Monday 7 January 2013

Songs From The Northern Territory 1-5

"Each compact disc contains selections from field collections made by the writer during trips to Aboriginal Communities at the 'top end' of the Northern Territory. The recordings are part of a survey of as many different kinds of Arnhem Land music as were accessible at the time to a female recordist."
  Beautiful collection of field recordings made between 1962 and 1963 by Australian ethnomusicologist Alice M. Moyle, which are of reasonable quality considering when and where they were recorded. Mainly traditional music, mostly with singer/s and clapsticks accompanied by didjeridu, which may sound like it would get repetitive over 5 discs, but there are many stylistic variations and the music is hypnotic and trance-inducing. The only non-traditional songs are tracks 4-5 on Disc 3 and tracks 7 and 13 on Disc 5 which are obviously influenced by European missionary music. Liner Notes for each disc included.

Songs From The Northern Territory 1: Aboriginal Music From Western Arnhem Land

Songs From The Northern Territory 2: Aboriginal Music From Eastern Arnhem Land

Songs From The Northern Territory 3: Aboriginal Music From Yirrkala and Millingimbi North-Eastern Arnhem Land

Songs From The Northern Territory 4: Aboriginal Music From North-Eastern Arnhem Land including Groote Eylandt

Songs From The Northern Territory 5: Aboriginal Music, Travelling Songs ('Song Lines') From Southern Arnhem Land; Also Songs From Bathurst And Melville Islands

1 comment:

  1. I thought last week that your blog had gone, but I'm glad to see that this is not the case. This seems like a wonderful collection. Thanks so much!

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