utasha (Shima-uta singers), a chijin (traditional Amami drum) player, and two dancers, was warmly welcomed by the Australian teams for a shared performance. After a collaboration with the Mawng singers at the ICTMD Conference in Lisbon in 2022, the Amami group were inspired to invite more members from Amami to join in Aotearoa New Zealand. Although they represented different nations, their shared cultural and historical backgrounds enabled a meaningful connection. The root word “shima” in Shimauta means “island” in standard Japanese, but in the Amami dialect, which is Shimayumuta, “shima” refers specifically to a “village” or shūraku. As a result, Shimauta has been passed down as shūraku-uta (village songs), deeply rooted in local communities and tied to the identity of each place.Footnote 10
Although originally from Amami Islands, the notable fact of the group is that they now mostly live in Tokyo as either first-generation migrants from Amami or second-generation individuals born and raised in Tokyo to Amami parents. Even though they are far from their home islands, they continue to nurture their cultural identity by forming communities such as the Tokyo Amami Association or gathering at Amami-themed pubs in the city to play uta-asobi and enjoy Shimauta together. The Shimauta they perform in Tokyo is a collective expression, blending songs from different villages and islands across the Amami archipelago. At the ICTMD conference, their goal was to convey a comprehensive sense of “Amami” by bringing together the diverse musical traditions of this region into a single, unified performance.
Inyjalarrku (mermaid) ceremony group from western Arnhem Land, Australia
The Inyjalarrku “mermaid” ceremony group are Mawng singers, dancers, didjeridu players, and educators from Warruwi, Goulburn Island, who travel across Arnhem Land in northern Australia for ceremony and to share their knowledge further abroad. Inyjalarrku songs were handed down by the late Nawamut David Goodness Manmurulu and his father before him, George Winungudj (MBE). Rupert Manmurulu and Renfred Manmurulu trace the origins of the Inyjalarrku group’s travel overseas and motivation to share Inyjalarrku manyardi with others back to their grandfather, George Winunguj, who toured nationally with the Adelaide Quintet and travelled with didjeridu expert David Mindabal overseas (see Brown et al. Reference Brown, O’Keeffe, Manmurulu, Manmurulu, Manmurulu, Curran and White-Radhakrishnan2025). Today, David’s sons Rupert Manmurulu, Renfred Manmurulu, and Reuben Manmurulu (not present at the Wellington Ceremony) continue to pass on knowledge of how to sing, dance, play, and make arawirr (didjeridu) and nganangka (clapsticks). David’s wife Jenny Manmurulu is a senior manyardi knowledge holder and senior female dancer of Inyjalarrku songs. Jenny Manmurulu teaches the dance to the next generation and has apprenticed her granddaughter (Renfred Manmurulu’s daughter) Tamia Fejo in leading the dance. Together they have performed at festivals, funerals, academic symposia in Arnhem Land, Sydney, and Melbourne, and to audiences like the one that gathered in Wellington for ICTMD. Joining the Inyjalarrku group from Goulburn Island on this trip was also expert arawirr/didjeridu player Alfred Gawaraidji who has experience accompanying multiple generations of singers of many western Arnhem Land songsets including Inyjalarrku (mermaid), Mirrijpu (seagull), Milyarryarr (black heron), and Karbarrda (long yam) (see Brown et al. Reference Brown, Manmurulu, Manmurulu, O’Keeffe, Singer, Wafer and Turpin2017).
In the manyardi song tradition of western Arnhem Land, songs come to the songman in dreams. Singers may grow up learning a set of songs from their father or grandfather and then, when it is their time to take over leading the songs, they might receive a new song in a dream. The Inyjalarrku songset is usually performed alongside other manyardi songsets as part of funeral ceremonies, mamurrng (diplomacy), Inyimanj ja najaman (girls’ puberty) ceremonies, local festivals, and celebrations in the multilingual environment of western Arnhem Land. These events can also feature bunggurrl from central Arnhem Land, manikay from eastern Arnhem Land, and wangga public ceremony from the Daly region, and songs from the Tiwi Islands (see Brown Reference Brown2024:137). Men are responsible for singing and playing didjeridu and dancing to fast tempo songs called nulatparlangkat in Mawng. Women do not sing or play the arawirr in public ceremony but hold specialist knowledge of the songs—particularly the songs of their male relatives and accompanying dance. They also play an important role during the heavy moments of the ceremony such as when mourners say a final goodbye to the deceased which feature slow tempo songs called nulatparlil in Mawng.
Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri yawulyu-wardingki group from Central Australia
[We wanted] to show people that we Warlpiri people like to share. It’s not all sacred. There are parts of dances that are really sacred that are only presented at certain times, like ceremony times, corroboree times, but there are other dances we can show the whole world. Yawulyu is our word for painting up [our bodies], and for women’s performance. It’s the name of our traditional dances. It’s the way you understand more about all aspects of life. That’s the way we connect to our traditional culture, through dance, language and songs. It’s what our ancestors provided us with. —Samantha Napaljarri Watson
Although yawulyu are often held in private women’s-only contexts in communities, there are also often yawulyu which are central to public performance at celebratory events, theatrical performances, inter-regional festivals, and educational settings like conferences (Curran and Dussart Reference Curran and Dussart2023; Curran and Gallagher Reference Curran and Gallagher2023; Curran et al. Reference Curran, Barwick, Martin, Fisher, Peterson, Barwick, Martin, Fisher and Peterson2024). Yawulyu, like other genres of Warlpiri songs, follow the journeys of ancestors across Warlpiri Country. All Warlpiri songlines connect intimately to Jukurrpa (Dreamings), and particular Country are owned by specific people and family groups.
We have to have the kirda, the leader for the songs, the main Elder there to perform her dance. We follow our grandfathers, our warringi father’s fathers. We pass it on down through our warringi, through the generations, from the Elders to us now and then to the young generations.[…] —Alice Napanangka Granites
Kurdungurlu, a role defined by responsibilities for a person’s mothers’ Country, are also central to yawulyu. These people oversee and manage proper care of Country and proper performance of ceremonies and songs.
