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

TRACK 17 (Mar91-04-s04) Song 9: Bangany Nye-bindja-ng [two items]

Sung text	Free Translation
Item 1
bangany nye-bindja-ng nya-mu-ngarrka ya-marabangany nye-bindja-ng nya-mu-ngarrka ya-maranya-muy-ang nye-djang-nganggung bangany-e ya-maraee nya-muy-ang nye-djang-nganggung bangany-e ya-marakarra ee	Sit and sing a song for me, dance, man!Sit and sing a song for me, dance, man!Stand up and dance, woman, for us two Song. Dance, man!Ee, stand up and dance, woman, for us two. Song! Dance, man!Karra ee
Item 2
bangany nye-bindja-ng nya-mu-ngarrka ya-marabangany nye-bindja-ng nya-mu-ngarrka ya-maranya-muy-ang nye-djang-nganggung bangany-e ya-maraee nya-muy-ang nye-djang-nganggung bangany-e ya-marakarra nya-mu nye-djang	Sit and sing a song for me, dance, man!Sit and sing a song for me, dance, man!Stand up and dance, woman, for us two. Song! Dance, man!Ee, stand up and dance, woman, for us two. Song! Dance, man!Stand up and dance, woman.

Track 17 contains two items of ‘Bangany nye-bindja-ng.’ There is only the shortest of breaks between the two. This performance was recorded at the Belyuen waterhole once morning after a night of partying, hence the rather exuberant calls and comments from the dancers. For this occasion Lambudju used a pair of beer cans in place of clapsticks.

Lambudju said of this song:

This spirit tells me to repeat that song what I been singing now. I got to repeat that song every now and then when I sing it. It says, ‘sing me a song’ and that’s what it is, just like I said. I just keep on repeating that same word, bangany nye-bindja-ng nya-mu.

Lambudju’s articulation of the self-reflexive nature of the song text—that the act of singing is the fulfillment of the song-giving ghost’s sung command—is striking: ‘It says, ‘sing me a song’ and that’s what it is.’

One interesting self-referential feature of the song is that it refers to both men and women’s accompanying dance. Ya-mara (literally, ‘you kick’) refers to men’s dancing, and nya-muya (literally, ‘you sway’) to women’s dancing. Presumably the ‘us two’ signified by the pronoun -nganggung refers to the singer and his didjeridu accompanist. In different performances of this song, Lambudju may substitute one of these terms for the other, depending who is dancing. In this elicited performance he showed off both forms.

We, and our Batjamalh-speaking consultants, have found it difficult to hear precisely what Lambudju is singing at the ends of text phrases 3 and 4 of both items. There seems to be additional text at the end of these text phrases in item 2, perhaps a partial repetition of bangany nye-bindja-ng nya-mu.

In the final instrumental sections, Lambudju rather playfully sings di digidi di di rather than his normal di di di.

Song structure summary

Item 1