Dr Sally Treloyn presents ‘Sustaining junba in the Kimberley’, on Tuesday 27 May from 12pm to 1pm.
Junba is a public song/dance performance genre that is indigenous to a broad area of the Kimberley.
Junba repertories are performed by mixed-gender and intergenerational singing ensembles, accompanied by dance. People perform junba songs to establish, reaffirm and benefit from associations with places, other people, and ancestors.
Amongst senior Ngarinyin and Worrorra performers and owners of junba repertories, however, there is concern that the skills of performance - particularly singing - and knowledge of songs are not being passed on to younger generations. This decline in participation and related repertory-loss is closely aligned with concerns for the health and education of young people.
In an effort to combat this, senior Ngarinyin and Worrorra performers are calling for action to establish training programs, away from town, and other projects to ensure the continuation of the junba tradition.
In this seminar Dr Treloyn will outline the content and context of existing song and dance-based research that has been done on junba, provide an introduction to the broader social importance of junba songs and dances, reflect on lessons learnt from previous research, and outline current plans to address the need expressed by senior performer/owners to sustain junba repertories and the people attached to them.
Sally Treloyn is a research fellow in ethnomusicology with CDU’s School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems and project coordinator for the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia.
Lunch will be provided. RSVP 21 May 2008 for numbers.
This seminar takes place in the SAIKS seminar room, Blue 3.1, Casuarina campus, Charles Darwin University.
For further information contact Margetta Avlonitis on 8946 6482 or email margetta.avlonitis@cdu.edu.au.