Hearing history through maps
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have shared stories, exchanged knowledge and recorded history using songs and music for millennia.
Andrew Dowding analysing Tjabi recordings.
As we grapple with the harsh realisation that many of these songs have been lost in our nation’s history, thinking critically about ways to share our ancestor’s music will play an integral role in revitalising Australia’s Indigenous languages.
Winyama and the University of Melbourne’s Hearing Histories West Pilbara Project, is an accessible online resource in development for mapping archived recordings of Aboriginal Tjabi traditions.
Currently a work in progress, this collaboration between Winyama’s Managing Director, Andrew Dowding, and University of Melbourne ethnomusicologist, Sally Treloyn, displays Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) recordings from Pilbara Elders from the 1960s using Google Earth technology.
The mapping and referencing of Tjabi traditions has begun an exploration into how digital tools can assist in the preservation of all Aboriginal songs, languages and stories across Australia.
What is Tjabi?
Tjabi (or Thabi) is a word in Ngarluma language that describes a public genre of song indigenous to the west Pilbara region.
This genre is also held by Yindjibarndi, Palyku, Martuthunia, Kurrama, Nyiyaparli, Banyjima, Yinhawangka, Kariyarra, Nyamal and Ngarla language groups, who each have their own name for ‘Tjabi’ (source: Thabi returns).
Hearing Histories project collaborator, and Ngarluma song custodian, Andrew Dowding, began this project after discovering his multilingual grandfather, Robert Churnside, was a leading Tjabi genre composer.
“It was an emotional experience, as I sat in the AIATSIS listening room, to hear my grandfather’s voice and listen to the Thabi songs he composed. I was filled with pride and I marveled at his creativity. His explanations of the songs in English touched me profoundly, as I spoke no Ngarluma at this point.” - Andrew Dowding, Managing Director
Learn more about Andrew’s journey of reclaiming and digitising Tjabi AIATSIS recordings here.
A project with two goals
Hearing Histories address several underlying goals.
Andrew Dowding mapping Tjabi recordings.
Firstly, it sought to locate recordings of Tjabi in legacy collections that were created in the 1950s – 1980s that are today held in archives.
Secondly, it sought to unlock the knowledge held in the recordings by supporting access to them via cultural custodians interested in their revival.
Connecting with culture through songs
A key research method in developing Hearing Histories was listening to each of the Tjabi recordings with Elders, and recording their memories and the context of each song.
This enabled songs to be attributed to their composers while also generating a burst in connection to language.
“The recordings created enthusiasm for many initiatives, in particular the recirculation of legacy recordings to encourage revitalisation of our language.”- Andrew Dowding, Managing Director
Another research method was developing an experimental map-based interface for organising and accessing recordings of Tjabi. By dividing the map into language groups from the Pilbara region and locating recordings with their place of origin, Dowding is able to explore the database of Tjabi without needing to navigate through a text catalogue.
Hearing Histories map interface
Hearing Histories map zoomed in to Australia’s Pilbara region
More than a map
The Hearing Histories map sits alongside a relational database that links metadata across collections. New knowledge that was captured in the field is now connected to knowledge held in archival collections.
As a resource, Hearing Histories attempts to honour the legacies of singers, song custodians and collectors of the past, by supporting access in an aesthetic and logical way.
“There’s been an effort to make a map that doesn’t just provide information, but that delivers it in a way that’s appropriate to a cultural heritage community.” - Sally Treloyn, University of Melbourne
Public access to the map will be available once licensing and attribution of the audio is finalised.
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