AustLit

'This is the second of Richard Moyle's books on central Australian Aboriginal music, following Songs of the Pintupi (R. Moyle 1979). In general, it follows the same format with an ethnographic introduction, an account of song categories, a chapter each on musical instruments, musical ethnography, musical analysis and notation, and a conclusion. In Alyawarra Music, the ethnographic component is considerably extended in comparison with Songs of the Pintupi, both in the general introduction and in the musical ethnography. Otherwise, the organisation of the material, the issues addressed, and the style of analysis are essentially similar. The author himself acknowledges that Alyawarra Music builds on the ideas and methods of Songs of the Pintupi. A bonus of this book is the small disc of recorded musical examples that comes in a cover sleeve. There are few commercially available recordings of central Australian Aboriginal music. Of the nine short examples on the disc (they range from seventeen seconds to one minute in duration) only four are represented in musical notation in the book, although the texts of all examples are given. It is a pity that the matching of recorded music with musical notation in general is not better facilitated, especially as it would have been a relatively simple matter to give references to the AIAS tape archive where the recordings are lodged. Despite this and the small number and duration of recorded examples, w e must be grateful for this addition to the readily available recordings of central Australian songs.'  (Introduction)