ABSTRACT
Death and mourning have long been a focus of anthropological research motivated by the task of understanding the diverse social and cultural contexts in which people in the world conceive of their lives. Since songs, singing and dancing play a key role in ceremonies that accompany burial and mourning in many Aboriginal Australian life-worlds, substantial research conducted in northern Australia has touched on music. This chapter looks at everyday ’traditional’ musical genres genre that is used to celebrate and reinforce community, family and personal identities at public festivals and other occasions: Junba, also referred to as ’Culture’ or ’Corroboree’. It considers elements of the conception, composition, performance and transmission of Junba, to demonstrate ways in which this everyday, public, celebration-orientated genre brings to the fore and may work to restore personal and social identities in the day-to-day lives of communities facing loss. The chapter outlines the construction of personhood in the northern Kimberley in more detail.