The kurdungurlu has to be there too to make sure it is done right. They have to dance alongside the kirda. —Watson
The Warlpiri group that travelled together to Wellington were a small group chosen from a larger core of women from Yuendumu and Nyirrpi communities, who gather together for women’s ceremonies. The group had involvement in a number of parts of the broader ICTMD conference, performing three different yawulyu songsets, all led by a main kirda and kurdungurlu with rights to present their songs and dances. Marlette Napurrurla Ross led the Yumurrpa (bush yam) yawulyu for the conference Opening Ceremony, Granites led the Minamina (travelling women) yawulyu as part of the conference launch of our book Vitality and Change in Warlpiri Songs (Curran et al. Reference Curran, Barwick, Martin, Fisher, Peterson, Barwick, Martin, Fisher and Peterson2024), and Gallagher led the Ngapa (Rain) yawulyu, which was part of the collaborative performance event that we discuss in this article. These three different yawulyu are popular choices of song for these kinds of open, shared performances, and importantly the right people were there to lead and represent these Jukurrpa.Footnote 11
Mayi singers and dancers from New South Wales, Australia
The Mayi group travelled from the Central Coast, Newcastle, Forster, Tamworth and Coonabarabran from coastal and inland NSW and belong to various Aboriginal language groups such as Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan, Gamilaraay, and Gathang (see Figure 1), who are connected from west to east, however they are often living away from their homeland due to the forced removal and dislocation. Fortunately, they have learned from Elders such as Ngiyampaa man Paul Gordon who have kept cultural and ceremonial knowledge in secret (Gordon Reference Gordon2021), and these teachings have kept the group connected across a vast distance. Whilst some traditional songs have been maintained, in the past three decades, songs and dances have also been borrowed from other areas such as North Queensland to substitute the loss of traditional songs from NSW. However, the Mayi group are revitalising ceremonial songs through a number of sources and methods including family oral history, archival recordings, and connecting to Country (Hodgetts Reference Hodgetts2020; Gordon and Hodgetts Reference Gordon, Hodgetts, Langton, Corn and Curkpatrick2024). Song and dance is generally known as “Guthi” but may also be known in Aboriginal English as “Corroboree.” This particular group is a men’s group but there are also Mayi women’s songs and restricted songs that are not performed publicly. The songs performed at the conference were public songs about ancestors and stories that connect all language groups together (refer to Figure 4).
Hodgetts leads a research project on Mayi song and language. As the lead Guthingan and lead researcher, he engaged particular performers to travel to the conference. This required lead singers and dancers who had both the cultural knowledge and cultural capability to represent the group. It was also important that the performers had established kinship connections so that they were able to appropriately choose and perform the correct songs. Initially, the group planned to include more lead Gamilaraay dancers, however, many of the performers had never travelled internationally and did not have a passport, limiting availability of performers. The performers who attended the conference were from the NSW language groups Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan, Gamilaraay, Birrbay, Dhanggati, and Dharawal (see Figure 2).
Map showing the places where the performance groups travelled from (circled) and journey of songs (inset) from Japan to Aotearoa New Zealand. Cartography by Brenda Thornley.
Figure 2. Long description
Starting in the northwest, the map highlights Mawng near South Goulburn Island and Warruwi, and Warlpiri near Yuendumu, Nyirrpi, and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. In the southeast, an oval encompasses New South Wales and ACT, showing language groups: Gamilaraay near Brewarrina, Karulkiyalu, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan, Bunggan.gal, Birrbay, Gathang, Coonabarabran, Tamworth, Newcastle, Gosford, Sydney, and Dharawal. The legend explains symbols for towns, districts, language groups, dialects, and regions of performer origin, with a scale bar up to 400 kilometres. The inset at the upper right shows Japan with Amami Ōshima, Amami Island, Kikaijima, and Kikai Island labeled as Amami languages. Arrows trace a path from Japan south to Australia, then southeast to Aotearoa/New Zealand, ending at Wellington, labeled as Māori. The arrows indicate the journey of songs across these regions.
The Mayi group has a system of ownership and custodianship of songs that is not as defined around specific kinship inheritance. A Mayi’s skin name (i.e. their social group) is determined from their mother, and their totem is inherited matrilineally. A Mayi’s Country is inherited patrilineally and is known as ngurrampaa. Mayi who are guthingan (songmen) will compose songs connected to their Country and language and through kinship, will share the song with trusted and responsible guthingan, who are the guthibilaarr (song owner) of the song. Guthingan who are not traditionally from that country and language may still be responsible for that song but are not owners of the song. A guthibilaarr can also include a lead wakathaay (dancer) who will be the owner of the dance component of the song. This is because they are dancing a story from their ngurrampaa in their language. There will also be lead wakathaay (dancers) who may not be from the country and language of the song but are responsible for the dance being performed correctly. This kind of passing over of ceremonial caretaker/leader roles is also more widespread across Australia (see as another example Peterson Reference Peterson, Curran, Barwick, Martin, Fisher and Peterson2024).
Bringing together the collaboration
Understanding/knowing one another well
Although the Wellington Ceremony represented the first time that all four groups came together, some had previously met one another and had the opportunity to engage with each other’s song and dance traditions at various conferences and visits to each other’s Country. These prior engagements gave each of the groups a foundation from which to establish further and deeper connections. Prior to travelling to Wellington, each group brought with them ideas about what they wanted to perform. The groups came together prior to our performance in order to discuss these pre-existing connections and come to an agreement about the way the ceremonial space would be shared, as well as how the songs and dances would be ordered. Whilst our time in Wellington was brief, our experience of previous workshops involving song, dance, and ceremony involving multiple Indigenous groups taught us the importance of creating a space in which participants feel welcomed by traditional owners and are able to share a plurality of perspectives.Footnote 12 Prior ceremonial contexts like these also set up expectations for how the space would be used and protocols for performance. For those who were able to attend, the opening Whakatau (Ceremonial Welcome) by Te Āti Awa was significant in establishing a spiritually charged space connected to ancestors and imbued with ancestral power. The conference keynote delivered by Jerome Kavanagh and Ruiha Turner Oro Atua Wānanga Rongoā Puoro—Reviving Ancestral Sound Practices in Modern Times allowed our groups an opportunity to be immersed in the sounds of the location. Jenny Manmurulu reflected:
It was wonderful to see the people from here [Aotearoa New Zealand] performing the opening ceremony [of the ICTMD World Conference]. It’s really beautiful how we learned about how they still carry it on, like we do.
