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NIdiji Riwi Yarangi

by Paul Cox, Yiyili Community

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Students were encouraged to use language they felt comfortable with. As a result Kriol and Gooniyandi feature prominently in the songs. As a lot of the songs were about country and community culture, to be true to their spirit it made sense to mix Kriol, Gooniyandi and Standard Australian English. Using all 3 languages puts a value on the knowledge of culture and language students bring with them to the classroom. Kurt Gordon from Middle Primary said “I like Kriol song ‘cos that’s what we talk” and “Gooniyandi is too hard to understand for whitefella but Gooniyandi song make us people proud”.

There was also a lot of interest from community in using stories about country and community history using Gooniyandi knowledge and language. Community was very keen for their stories and knowledge to be used in the songs we wrote for use in the classroom.

Songwriting with community was a truly collaborative process with different members of community contributing different sorts of knowledge such as bush tucker, hunting, seasons, important landmarks and Gooniyandi language.

Matt and Flora Dawson from Pullout helped start the process of bringing people together for the sharing of knowledge and language. Musicians from community bands Walkabout Boys and Yiyili Sunset Band as well as many other talented local musicians have been very generous with their time and skills. Paul Cox and Marjorie Cox also did a lot of work to make sure everyone was included in the process of songwriting. David Street’s linguistic knowledge was invaluable for his knowledge of Gooniyandi. Terry Dawson generously provided artwork for the CD cover and this book.

lyrics

Nidaji Riwi Yarangi (This is our Country)

Loomboodoowah Tabletop Hill, through Station Rd
Minuji in the night, porcupine are too slow
Anthill manoongoo minya, shine a light through the night
Hear the lilal tapping noise, gonna spear that porcupine

Nidaji Riwi Yarangi x2

Heading out Lardadidi range, highway used to cut through
Flatground roowa thirroo, hunt for kangaroo
Yirdila rainy season, ola girndi fall from tree
Put’m in coolaman down at Melanbats Creek




Loomboodoowa – Tabletop Hill
Minuji – porcupine
Manoongoo – anthill
Minya – minya ant
Lilal – tapping noise
Lardadidi Range – Gooniyandi Range
Roowa – walkabout
Thirroo – kangaroo
Yirdila – Rainy Time
Ola (Kriol) – all of the
Girndi – Bush Plum

credits

released September 28, 2015
Produced by Tonchi Macintosh, sung by Paul Cox

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Whoopee-Do Crew Brisbane, Australia

Tom Smith is a musician/writer who has worked in Mental Health, Education, Youth Drug/Alcohol Services and Aboriginal Communities. He can give workshops in many contexts including hospitals, prisons or nursing homes. Writing about the challenges in your life helps you separate yourself from them; it helps you understand they are just something you experience and they are not you. ... more

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