Lone Singers: the others have all gone

Abstract

The Lone Singers and/or the Last Singers of songs from various Aboriginal traditions have a most important role to play in the preservation of knowledge. In areas of Australia where there are regular ceremonial performances, group singing provides the norm for analysis. However, in places such as Victoria, many songs sung by the elders have not been passed on, and only a few individual singers remember them. The Lone Singers on many occasions said that they were sorry for the verses because in the future there would be no one left to sing and remember them. Therefore, the recordings and the knowledge of these songs that may originally have been sung by more than one person are very precious. We will argue for the value of songs sung by Lone or Last Singers, showing their special merits and their place in contemporary Aboriginal society