The Wellington ICTMD World Conference included two Indigenous plenary sessions, one of for which both Gallagher and Hodgetts presented, sharing stories of the histories of their people and their community-engaged work on Country to maintain and revitalise song traditions. Session coordinator Irene Hundleby Karongo (Solomon Islands) hosted a breakfast for the presenters to meet each other, which Hodgetts, Gallagher, and Curran attended to meet other Indigenous Canadian and Māori presenters. Following the plenary, the participants also gathered to “close the circle” together and finish with reflections on the panel. An emphasis in this space, including from Gallagher, was the power of the children speaking and singing in strong Māori presentation led by their father Rawiri Tinirau.
A discussion between the Australian groups on the day before the performance focused on the direction of travel the songs would take, informed by the respective groups’ understanding of connecting songlines—particularly the Emu—that travels broadly across Australia:
From the Top End, jinta jukurrpa yanirra kujarra yanirra [one songline came down like that] passed down to the East Coast. [We were] coming down, following the direction through the centre. We are doing one Jukurrpa. —Watson
Based on this discussion, the group agreed an appropriate order would be for the performance to start in Japan (Shimauta) before travelling to Arnhem Land, northern Australia (Inyjalarrku), then to Central Australia (Southern Ngaliya), NSW (Mayi) where it was brought across the Tasman Sea to Aotearoa New Zealand, the location of the Wellington Ceremony (see Figure 2). As Martin Gordon reflected:
Sharing story though song and dance enables us to connect with other mobs, we can find similarities and start building a relationship with each other. Being able to share our stories allows us to gain each other’s trust as we are able to tell other mobs through dance and song who we are and who and where we belong. Our stories, our Lore, teach us our Law and this is what connects us to our countries and each other. —Martin Gordon
Figure 3 outlines the sequence of songs and dances performed in Wellington, showing the singers’ introductions to the songs and details of the accompanying dance.
Sequence of songs and dances performed in Wellington. The URL links in this table are to PARADISEC, an online digital repository where we have archived the films of this performance. To access these links, sign up to PARADISEC is required through their website at https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/. With thanks to Evelyn Quispe for filming and archiving these materials.
Figure 3. Long description
The table contains three columns: Group Name, Sequence, and Song name/ association.
* Group Shimauta:
- 1.1: Asabanabushi ‘greeting song’
- 1.2: Yoisura-bushi ‘white bird song’
- 1.3: Waido-bushi ‘bullfight song’
- 1.4: Rokucho ‘six beat’ — Ending song
- U R L to video of 1.1 – 1.4: h t t p s forward slash forward slash catalog dot paradisec dot org dot au forward slash repository forward slash I C T M D 48 forward slash 20250111 underscore 04 forward slash I C T M D 48 dash 20250111 underscore 04 dash 02 A M A M I underscore 03 dot m p 4
* Group Shimauta and Inyjalarru ‘mermaid’ manyardi:
- 1.5: Shimauta/ manyardi collaboration
- U R L to video of 1.5: h t t p s forward slash forward slash catalog dot paradisec dot org dot au forward slash repository forward slash I C T M D 48 forward slash 20250111 underscore 04 forward slash I C T M D 48 dash 20250111 underscore 04 dash 02 A M A M I underscore 01 dot m p 4
* Group Inyjalarru ‘mermaid’ manyardi:
- 2.1: Nulatparlangkat ‘fast one’
- 2.2: Nulatparlangkat ‘fast one’
- 2.3: Arrungpawani warak/‘remix’
- 2.4: Yiwuyi ‘old one’/Tricky one
- 2.5: Farewell song ‘bobo’ (goodbye)
- U R L to video of 2.1 – 2.5: h t t p s forward slash forward slash catalog dot paradisec dot org dot au forward slash repository forward slash I C T M D 48 forward slash 20250111 underscore 04 forward slash I C T M D 48 dash 20250111 underscore 04 dash 04 M A W N G underscore 01 dot m p 4
* Group Yawulyu (Southern Ngaliya Warlpiri):
- 3.1 through 3.4: Ngapa - Mikanji
- 3.5 and 3.6: Ngapa - Kirrkalanji
- U R L to video of 3.1 – 3.6: h t t p s forward slash forward slash catalog dot paradisec dot org dot au forward slash repository forward slash I C T M D 48 forward slash 20250111 underscore 04 forward slash I C T M D 48 dash 20250111 underscore 04 dash 05 N G A P A underscore 01 dot m p 4
* Group Mayi dancers:
- 4.1: Welcome dance Ngiyampaa
- 4.2: Kunii thakun ‘mother’
- 4.3: Dharramaraay — ‘shake a leg’
- 4.4: Manapinha ‘Tracking’ song
- 4.5: Ngurruwiyn ‘scrub turkey’
- 4.6: Saltwater/ Nagaraabi
- 4.7: Makurr ‘fish’
- 4.8: Kinship acknowledgement
- U R L to video of 4.1 – 4.8: h t t p s forward slash forward slash catalog dot paradisec dot org dot au forward slash repository forward slash I C T M D 48 forward slash 20250111 underscore 04 forward slash I C T M D 48 dash 20250111 underscore 04 dash 06 M A Y I underscore 01 dot m p 4
Shimauta
To create a meaningful connection with the Australian teams’ performances, the Shimauta group began with Asabana-bushi (Figure 3, Sequence 1.1), a traditional opening song in Amami culture. This song is commonly sung at the start of gatherings as a form of greeting and is believed to purify the space. Naruse, who is from the northern part of Amami Oshima, sang in the Kasan style, typical of the northern region. Tamukai, originally from Kikaijima and influenced by her mentor, sang in the southern Higya style.
