By Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg

The National Recording Project’s 9th Symposium on Indigenous Music and Dance was held in conjunction with the Symposium on Information Technologies and Indigenous Communities organised by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra, 13–15 July 2010. This high-profile meeting was co-hosted by the Australian National University (ANU) and the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), and its sessions were held in spacious, state-of-the-art spaces with in the Australian Academy of Science Shine Dome, the NFSA Arc Theatre, and the ANU School of Music.

The Symposium offered delegates a timely opportunity to explore the growing breadth of Indigenous engagements with new media and technologies as they concern the National Recording Project. Some of the themes addressed included:

• information technologies and Indigenous musics;
• cultural mapping using GIS and GPS technologies;
• the role of state institutions in preserving collections as repositories for local content, and in providing digitized content to local communities and Indigenous Knowledge Centres;
• key issues for local content providers includingaccess to collections, and local access to broadband networks;
• technical and ethical issues surrounding access;
• education, training and economic sustainability;
• creating digital content for supply to local communities;
• and the use of music and dance production and content in conjunction with digital technologies to promote wellbeing

While most of these themes were framed by their relevance to Indigenous Australian contexts, all explored outcomes and practical developments that hold broad relevance for Ethnomusicology. With its emphasis on promoting collaborative work with Indigenous communities, the Symposium enjoyed high levels of academic, industry and community representation, and through sponsored travel funded by AIATSIS and ANU, was attended by a high number of Indigenous presenters with many travelling thousands of kilometres from remote regions such as Cape York, Arnhem Land and the Kimberley.

Presentations were given by a wide range of scholar s, Indigenous cultural practitioners and media content producers. The National Recording Project’s Director, Dr Aaron Corn (ANU), led sessions on music and dance that opened with exponents of the manikay ‘song’ tradition in the Young Wägilak Group from east Arnhem Land exploring their collaboration with the Australian Art Orchestra in creating the new musical work, Crossing Roper Bar. My own paper, sponsored by the British Academy, addressed interdisciplinary methodologies for exploring relationships among Christian choral singing, new media practices, and Indigenous diversity, identity and wellbeing in Australia was presented on a panel alongside the Indigenous media expert, Nelson Conboy, from Cape York. Helen Yunupingu (Shepherdson College), a local Indigenous expert on women’s music in east Arnhem Land, presented with Lysbeth Ford (Batchelor Institute) on keeping women’s crying songs strong in the Digital Age, while David and Jenny Manmurulu from Warruwi in west Arnhem Land presented with Isabel O’Keeffe (University of Melbourne) on their traditional inyjalarrku ‘mermaid’ songs. The first day ended with rare music and dance performances of this latter tradition, and of another traditional repertoire from west Arnhem Land, called Yanajanak, that was l ed by Charlie Mangulda and JamesCooper.

The Symposium was well-attended and most presentations were transmitted via a live webcast. Jane Ulman from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) was also present, and her coverage of the Symposium was broadcast on ABC Radio National on Sunday, 1 August 2010. Her piece on the Airplay program focussed on the Crossing Roper Bar collaboration, and featured a gripping manikay performance by the Young Wägilak Group on the opening evening.

The Symposium’s outcomes were highly relevant to the wider field of Ethnomusicology, and exemplified how Indigenous participation with academic scholarship can contribute significantly to theoretical and practical developments in applying new multimedia technologies to the preservation of musical and dance traditions. They demonstrated how these developments are helping to close the ‘digital gap’ between affluent people who are presently in a better position to benefit from digital technologies, and those who are less well off worldwide. They also provided delegates with new ideas for how to use these technologies to produce and disseminate local music and dance content, which in remote areas of the world remains a challenge.

In the closing plenary session, delegates were asked to put forward suggestions for refining Indigenous and remote areas media and broadcasting in Australia. These included:

• the need for localized, appropriate multimedia training to improve effective Indigenous participation in the Digital Age;
• increased, affordable and faster internet access in remote communities;
• and the requirement that, in all cases, Indigenous Australians should be fully consulted and involved in the work to be undertaken

Many felt that the Symposium’s delegates themselves represented a wealth of expertise of immense potential benefit to Australia that could raise the country’s international profile in seriously exploring what it means to live in the Di gital Age both socially and technologically.