Wangga (sometimes spelled Wongga) is an Aboriginal Australian genre of traditional music and ceremony which originated in Northern Territory and north Western Australia, specifically from South Alligator River south east towards Ngukurr, south to the Katherine and west into the Kimberley.Lister, Peter. (2006). "Didjeridu & Traditional Music of the Top End – Wangga". Manikay.Com (J. H. Burrows). Retrieved 17 April 2011. The Yolngu peoples of Arnhem Land created the genre.
In 1938, Australian anthropologist A. P. Elkin described Wangga thus: "[It] starts as a sudden high note, then descends in regular intervals to a low pitch, after which the songman just beats his sticks to the accompaniment of the didgeridoo. Twenty seconds or more later, the melody is sung as before and so on" and lyrics tend to be syllabic.Elkin, A. P. (1979) . The Australian Aborigines. Angus & Robertson. Sydney, NSW. p. 290. . Quoted at Manikay.Com. Retrieved 17 April 2011. Typically, the songs and dances express themes related to death and regeneration.Marett, Allan (2005). Songs, Dreamings, and Ghosts: the Wangga of North Australia. Wesleyan University Press: Middletown, Connecticut. p. 1. . The songs are performed publicly. The singers compose from their daily lives or while dreaming of a nyuidj (dead spirit).Povinelli, Elizabeth A. (2002). The Cunning of Recognition: Indigenous Alterities and the Making of Australian Multiculturalism. Duke University Press: Durham, North Carolina. p. 200.
Recordings
See also
Music of Australia Indigenous Australian music
References
External links Samples at Manikay.Com Wangga dancers from Eastern Kimberly Group, at Australia Council for the Arts website.