Inyjalarrku and Shimauta groups rehearse at the Tākina Convention Centre. Photo: Reuben Brown.
Here are the lyrics and their meanings:
Naruse:
Harekana Asabana Hayaribushi.
(ohayashi/response: Yoisa yoisa yoisa yoiyoi)
Utanuhajimarijagai Asabana Hayaribushi.
(This is Asabana-bushi, the opening of our song.)
Tamukai:
Harei marei marei nakyabaugadi.
(ohayashi/response: Ikiyanukaran Namanukaranyo)
Harei Kaminuhikiawaseni Harei marei marei nakyabaugadi.
(Thanks to a divine connection, we can see you all again after a long time.)
Next, Naruse and Tamukai performed Yoisura-bushi (Figure 3, Sequence 1.2), a song rooted in the Unarigami belief. Whilst the lyrics describe a white bird landing on the bow of a boat, the underlying meaning is that the bird symbolises the feelings of a woman transformed into a white bird, watching over a man departing by ship. It is a song that celebrates a safe journey or a new beginning in life, making it especially appropriate for ICTMD, an organisation to which people gather from around the world.
Following that, we performed Waido-bushi (Figure 3, Sequence 1.3), a songset on Tokunoshima, an island south of Amami Oshima. Dancers Etsuko Naruse, Masakazu Kawabata, and Yasuaki Naka, along with chijin drummer Suekatsu Kyuno, joined this performance. In Tokunoshima, where bullfighting is popular, the shout “Waido!” is commonly heard, and this song is themed around that excitement. The choreography also evokes the strength and spirit of bullfighting (see Figure 5).
Amami group perform waido-bushi (bullfighting dance), as audience join in. Photo: Evelyn Quispe.
Figure 5. Long description
Starting at the left foreground, two musicians in patterned dresses are seated, each holding a stringed instrument. At the center, two dancers in vests and sneakers perform with arms raised. Behind them, a group of shirtless individuals with body paint stand near a dark wall. The right background and perimeter are occupied by audience members, some standing and clapping, others recording with phones. One person in pink attire and another with a green wreath are visible among the crowd. Bags and water bottles are scattered on the floor near the audience.
Lastly, we closed with Rokucho (Figure 3, Sequence 1.4), the song traditionally sung at the end of gatherings in Amami. The name Rokucho (literally “six tunes”) refers to the six elements that make up the performance: the song, instrumental accompaniment (ohayashi), sanshin (three-stringed instrument), chijin drum, hato (whistle), and dance. With its joyful and somewhat chaotic energy, Rokucho brought a sense of unity and celebration to the venue.
As we prepared to hand over the stage to the Inyjalarrku “mermaid” ceremony group, we aimed to create a shared space where both the Amami and Inyjalarrku worlds could fully emerge before gently passing the flow to them. To do this, we chose to sing Itou, a traditional work song (Figure 3, Sequence 1.5 and Figure 6). This song reflects a painful chapter in Amami’s history known as the “kokutō jigoku” (brown sugar hell), during which the islands were under the control of the Satsuma domain and Amami people were forced to produce brown sugar from sugarcane as a tribute. The lyrics express the desire for the sun to set quickly, offering a brief escape from the harshness of forced labour. Because work songs exist across many cultures and folk traditions, we hoped that this piece would foster empathy and connection through music. Following that, Tamukai performed Shumichi-nagahama-bushi, a song from Kikaijima. She then passed the musical thread to the Inyjalarrku “mermaid” ceremony group, bringing our part of the performance to a close.
Amami and Inyjalarrku groups perform together, as Mayi group look on. Photo: Evelyn Quispe.
Figure 6. Long description
In the foreground left, a man stands beside a tripod-mounted stringed instrument. Two women in light-colored dresses are seated, one holding a shamisen. To their right, a man and a woman sit cross-legged on the floor, the man playing a didgeridoo. In the background right, eight men with painted bodies and traditional attire stand in a line, observing. The setting is a spacious hall with dark walls, vertical yellow accents, and overhead lighting. The performers are spatially separated, with the seated group in the left and center foreground and the standing group in the back right.
Shimauta-Inyjalarrku collaboration
A number of considerations about the tempo, tuning, and the flow of the vocals influenced the song choices of the Shimauta and Inyjalarrku groups, and their adaptation from the original setting to a collaborative song item.Footnote 13 Afterwards, Naruse reflected on how the Shimauta style of singing is a dialogue, one which Naruse, Miharu, and their “team” extended to the Inyjalarrku group:
In Amami shimauta when one person sings, the other have to sing back [i.e. line for line of the song text], and it’s the communication, singing the music. I cared a lot to pass my song to Rupert in a beautiful way. —Naruse
Elders from the respective groups, including Marin’s mother Etsuko Naruse and senior arawirr player Alfred Gawaraidji, also gave direct and indirect instruction about song choice:
I think [the collaboration] was also not possible without my mother because she’s a musician, she’s a pianist. So even in Lisbon, she gave me a lot of ideas like how to collaborate with Renfred and Rupert. Also in Wellington, she was acting like a composer. —Naruse
And Alfred, you know, when he heard that one [Marin’s “working song,” Figure 3, Sequence 1.5] he’s the one who just started playing that one [Inyjalarrku “old” song from Winunguj], and we knew straight away which song he was […] asking for us to sing. Sometimes the didjeridu player, when he listens to say Marin, you know, when she sing, and that’s where he knew: “Okay, well, I’ll play this thing. I’ll try and see if this [arrapujpa/songman] will pick it up” you know? —Rupert Manmurulu
Inyjalarrku
As with other manyardi songsets, there are a number of Inyjalarrku songs that are “same but different” across three generations of arrapujpa songmen who have inherited and then dreamt different versions of the same song. In Wellington, Rupert Manmurulu sang a song accompanied by dancing called Arrapuwinypunyyurno “Washing hands” (see Figure 3, Sequence 2.4 and Figure 7) in which the warramumpik (women) dance, following the actions of the Inyjalarrku mermaid as she washes her hands. In order to distinguish which version the singers are about to sing, Jenny Manmurulu categorised them according to the number of clapstick beats the women count in the instrumental section of the song as they sway their arms from their hips to their chest and finally land with one hand on their forehead—an action known as “amurl” where the mermaid dives into the sea (see Brown et al. Reference Brown, Manmurulu, Manmurulu, O’Keeffe, Singer, Wafer and Turpin2017):
What mum came up with, it’s like: “Which songs? The four or the five?” “The old version is the four. The newer version is with the five.” —Rupert Manmurulu
Inyjalarrku group perform the Farewell song as Tamia Fejo leads the women’s dancing. Photo: Evelyn Quispe.
