Podcast: Little Yarns
Episode Title: A Littler Yarn with Troy Cassar-Daley
Duration: 7 minutes 49 seconds
[ABC listen podcast sting]
Rudi: Yaama! Rudi ngaya… Hi I'm Rudi and this is Little Yarns… a podcast where we listen to the sounds of Country and share some words in language.
Does anyone ever sing you to sleep? Listening to a lullaby is such a nice way to drift off to sleep… all warm and cosy in bed.
So today, I thought we'd have a Littler Yarn with a man who's just written a very special lullaby… His name is Troy Cassar-Daley, and the lullaby is 'Ninganah'.
Sounds: Little Yarns theme song plays
Rudi: Yaama Troy!
Troy: Hi Rudi! Thanks for making the time to have a yarn
Rudi: No worries, Troy. Gaba nginda— how are you?
Troy: I'm very well, thank you
Rudi: You know, I've been listening to the lullaby you wrote and it’s so dhirrabuu – so deadly!
Troy: Ah thank you
Rudi: I want to have a littler yarn about your lullaby — Ninganah — but first do you want to introduce yourself?
Troy: Sounds great… G'day folks its Troy Cassar-Daley… I'm a proud Gumbaynggirr Bundjalung man and I'm very happy to be involved in putting kids to sleep (laughs)
Rudi: (Laughing) And grown-ups! It's been helping me sleep all week! Did you get sung lullabies when you were little?
Troy: My uncle and aunty would always hang around with my mum as well and they would always sing us little things to send us off to sleep… but we were always so anxious to get on with the next day, we were very restless… so that's why they say 'ninganah' which means, 'C'mon, be quiet now… it's time to settle down' (laughs)
Rudi: (laughs) Aw ninganah all you mob!
Sounds: Curlews calling
Rudi: There are so many beautiful sounds on Gumbaynggirr Country… What's that bird, Troy?
Troy: The curlew… is a bird we hear on the coast quite a lot… Now they can be a scary bird when you first hear them, but you realise, it's genuinely for me another way for the old people to talk to us…
Rudi: Yeah true, it's amazing how the old people can talk to us if we take the time to listen…
Troy: That's for sure… You know we talk about our old people very fondly… it's the spirits of our ancestors and if they are trying to get a message through to us, normally the birds go really quiet and then you'll get a bird show up by itself like a little willy wag tail which is our messenger bird and he'll be the one that'll be telling us something telling us that there's something going on or that someone needs to get in touch with you … those sorts of birds are really special and they really stand out
Sounds: Willy wag tail dancing and chirping
Rudi: He's a messenger for my mob too. We call him thirrithirri… I reckon what makes him stand out, even more than his call, is that funny little dance he does. It really gets your attention
Troy: (laughs) Yeah!
Sounds: Sea eagle calls
Rudi: Wow, a sea eagle! I bet you heard that sound lots when you were growing up hey Troy?
Troy: Yeah totally…. The sea eagle was something that when we were camping as kids… when it would fly over it gave us this feeling of connection… you almost feel like you can see through its eyes… as to what its seeing… the countryside… the way the river runs… we used to look at it bringing fish back to its babies in the nest… and we always used to think, what a beautiful, big, powerful bird but so nurturing and loving at the same time for its young
Rudi: I love that. It reminds me of my brother. He looks real tough but actually he's just big softie
Sounds: Sugar glider chirps and branch movement
Rudi: Oh, listen Troy! Is that…. a sugar glider?
Troy: Yep… The little sugar gliders that come out at night were ones we used to love to watch… cos if you had a torch and you saw one fly along through the sky over near your fire it was always something that really blew me away
Rudi: That sounds awesome!
Sounds: Sugar glider chirps and jumps through trees
Rudi: Gumbaynggirr Country's really showing up today! Kinda like the Country is welcoming us… There's some language you sing in the lullaby too…
Troy: Some of the language I've used is stuff my grandfather used to use, proud Bundjalung man….
Rudi: Can you tell us what some of those words mean?
Troy: Yeah totally — Being moogal is being naughty… there was always plenty of that when we were children
Rudi: (laugh) I bet
Troy: Plenty of moogal kids…. A goonge always was a little bit of a reminder that if you don't go to bed and behave yourself, you might get visited by a friendly ghost and that was a goonge in our language… there was also 'tuck in your jinnans'… your jinnans are your feet and if it was cold when you were camping, you always had to make sure you snuggled up and tucked in your jinnans as well….
Rudi: I love getting all cosy in bed with my jinnans in big warm fluffy socks. Then all we need is 'Ninganah' – your lullaby!
Troy: Yeah! I can't wait to play it for my little second and third cousins because they're gonna know every word
Rudi: They're gonna love that! (laugh)
Troy: (laughing) They'll think it’s written for them I reckon!
Rudi: Thank you so much for having a littler yarn with us today, Troy… I reckon we're all going to sleep well tonight!
Troy: Thank you very much! Yaway (sic)
Rudi: Let's have a listen to ‘Ninganah’ now…
Sounds: The song 'Ninganah' plays
Rudi: This Littler Yarn was made on Gadigal, Yuggerah and Turrbal Countries featuring the sounds of Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung Country.
With original music by Bunuba producer Vincent Goodyer and 'Ninganah' by Troy Cassar-Daley.
Our producer is Soumia Bella
Our executive producer is Emma Gibbs
Our engineer is Nathan Turnball
Little Yarns is an ABC Kids listen podcast
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The sun's going down and the sky is getting dark... It's time for a lullaby to drift off to sleep. Let's head to Gumbaynggirr Country for a littler yarn with Troy Cassar-Daley about his new lullaby 'Ninganah'...