AustLit

'Yuupurnju: A Warlpiri song cycle documents a ceremonial song cycle situated within the traditional kurdiji “shield” ceremony, as sung by Warlpiri Elder Henry Cooke Anderson Jakamarra at Lajamanu, Northern Territory, in 2013.

'The song cycle relates to a women’s jukurrpa Dreaming narrative, and tells the story of a group of ancestral women on a journey across the country. Jakamarra performed the songs (recorded by Carmel O’Shannessy) to make them available to the Warlpiri community and the wider public.

'Yuupurnju: A Warlpiri song cycle includes the words of the songs in Warlpiri, interpretation in English as given by the singer, Jakamarra, and Warlpiri Elders Jerry Patrick Jangala OAM, Wanta Stephen Patrick Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu Jampijinpa and Steven Dixon Japanangka, and detailed musical notation by ethnomusicologist Myfany Turpin. It includes a foreword by two senior custodians, Jerry Patrick Jangala OAM, and Wanta Jampijinpa' (Publication summary)

'This dialogue between Warlpiri ceremonial leader and educator Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu and academic Samuel Curkpatrick explores important Warlpiri concepts related to social interconnectedness and responsibility. With characteristic narrative dexterity, Pawu develops concepts that originate within traditional Warlpiri thought and performance in provocative ways, interpreting ngurra-kurlu (home within), kuruwarri (system) and wantarri-tarri (travelling route) to generate insight within contemporary issues of cultural and national identity. Extending from Pawu’s appraisal of songlines as a form of hermeneutic activity, we consider how intersecting narratives of people and place allow meaningful relationships to be sustained and communities to be nourished by one another, in their mutual differences. The material presented in this discussion arose through a series of conversations between the authors, and through keynote presentations delivered by Pawu at the University of Divinity and Indigenous Knowledge Institute, University of Melbourne, in December 2021. The themes and narratives of this dialogue reflect Pawu’s teaching ethos, artistic direction, and approach to language and interpretation.' (Publication abstract) 

'A prefacing dialogue between senior Warlpiri elder and scholar Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu and Samuel Curkpatrick' (Introduction)