In the school yard at Bulman in the Northern Territory’s central Arnhem Land, a group of boys are practising drums and clapping sticks while a barramundi cooks over coals nearby.
They are preparing to unveil their latest song, based on a Dreamtime story that explains why goannas have patterns on their backs but lizards do not.
Chadmus Redford, 10, said the goanna and lizard agreed to paint each other.
Chadmus Redford says goanna is one of his favourite bush foods, as well as being the subject of the Bulman School’s latest song. (ABC Katherine: James Elton)
The lizard was a skilled artist and did a good job, but in return the careless goanna made a mess of the lizard.
“The lizard is going to get very angry and he’s going to chase the goanna,” Chadmus explained.
The song is the latest output from the isolated school with fewer than 100 students.
It has now recorded and produced more than a dozen songs using the two Indigenous languages of the region, Dalabon and Rembarrnga.
The community has been bagging gongs at national music awards, including the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards and National Indigenous Media Awards (NIMAs).
But more importantly, the work is passing on stories and providing a bridge in language between kids and their elders.
Students practice drums in the school yard. (ABC Katherine: James Elton)
‘The kids wanted me to sing’
Randall Campion is a senior Rembarrnga man and a keeper of songs for ceremonies.
He started working with the Bulman School as a language teacher, but his role quickly changed.
“The kids wanted me to sing,” Mr Campion said.
“I’m the last traditional songman here at Bulman community for funerals, smoking ceremonies and welcoming ceremonies.
“Music educates. Land, environment, animal,” he said.
The school has released more than a dozen songs, including many with music videos. (ABC Katherine: James Elton)
Many of the songs are creation stories about animals.
Malnganarra tells of how bats take shelter inside the rainbow serpent, known as Bolung in parts of the Top End, before coming out at night to eat flowers in the trees.
Others, like Strongbala Wei, are about the responsibility of caring for country.
The students all take part in singing, playing instruments and acting out scenes in music videos.
A long list of stories
Musician and producer Steve Lane has been working with the school to make their recordings, on behalf of a non-profit called The Song Room.
“Some of the old people … have a big list of stories that they would really like told through song and shared with the kids,” he said.
“And they’re pretty keen to tell them in their languages as well.”
Steve Lane has been helping the school through a non-profit called The Song Room. (ABC Katherine: James Elton)
Challenges overcome
Working in languages such as Dalabon with relatively few fluent speakers poses unique challenges.
Sometimes a vital elder is out of town, so pronunciations have to be figured out over the phone.
Australian linguist Nicholas Evans, who codified the Dalabon dictionary, has also been on speed dial.
Many of the kids at the school have parents, aunties and uncles who are Dalabon or Rembarrnga speakers who are keen for the next generation to learn more of their traditional languages.
Mr Lane said he had seen the kids grow in confidence.
“It’s at the point now where they walk into that studio space and open their mouth and sing as loud as you want,”
he said.
Some kids who may not always settle well in maths or English classes have come out of their shells in the studio too.
Bulman is about four hours by road from the Top End hub of Katherine. (ABC Katherine: James Elton)
“It’s something that those people, those kids in particular, that’s what they’ve been waiting for — that opportunity,” Mr Lane said
At this weekend’s National Indigenous Media Awards, the school added yet another trophy to its growing cabinet.
“They’ve had a good run,” Mr Lane said.
“It’s a lovely thing to be in a community with a collective spirit of ‘we can win this stuff, we’re as good as everyone else’.”
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