Wurdurt-ngong Balah-garrebun Dalabon Wurdurt-ngong Balah-garrebun Songs for Children These songs were recorded and transcribed by Anita Camfoo during the the 1995 Aboriginal Languages Fortnight held at Barunga as part of the Batchelor College Remote Area Teacher Education Program. Dalabon language was supplied and checked by Daisy Bordu and Jack Chadum. © Anita Camfoo, Daisy Bordu, Jack Chadum Produced by Barunga Press, 1995 Wurdurt-ngong Balah-garrebun GOTJ-NO MINI-NO BART-NO DENGE-NO Gotj-no, mini-no, bart-no, denge-no. bart-no, denge-no, bart-no, denge-no, Gotj-no, mini-no, bart-no, denge-no. Ngarra-ngarriny-johmu. WULGUN-NGAN GAH-MOYHNO Wulgun-ngan gah-boniny hospil Gah-nininy munguyh-munguyh Nabigen mak-bugahney Wulgun-ngan wehno gah-moyhno Wulgun-ngan wehno gah-moyhno Wulgun-ngan wehno gah-moyhno Gah-ruruniny nahnogun. Traditional Songs gajibu gajibulkga gamarrwala marula gajibu gajibulkga gamarrwala marula 1 bulukgaworrome nabo ngurranybuny bulukgaworrome nabo ngurranybuny gajawurruk galinyi gajawurruk galinyi gajawurruk wardukgi gajawurruk wardukgi ngakgarla gardurt bap. 2 bulukgaworrome nabang ngandanybuny bulukgaworrome nabang ngandanybuny gajawurruk galinyi gajawurruk galinyi gajawarrawarragitj gajawarrawarragitj gurrup. Traditional songs are different from the songs that we are used to hearing in Kriol and English. 1. Traditional songs are not made up with normal speech. Instead of full sentences, only key words are used. The key words are repeated in a simple pattern. Often only one word is used in a line. Often several lines in a verse are exactly the same, with only one line different. Each verse will have diferent words, but the same pattern of repetition and alternating lines. 2. The song does not tell a full story on its own. The song is a kind of "short" way of telling a story. The key words which are repeated in each verse are a way of reminding the singerman about different episodes in the full story. In the old days the story for a song was often danced, or acted out while the song was being sung. And when a singerman talks about a story after he sings it, he uses the words in each verse to remind him of what part of the story he is up to. But the full story is always longer than the song. 3. Traditional songs are passed on from singerman to singerman by oral transmission (by listening and copying). The singerman has to remember the whole song, he can't read it in a book. He must know it off by heart. He must sing it exactly the same way every time he sings it. The simple pattern and the repetition help the singerman to remember the song. 4. Traditional songs are sometimes borrowed across language groups. So the words which are in the song might not belong to the language of the people who sing the song. That's why you sometimes can't understand all of the words in a traditional song. And that's why, when the singerman tells the story of the song, all of the words that he uses in the story might be different from the words in the song. 5. It is very difficult to remember a traditional song exactly as it was taught. Sometimes, when two different people learn the same song, they each memorise a slightly different version of the song. Then when those two people in turn teach the song to other people, the new singers end up learning different versions of the same song. That's why you sometimes hear two different singermen singing different versions of the same song. * These notes were written for Anita Camfoo by Carolyn Coleman, West Arnhem Regional Linguist, NTDE. WORDLIST Dalabon Kriol bart-no im ni bugahney imin luk im denge-no im to gah-boniny imin go gah-moyhno im sik gah-nininy imin sidan gah-runiny imin krai gah-ruruniny imin kraikrai gotj-no im hed johmu clap mini-no im sholda munguyh-munguyh longtaim nabigen nobodi nahnogun bla im mami ngarra- wi ngarnny hand wehno bobala wulgun-ngan mai bratha