For the sake of a song: Wangga songmen and their repertories

TRACK 14 (Mar88-05-s11) Song 11: Yerre Ka-bindja-maka Ka-mi

Sung text	Free translation
(Vocal section 1)
yerre	Yerre
ka-bindja-maka ka-mi	He was singing
ii	Ii
nye-bindja nya-mu-ngarrka nn	You sing it for me, nn
(Vocal section 2-3)
yerre	Yerre
nye-bindja nya-mu-ngarrka nn	You sing it for me, nn
ii	Ii
ka-bindja-maka ka-mi	He was singing

This song is unusual in two respects. First of all, the song-giving ghost seems to be referring to a third person, perhaps another singer present in the dream. Some doubt remains, because the high degree of nasalisation in the vocal production when singing makes it difficult to distinguish between the first and third person forms of the verb –mi ‘to sit’ (nga-mi versus ka-mi). Nevertheless, we have regularly been given the translation ‘he sings’ rather than ‘I sing’ for vocal section 1. Secondly, in vocal sections 2 and 3 the singers reverse the order of the two text phrases from that occurring in vocal section 1. The significance (if any) of this shift from ‘he was singing it, you sing it for me’ to ‘you sing it for me, he was singing it’ is unclear. At the beginning of the third vocal section Barrtjap gives a high call (representing the voice of the Wunymalang ghost) while the backup singer, Lambudju, continues to sing the text.