TRACK 10 (Mar86-04-s09) Song 3: Karra Balhak Malvak
| Sung text | Free Translation |
| [ka] (second time only)karra balhak malvak-karrang-makangarn-rdut-mene-ng ka-barabandawarra-ngalgin-bendenguk ka-maridje-ng ka-yevekarra balhak werret-bendemüng ya-mara nya-buring munguyil-malangngawardina ngawardina-djene-nung-bende | KaBrother Malbak has gone and left me behindAt Bandawarra-ngalgin nowhe is lying with one knee bent over the otherQuick now, brother,catch him up, fast-paddling one! With a floating log |
This song is addressed to the ghost of Lambudu’s father’s brother Aguk Malvak, one of the singers whose repertory Lambudju inherited. Malvak died some time after 1959, when he appears in the Northen Territory Register of Wards (1957, p 106)as ‘Argog’, tribal name ‘Mauwot’; his birth date is given as 1895. The reason that Malvak is addressed as older brother (balhak) is because the composer of this song was, according to Lambudju, one of Malvak’s younger brothers—the most likely candidates are Alalk or Tjulatji, both of whom were songmen. Ewers records Malvak as being one of the two main songmen at Delissaville in 1947 (the other was Barrtjap’s ‘father’ Jimmy Bandak) (Ewers, 1954, p 25). This song describes Malvak’s ghost lying at Bandawarra-ngalgin in one of the poses associated with the dead (one knee bent over the other, or ‘number four leg’ as this pose is commonly called), [98] and urges him to paddle across to Badjalarr (North Peron Island), the island of the dead to which all Wadjiginy people return.
Song structure summary
VOCAL SECTIONS 1-2
Melodic section 1
Text phrase 1a (vocal section 2 only)
Rhythmic mode 1 (without clapsticks)
| ka |
| SW |
Ka
Text phrase 1b
Rhythmic mode 1 (without clapsticks)
| karra | balhak | malvak | -karrang | -maka |
| SW | older brother | person’s name | ERG | PERF |
Brother Malbak
| ngarn | -rdut | -mene | -ng | ka | -bara |
| 3MIN.A.1MIN.O | leave | R | SIM | 3MIN.S | goR |
has gone and left me behind
Text phrase 2
Rhythmic mode 1 (without clapsticks)
| bandawarra-ngalgin | -bende |
| placename | now |
At Bandawarra-ngalgin now
| nguk | ka | -maridje | -ng | ka | -yeve |
| knee | 3MIN.S | bend | SIM | 3MIN.S | lie |
he is lying with one knee bent over the other
Melodic section 2
Text phrase 3
Rhythmic mode 1 (without clapsticks)
| karra | balhak | werret | -bende |
| SW | older brother | quickly | now |
Quick now, brother,
| müng | ya | -mara | nya | -buring | munguyil | -malang |
| arse | 2MIN.A/3MIN.M.O.IR | kick | 2MIN.S.IR | travel | paddle | FUL |
catch him up, fast-paddling one!
Melodic section 3 (lower octave)
Text phrase 4
Rhythmic mode 1 (without clapsticks)
| ngawardina | ngawardina | -djene | -nung | -bende |
| floating log | REDUP | with | PURP | now |
with a floating log
INSTRUMENTAL SECTION 1
Rhythmic mode 3a (slow moderate ever)
INSTRUMENTAL SECTION 2
Rhythmic mode 5b (fast doubled)