James William Wafer

Jim Wafer

Myfany Turpin

Print edition of multi-author work on Indigenous song. This is the first volume devoted specifically to the revitalisation of ancestral Indigenous singing practices in Australia. These traditions are at severe risk in many parts of the country, and this book investigates the strategies currently being implemented to reverse the damage. In some areas the ancestral musical culture is still transmitted across the generations; in others it is partially remembered, and being revitalised with the assistance of heritage recording and written documentation; but in many parts of Australia, the transmission of songs has been interrupted, and in those places revitalisation relies on research and restoration. The authors, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, consider these issues across a broad range of geographical locations, and from a number of different theoretical and methodological angles. The chapters provide helpful insights for Indigenous people and communities, researchers and educators, and anyone interested in the song traditions of Indigenous Australia.

Revitalising the Singing Practices of Indigenous Australia

Recirculating Songs

Enter the fascinating world of the Condomble regions of Brazil, where interaction between spirits and human is considered an everyday occurrence. Jim Wafer uncovers the social life, rituals, folklore, and engaging personalities of the villagers of Jacari, among whom trances, sorcery, and spirit possession demonstrate the coexistence of different kinds of reality. This ethnography is intriguing not only because of the originality of its approach to the more enigmatic aspects of another culture but also because it uses insights gained from participation in that culture to reflect on the paradoxes inherent in the writer's own culture, and in the human condition in general.

Jim Wafer

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