Figure 7. Long description
In the bottom right foreground, two men are seated on the floor, one playing a didgeridoo. To their left, a shirtless man with body paint sits cross-legged. Behind them, a group of women, some in traditional dress and one in a wheelchair, stand in a line, with one woman leading the dance. The women have painted arms and some wear headpieces. The audience forms a semicircle along the left and rear edges, with people sitting on the floor, standing, or seated in chairs. The setting is an indoor hall with a patterned carpet, dark walls, and a high ceiling with visible lighting fixtures. Large windows are visible in the back left, letting in daylight.
The final item in the Inyjalarrku ceremony was named the Farewell song (Figure 3, Sequence 2.5 and Figure 7). As Rupert Manmurulu explained to the audience, this song is particularly poignant for him as it is connected to his father and his grandfather’s passing away:
The last song I’m going to sing, this song that I sang not long ago. My Granddad was the first one, he sang it and he passed it on to my dad, and then I started singing it when I was five. And now I’m turning 46 in May. So in between that I had gaps, from pre-school, they had to send me away from out of my community to go to Darwin (Darwin is like our big city, you know). In my holidays I’d go back and I had to sit down and join my father. Sing, dance, even play the didj. So this is the last, we call it Farewell Song, [in this instance] means “goodbye Wellington!” See you mob next time. And this song, my Dad sang this song. Sorry I get so emotional. Um, he sang the song when my Granddad passed away. And then we sang the same song when my Dad passed away. But I’ll give my best shot to sing it right for you guys. Mah! —Rupert Manmurulu
The Farewell song and “bobo” chant that comes at the end of every manyardi performance expressed in Mawng as katpungpung ngangkat parak “we are saying goodbye to them” rounded off the Inyjalarrku section of the ceremony and functioned both to say “bobo/goodbye” to the audience in Wellington and also to remind and remember family members who have recently been “farewelled” (see Figure 7). This power of manyardi to bring back memories of people, places, and seasons is expressed in Mawng as kangmarrangulin “your song takes us back” (Brown et al. Reference Brown2024).
Warlpiri women’s Ngapa yawulyu
The Ngapa yawulyu performance involved six dancers of different kirda and kurdungurlu connections (see Figure 1 and Figure 3, Sections 3.1–3.6). Lorraine Nungarrayi Granites was a sole singer due to her seniority and authority as a song leader.Footnote 14 Although Lee Nangala Wayne is also a senior yawulyu singer and authority, it was important for her to dance for this particular performance, illustrating the importance of the lead kirda as dancers.
I’m not going to sing, as I need to dance for my father’s Country. —Wayne
It is customary for all yawulyu, for senior kurdungurlu to sit with the singers or stand alongside the group of dancers to guide their movements and ensure correct performance. As the group was only small, Curran filled in for this kurdungurlu role sitting next to Granites to oversee the songs-dances, introducing the performance, and receiving the feathers (rain clouds) at the end of the dance.Footnote 15
All six dancers were painted with Ngapa kuruwarri designs with white ochre, which was brought from Warlpiri Country and red ochre from the Mayi group who got it from the Central Coast (of NSW). In addition, each of the performers wore yininti necklaces (from bean trees) and white arm and head bands with feathers. These feathers are the rain clouds central to the Ngapa yawulyu. The group of dancers entered the space rising up with the white feathers in their arm and headbands and wore skirts with these same Ngapa designs (see Figure 8).
The designs on our bodies are the same as on our skirt. Lightning [for the two lines], the round ones are rockholes and mangkurdu [rain clouds]. —Gallagher.
Warlpiri women dance Ngapa yawulyu (Rain women’s ceremonies) in two lines as two groups of rain clouds join together. Photo: Brian Diettrich.
Figure 8. Long description
In the foreground, three audience members are seated, with one person holding a phone to record. Two women with white headbands and patterned skirts sit in the center. In the middle ground, eight Warlpiri women stand in two parallel lines, facing each other, performing a dance. They wear dark skirts with white patterns, body paint, and white headbands, and hold white objects in their hands. A device on a stand is positioned between the dancers and the audience. The background features a row of empty chairs against a black wall with vertical yellow lines and a water dispenser on the right.
Mayi group performing as part of the Wellington Ceremony. Video still made by Jesse Hodgetts, video by Evelyn Quispe.
Ngapa yawulyu is often chosen to be performed for large audiences outside Warlpiri Country. In the dry desert of Central Australia, deep porous underground rivers provide important life-giving water sources. Along the Ngapa Jukurrpa songline are a lengthy series of places which are geographically visible as soakages, hills, and rock outcrops. The Ngapa ancestors travel between these places, and many verses of Ngapa yawulyu depict thunder, lightning, and many types of clouds (e.g. wispy rain clouds, big storm clouds, etc.), and types of rain (heavy rain, light rain, rain coming in sideways) (see Warlpiri Women from Yuendumu 2017a, 75–93).
