Georgia Curran is an anthropologist with interests in Indigenous music, languages and rituals. She lived in the Central Australian desert settlement of Yuendumu between 2005-2007 and has since continued to work on collaborative research projects with Warlpiri people. She is currently a research associate at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

"I believe the book to provide quite a fascinating and up-to-date glimpse of Warlpiri music, a people who have had many academic collaborators, but whose musical traditions have not received sustained attention in recent years." Peter Toner, St. Thomas University"This is a richly detailed ethnography of Warlpiri ritual and song... [It] offers a deeply textured analysis of the Kurdiji ceremony which unpacks the ceremonial structure of kin relations, the dances of `travelling ancestral women' and the semantics of the song series performed by the men." Fiona Magowan, Queen's University Belfast

• List of Illustrations, Maps and FiguresForeword by Otto Jungarrayi SimmsAcknowledgementsNotes on TextIntroductionChapter 1. Song and ceremony in Indigenous AustraliaChapter 2. Yuendumu: a brief social historyChapter 3. Warlpiri songs: rights, genres and ceremonial contextsChapter 4. Kurdiji, a ceremony for 'making young men'Chapter 5. Holding Warlpiri songs: addressing musical endangermentConclusionAppendix of songs from the Kurdiji ceremonyGlossary of Warlpiri wordsReferencesIndex

Georgia Curran is an anthropologist with interests in Indigenous music, languages and rituals. She lived in the Central Australian desert settlement of Yuendumu between 2005-2007 and has since continued to work on collaborative research projects with Warlpiri people. She is currently a research associate at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

"I believe the book to provide quite a fascinating and up-to-date glimpse of Warlpiri music, a people who have had many academic collaborators, but whose musical traditions have not received sustained attention in recent years." Peter Toner, St. Thomas University"This is a richly detailed ethnography of Warlpiri ritual and song... [It] offers a deeply textured analysis of the Kurdiji ceremony which unpacks the ceremonial structure of kin relations, the dances of `travelling ancestral women' and the semantics of the song series performed by the men." Fiona Magowan, Queen's University Belfast

• List of Illustrations, Maps and FiguresForeword by Otto Jungarrayi SimmsAcknowledgementsNotes on TextIntroductionChapter 1. Song and ceremony in Indigenous AustraliaChapter 2. Yuendumu: a brief social historyChapter 3. Warlpiri songs: rights, genres and ceremonial contextsChapter 4. Kurdiji, a ceremony for 'making young men'Chapter 5. Holding Warlpiri songs: addressing musical endangermentConclusionAppendix of songs from the Kurdiji ceremonyGlossary of Warlpiri wordsReferencesIndex

Georgia Curran is an anthropologist with interests in Indigenous music, languages and rituals. She lived in the Central Australian desert settlement of Yuendumu between 2005-2007 and has since continued to work on collaborative research projects with Warlpiri people. She is currently a research associate at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

"I believe the book to provide quite a fascinating and up-to-date glimpse of Warlpiri music, a people who have had many academic collaborators, but whose musical traditions have not received sustained attention in recent years." Peter Toner, St. Thomas University"This is a richly detailed ethnography of Warlpiri ritual and song... [It] offers a deeply textured analysis of the Kurdiji ceremony which unpacks the ceremonial structure of kin relations, the dances of `travelling ancestral women' and the semantics of the song series performed by the men." Fiona Magowan, Queen's University Belfast

• List of Illustrations, Maps and FiguresForeword by Otto Jungarrayi SimmsAcknowledgementsNotes on TextIntroductionChapter 1. Song and ceremony in Indigenous AustraliaChapter 2. Yuendumu: a brief social historyChapter 3. Warlpiri songs: rights, genres and ceremonial contextsChapter 4. Kurdiji, a ceremony for 'making young men'Chapter 5. Holding Warlpiri songs: addressing musical endangermentConclusionAppendix of songs from the Kurdiji ceremonyGlossary of Warlpiri wordsReferencesIndex