Paper short abstract:

Warlpiri people have in recent decades performed their traditional songs and dances in numerous Australian cities and other international locations. This paper shows how these performances strengthen these musical traditions, and open up opportunities for cultural exchange.

Paper long abstract:

For Warlpiri people living in settlements across the Tanami desert of Central Australia, songs and their associated cultural knowledge have been passed down through many generations in ceremonial contexts which incorporate music, dance, body designs, ritualised movements and surrounding social contexts. Performance of songs carry forward complex forms of inter-related cultural knowledge, including stories of Dreaming ancestors, features of the landscape, ecological knowledge of country and intimate social relationships amongst Warlpiri people. The last few decades have seen shifts away from traditional systems of exchange towards presentational modes that forge connections to non-Indigenous and inter-Indigenous audiences (Dussart 2004, 254). Through these shifting contexts, songs remain as mechanisms for forging social interconnections and passing down valued cultural knowledge and practices. With multi-media examples, this paper discusses several recent performances of public genres of Warlpiri song. These performances are about keeping stories strong in a time when the world is changing really rapidly and promote greater understanding of Indigenous lives in broader, mainstream Australian and international contexts.