We follow the songlines through our Country. The same places, we don’t change where they’re about. We always sing them like that. Following the Jukurrpa. They got it like that from the Jukurrpa. —Gallagher
Yawulyu consist of lengthy songsets including many short, two (occasionally three) line verses which are repeated a number of times with a distinctive descending melodic contour, followed by a short break and then another iteration of the same verse. For this performance, two verses of the Ngapa yawulyu were chosen. The first centred on the important site of Mikanji, for which Enid, her brothers and sisters, and fathers have kirda rights. Mikanji is a soakage in a creekbed in the Country to the west of Yuendumu. The verse was sung in four separate song items, each reflecting a section of the travels of the Ngapa Jukurrpa westwards (Figure 3, Sequence 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4) The dancing for these song items was led by Gallagher and Wayne (both kirda), followed by other dancers, in a “travelling” style typical of yawulyu with women shuffling their feet forward. Each dancer was holding white feathers which they shook rhythmically upwards to connote the rising of rain clouds and their travels across the Country. In the dances for songs (Figure 3, Sequences 3.3 and 3.4), the dancers split into two groups as separate clouds coming together and becoming one big rain cloud. The second verse, performed as two separate song items (Figure 3, Sequences 3.5 and 3.6) involved different dancing, and was centred on the travels of Kirrkalanji [an ancestral Brown Falcon], who flies across the Country following the waterholes and picking up the rain.
Kirrkalanji [the Brown Falcon] was travelling with the rain and the other birds are flying and trying to take it off him. And they made when they were trying to get the bag with ngapa, the ngapa was dripping all the way to Kamura [and across Warlpiri Country]. —Gallagher
The performance finished with Kirrkalanji (danced by Gallagher) holding on to the rain and flying off handing the “rain cloud” feathers to the main kurdungurlu (Curran) (end of Figure 3, Sequence 3.6). The other smaller birds (all other dancers) also give up their fight for the rain and give their rain/feathers to Curran. This performance was adapted for this particular staged event, done in the moment with direction from main Elder and kurdungurlu (Granites) and kirda for Ngapa (Gallagher and Wayne).
After the dance, Gallagher provided the following exegesis for the audience with Curran providing an in-the-moment translation for the first section.
Ngaju-nyangu Jukurrpa [this is my Jukurrpa] Ngapa Jukurrpa [it’s the Rain Dreaming] Mikanji-wardingki [it’s from the Country to the west of Yuendumu called Mikanji] kalarra-kurra [and keeps travelling to the west]. Manu skirts, kuruwarri-kirli [and our skirts have the Rain Dreaming designs]. These represent the waterholes, and these are the clouds. And these are … water carriers and digging sticks. And these are clouds and creeks coming from one place to another. It goes all the way to the Tanami desert and past the Tanami desert as well. —Gallagher
In the Wellington Ceremony, the group of dancers rose up at the beginning of their dance in the first verse (Figure 3, Sequence 3.1), bringing the Jukurrpa out from within the ground, dancing “across Country” in the same way that the Ngapa ancestors travel (Figure 3, Sequence 3.2), and affecting the present moment through their creative actions (crossing over clouds to form different kinds of rain) (Figure 3, Sequence 3.3). In the second verse, Enid, as kirda, embodied Kirrkalanji, the ancestral eagle, who flew across Warlpiri Country picking up the rain and depositing it in different places. The other dancers were the many other birds across Warlpiri Country who follow the rain but do not hold the same ancestral power as Kirrkalanji to guide where it is deposited in the dry desert. All these actions are centred on specific Country and sites (waterholes and soakages) and brought into the present moment in the Wellington Ceremony through the performance. Travelling through Warlpiri Country today, it is common to see these birds (who also share the same ancestral essence as the kirda for these ceremonies) flying overhead, and it is also common to see flocks of birds surrounding waterholes. This is a key way in which Aboriginal people across desert regions know where to find water. In performing the Ngapa yawulyu in Wellington, this core cultural knowledge and its ancestral power is translocated to a different place and expanded on through encounters with others.
Mayi
The songs chosen by the Mayi group were determined by the connecting stories of the lead Guthingan and Wakathaay. The performers also wanted to show the various dance styles that represent them. An important ancestor of the performers was the Emu, known as Ngurruy in Wangaaypuwan and Dhinawan in Gamilaraay. This ancestor also travelled to the coast, but the turkey becomes particularly important and in the ancestral stories, has strong kinship connections with the Emu. What also stood out to the dancers during their visit to Wellington was seeing images of the historical Moa bird from Aotearoa New Zealand in the Te Papa Tongarewa museum of Aotearoa New Zealand and noticing how similar it is to the Emu. The performers saw the connection of their ancestors to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Another important factor in the selection of songs for the Mayi group was to choose songs that sounded like the older songs that their ancestors would sing. This was important to show respect to the other groups and show that the Mayi group was still connected to their ancestors and traditional culture. The performers each painted body designs that represented the stories in the songs, for example, Gordon and Hodgetts had two Ngiyampaa designs, and Kitchener wore the Emu design so that he could lead the Emu dances. The Mayi group also wanted to showcase the older songs to deduct the stigma that there is no longer traditional culture in NSW. This is often sensitive to Aboriginal people in NSW due to the longer period of colonial violence and impact on traditional culture. However, the older sounding songs are often the more sacred songs with more significant stories. The Mayi could not share these songs in public with people that they did not know. So they selected songs that still sounded like their older ancestral songs, but could be performed in public. The first song started in Ngiyampaa Country which welcomes in the dancers and shows their shake-a-leg and stomp dance style (Figure 3, Sequence 4.1). This dance style is unique to the Ngiyampaa people and was given to us by Elders central to the song revitalisation initiatives, Uncle Paul Gordon and Uncle Peter Williams. It has also been kept for us on cave walls drawn by the ancestors. It was also important that we started in Ngiyampaa Country, as this Country is significant to the learning and cultural revitalisation of all the performers and has supported their reconnection back to their own homelands. The Ngiyampaa dance style continues into the song “Kunii Thakun” (Figure 3, Sequence 4.2) but acknowledges our ancestral mother in the land that nourishes us. This set of songs was led by