Yolŋu manikay refers to the ceremonial song-cycles maintained clan by clan by the Yolŋu-language peoples (Gumatj, Rirratjingu, Djapu, Marrakulu, Djambarrpuyŋu and others) of northeast Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory. Each song is a 'songline' embedding a clan's territory — its landmarks, its ancestral journeys, and its relationships with animals, plants, and water sources — into melody and text. The instrumentation is yidaki (the Yolŋu-language name for the didgeridoo), bilma (hardwood clapsticks), and a songman lead with group vocal response. Melody sits within a three-to-five-note range; rhythm is close to free, with the yidaki providing circular-breathed drone and rhythmic tonguing.

The Yolŋu peoples have lived in northern Australia for over forty thousand years, each clan carrying its own songs, dances, and visual designs. A songline is not merely a song but a coherent knowledge system holding together land ownership, ancestral kinship, and seasonal hunting-and-gathering calendars. Since the 1990s, Australian Native Title (Indigenous land rights) cases have accepted the singing of these songs as legal evidence of continuous connection to country, and songmen have performed songlines in courtrooms. Djalu Gurruwiwi of the Galpu clan was the twentieth century's canonical example of a master carrier of the tradition.

First, listen to the yidaki's circular breathing: the player exhales while simultaneously inhaling through the nose, producing an unbroken drone. Over that drone, tonguing produces sharp 'tu-tu-tu' rhythmic accents. Next, notice the vocal melody is not a Western tune but three to five pitches, stretched and compressed according to the poem's meter and the singer's breath — closer to chant than to song. Djakapurra Munyarryun's vocals on Bangarra Dance Theatre's Ochres (1994) is the clearest introduction, translating the tradition into a proscenium-stage frame.

Start with Djalu Gurruwiwi's 'Yidaki' recordings from around the time of the 2003 documentary 'Djalu: A Portrait of a Master Didjeridu Player,' which introduce the instrument's full sound world. Then Djakapurra Munyarryun's vocal work on Bangarra Dance Theatre's Ochres (1994) — the songman voice in a modern staging context. For the contemporary edge, Daniel Wilfred with Paul Grabowsky's Australian Art Orchestra on Ruwe Ngadluku (2019) shows manikay meeting modern jazz.

Manikay in the Yolŋu languages means simply 'song,' referring to the publicly performable songs of a clan; more secret ceremonial songs (waŋga, djatpangaɽɽi, madayin) sit in separate tiers and outsiders are usually not permitted to record them. Yidaki is the correct Yolŋu-language name; 'didgeridoo' is an outside colloquial term. The instrument is made from a stringybark eucalypt branch hollowed out by termites, cut to length and sealed with beeswax. Djalu Gurruwiwi, whose hand-made yidakis reached players worldwide, passed away in 2022 aged 87, having passed the tradition to his son Larry Winiluwui.