Gordon who has inherited this dance from his father, Uncle Paul Gordon. The performance moves to a story about travelling Country and tracking the ancestors, who in this version of the song, was an Emu. The next two songs (Figure 3, Sequences 4.3 and 4.4) are about Emu chicks following their father as they travel Country; they begin in Ngiyampaa language and end in Gamilaraay language. The tracking song and Ngiyampaa Emu song were led by Hodgetts and the Gamilaraay Emu song was led by Jayden Kitchener-Waters. This set of songs is an example of the relationship between Ngiyampaa and Gamilaraay and embodied in the relationship between Guthingan Hodgetts and Kitchener-Waters. The stories had been gradually travelling from west to east, and the next song was about the turkey on the east coast called Ngurruwiyn, and the dancers scratched the ground as is done to make their mound (Figure 3, Sequence 4.5). The language has changed to Gathang, the language of the Birribay, Warrimay, and Guringay people and was led by Marcus Rowsell. The next song is about travelling from inland Country to the ocean and seeing Saltwater (Figure 3, Sequence 4.6). The song was led by Marc Sutherland and is in Gamilaraay language, however, it has the English word “saltwater” as well as number of places names on the mid-north coast of NSW, which leads into Gumbaynggir, Dhanggati, and Birbay Country. The next song is in Gathang and is about the fish, makurr, travelling through the ocean and showing their dance (Figure 3, Sequence 4.7). This also highlights the importance of different dance styles representing different Country and people, whilst also maintaining connection with each group. This dance was also led by Marcus Rowsell but was sung by Hodgetts, who is responsible for singing Birrbay songs through his kinship connection with Rowsell. The final song (Figure 3, Sequence 4.8) is back in Ngiyampaa language but is a celebration dance acknowledging different animal ancestors as our kin and doing the shake-a-leg style. We often put this dance at the end of a performance as a celebration and an unrestricted and public dance to share with our new kin and friends.
What was shared through the Wellington Ceremony?
“Same but different”: Showcasing diversity and connections
We like travelling to see different cultures in different countries and showing our language and culture. It’s good to see other people’s culture as it’s different from ours. —Gallagher
Seeing that we shared similarities between us despite our geographical differences and our proximity to the western world. Those similarities are the key. You have echidna stories; we have echidna stories. You may know him by a different name to us, but we are talking about the same fulla. “Same, same but different” was running through my head. —Marcus Rowsell
Even within Amami island, there is a lot of diversities. Miharu is from Kikaijima Island. So even though we hear the same song, the way we sing, the singing style is different. —Naruse
What stood out for me was something that I already knew to some degree but the conference strengthened; that knowledge, Indigenous/Aboriginal people all over the world all tell of the same story of dispossession and loss of country and culture, but also the continued effort and fight to grow our cultures again through revitalisation of language, story, dance, music and ceremony. We continue this fight for children and our Gunni Thakun Mother earth. —Gordon
We all [the Mayi men] come from areas of the country that felt the full force of colonisation and our cultural identities were meant to be destroyed by that process. Maybe the confirmation of our authenticity came when we danced, when we sang and when we shared story of country and ancestors just as the other groups did. —Rowsell
For the three Indigenous Australian groups, the Wellington Ceremony highlighted the distinctiveness and specificity of their respective regional styles (see Figures 10 and 11). The Inyjalarrku group demonstrated public ceremony from the Top End in which arrarrkpi (male) songmen, expert didjeridu players, lead the ensemble and dancers articulate the clapstick beat by stamping the ground, coming together during the verse and instrumental sections and calling out in unison. This is complemented by warramumpik (women’s) dancers, who hold the clapstick beat through their arms and subtle movements of their feet. The Warlpiri group demonstrated that women have their own gendered ceremonial tradition with female singers, dancers, and percussive accompaniment. The male Mayi group showed song-dance traditions from distinct regions for which singers of the other NSW languages could support each other to perform.
Jayden Kitchener-Waters (Mayi) plays Marin Naruse’s sanshin (Shimauta) as Miharu Tamukai looks on. Photo: Patrick Savage.
Enid Nangala Gallagher, Irene Hundlby Karongo, and Lee Nangala Wayne exchange gifts after the Wellington Ceremony and time together in Aotearoa. Photo: Georgia Curran.
Translocating Country through song and dance
Song and dance are vessels for story to travel through. When we are sharing song and dance, we are also sharing story. They can’t be separated. Our connection to place and ancestors is developed over time—learning their stories, gaining deeper understanding. This doesn’t leave you if you are away from Country, you carry that story with you. —Rowsell
For the Mayi group, their stories tell them that it is important to carry your story when you travel, which is often depicted as a person travelling with a circle in their hand. They are bringing their Country with them. In contrast, their stories also teach them to be quiet and to look and listen as they travel so that the new Country can teach them. This is how they discovered their connection of the Emu to the moa bird during their visit to Wellington.
Song and dance can connect you back to your homelands by telling a story from that place or depicting an ancestor from that place; as long as we know the story and continue to share the story and learn the story then we will always remain connected to that story, that place, that ancestor. —Gordon
For the Warlpiri women, the main reason to perform yawulyu in any context is to honour the ancestors and bring their creative powers into the present moment. Each time the Warlpiri women paint up with their kuruwarri [designs] on their bodies, they infuse themselves with the power of their Country and their ancestors. When Warlpiri women sing, they do so in the voices of these ancestors, and when they dance, they perform the ancestors’ actions. It is a priority to maintain the songlines through time, honouring the tune and aligned rhythmic-text as sung originally by the ancestors and for the performers in the present to be dancing and singing with this same spirit. Each performance instance, however, this is renegotiated to fit with the new context and purpose. As these ceremonial traditions are always socially powerful and functional, this requires careful attention to both replicating ancestral acts whilst also inserting them meaningfully into the present. It is the same when Warlpiri women hold yawulyu in their home communities, they are often away from the particular sites focal to the songs, and the performance brings the ancestral essence into the present moment and place.
Conclusion: Finding strength through common ground
In unpacking and reflecting on the performances for the Wellington Ceremony, we have considered how the intercultural and global space of academic conferences can be used for cultural exchange and the showcasing of Indigenous identities (Figure 12). Practically, the resourcing, infrastructure, and audiences of conference spaces fit this purpose well, especially as ICTMD world conference participants have already predisposed appreciation for unique song and dance traditions from across the world. Ceremonial songs in the Indigenous traditions of Australia (and Japan) are, for the most part, functional in that they are held for reasons, sometimes with multiple but usually quite specific purposes. To conclude this article, we consider what the purpose of the Wellington Ceremony was and what was achieved as a result of its performance.
All the performers together following the Wellington Ceremony. Photo by Evelyn Quispe.
The audience for the Wellington Ceremony consisted of music and dance practitioners and ICTMD scholars who were open to the invitation to dance alongside Jenny Manmurulu, Tamia Fejo, and Brown to learn Inyjalarrku and with Etsuko Naruse and Yasuaki Naka to learn Waido-bushi (the bullfight song). The fact that performers came together prior to the panel and ceremony to hear different perspectives on one another’s ceremonies, and how the different cultures and stories relate (for example, to the Emu) allowed for a deeper understanding of the connections between the groups. Prior to and after the performance, the Shimauta groups exchanged gifts with their collaborators that they had brought with them from Amami Island, including sugar, emphasising the way in which the Wellington Ceremony linked to cultural practices with ongoing links to the gift economy. This deeper engagement—led by ceremony leaders of the respective groups—is not always possible in performance settings such as festivals or other staged performances and was important in preparing and leaving the ground for the Wellington Ceremony.
After we had danced on that final evening there was a distinct shift in the energy (amongst the dance groups). It felt as if it was an approval, an acceptance. Up until then I had felt that there was an uncertainty. Seeing that we shared similarities between us despite our geographical differences and our proximity to the western world. Those similarities are the key. The hugs, the smiles, the laughter we shared and the warmth that we felt after we had danced was immeasurable. It was honest and raw. It felt as if it were the beginning of relationships. —Marcus Rowsell
I was exhausted but I felt really proud of myself showing my Dreaming and dance to the world. I was amazed to do it amongst my family and Elders. I was really proud of myself and my Elders. People were amazed and they asked questions… like what was the dance about? It was an emotional and happy, proud moment for me. There was one lady who was really emotional who came up to us and we exchanged gifts with one lady from Japan. And [with Irene Hundleby Karongo] from Solomons who gave us the [Solomon Islands] flag. And presenting our culture through dances and through painting, through art. Alice sold her painting, she painted [our kuruwarri designs] on canvas and she sold it. We showcased our culture, our identity through dance, art and language and song. —Watson
As the ceremonial songs and dances performed are central to the performers’ identities, it was a powerful experience to share the space with others. Through the performance, we showcased to others that there are broader lineages of connection and that we are all unique in our particular stories and traditions. Engaging with others from different places is about opening ourselves up to the different styles, forming ways to perform together whilst honouring the boundaries (see Figure 12).
The Inyjalarrku and Shimauta groups found common ground in the rhythmic modes that their respective song traditions shared through the accompanying instruments of the sanshin, arawirr, and nganangka. As well as finding common ground, the sharing of these four performance traditions in a ceremonial space allowed the differences between the four groups to be centred and honoured:
Musical collaboration is about aesthetic, individualised enjoyment, whereas sharing of ceremony is for cultural survival. What was different about this event as opposed to a performance of different Indigenous groups was having the opportunity to get together and talk to one another and to understand the relationships between the groups. —Hodgetts
I felt really proud that we came to New Zealand with our true strong culture to show the people from all over the world. And they enjoyed our three groups’ dances and songs. They were really excited about our cultures. —Granites
I’ve lived my life in the context of performing our own traditional music, but singing with people from similar backgrounds gave me a completely new feeling. As fellow keepers of inherited musical traditions, I felt both a deep, ancient sense of empathy and something refreshingly new. The fact that we could say “this feels right” to each other during practice—shows that we were truly connected. It was a kind of music that exists only once in the world. —Tamukai
We were thrilled to be able to dance together with a real sense of unity. Through the same dance, it felt like we were connected by something essential to being human—beyond words. At that moment, the Australian team members overlapped in our minds with the people of Amami. Even though our languages and locations are different, we were able to share a sense of pride in our cultural traditions. —Masakazu Kawabata, Esuko Naruse, and Yasuaki Naka, dancers from Amami group
Glossary of key terms
Long description
The table has three columns labeled Term, Gloss, and Language. Each row presents an Indigenous term, its English gloss, and the language of origin. From top to bottom, the entries are: Ngurruy emu Ngiyampaa; Ngurrampaa homelands Ngiyampaa; Wungka children Ngiyampaa; Jukurrpa Dreaming Warlpiri; kurdukurdu children Warlpiri; yawulyu-wardingki ceremony women Warlpiri; guthi song-dance Ngiyampaa; guthingan songman Ngiyampaa; guthibilaarr song owner Ngiyampaa; manyardi song/public ceremony from western Arnhem Land Mawng; yawulyu women’s ceremony from central Australia Warlpiri; yoisurabushi Shimauta song about a white bird; nulatparlangkat fast tempo song Mawng; mamurrng diplomacy ceremony in western Arnhem Land Mawng; arawirr didjeridu Mawng; nganangka clapsticks Mawng; nulatparlilil Slow tempo song Mawng; wawu grandfather Mawng; kirda song leader with patrilineal rights Warlpiri; kurdungurlu role of responsibility for one’s mother’s Country Warlpiri; warna snake Warlpiri; wakathaay dancer Ngiyampaa; arrapujpa songman Mawng; yartparrawarra expert didjeridu player Mawng; warramumpik women Mawng; arrarrkpi men Mawng; Arrarrkpi Indigenous person Mawng; Balanda European/non-Indigenous person Mawng and other languages.
Open access
