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Home , Lali (drum), Meke, New Guinea, Slit drum

Melanesia bamboo boogie-woogie

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The chains known as include , , New , the Solomon and . Musical diversity is a highlight of the , from traditional instrumental and vocal music to contemporary rock and reggae. Steven Feld and Denis Crowdy untangle this skein of sounds.

63 COUNTRY COUNTRY bands like the Paramana Strangers had become well-known. In the mid-1970s, the boogie-woogie bamboo Musically, the best-known part of Melanesia is band style spread to PNG from the Solomon the island of New Guinea. This is divided in two: Islands, featuring open bamboo tubes played by

| New Guinea (PNG), the independent, east- Genre hitting them with flip-flop sandals. This began ern half of the island, and Papua, the western half, among villages around Madang, and spread from a often called “” by indigenous inhabit- band at the Teachers College there to other colleg- ants seeking independence from . Prior es and high schools. The Wagi Brothers, complete to 1962, Papua was a Dutch colony, while PNG, with bamboo tubes and fuzzy rock’n’roll electric until its independence in 1975, was divided into guitar (played through transistor radios), are one two Australian trust territories (British and Ger- of the highlights of David Fanshawe’s Pacific com- man colonies before ). These colonial pilations. histories have strongly influenced the music heard A local recording industry began to develop today in New Guinea, as has the strong impact of in PNG after independence. Musical exchanges missionaries. were promoted by the National Arts School and There is considerably more documented and other national institutions, as well as regional and recorded material from the international festivals. Sanguma were the first side, particularly since independence. This is part- PNG group to actively mix traditional songs and ly a result of foreign interest in the country’s stun- instruments with rock and jazz-derived styles. ning cultural and geographical diversity – more In the early 1980s, Sanguma toured the Pacific than eight hundred languages are spoken by just region, and the US. Around the same time, over five million people – but also Indonesia’s hos- recording studios became established in tility to the celebration or promotion of indigenous and , the capital, and radio pro- Melanesian culture in Papua. grammes featuring PNG pop styles, both in Tok There are clear continuities between traditional Pisin (pidgin), the lingua franca, and in Tok Ples, music from West Papua and PNG – from similari- (other local languages), spread widely. TV and ties in dance, song and instrumental characteristics radio stations, however, tend to play local rock, in the highlands to bamboo flutes and wooden and reggae and string-band music, also the focus of bamboo end-blown trumpets closer to the coast. the cassette industry. Contemporary popular music includes string- George Telek has made international waves band music, reggae, gospel and influences from through his work with musician and producer PNG music and Indonesian pop. David Bridie, first appearing with Bridie’s band Not Drowning, Waving on the album Tabaran. PNG’s Popular Music Telek hails from the village of Raluana near the town of Rabaul (destroyed by a volcanic eruption Papua New Guinea’s exposure to Western sounds in 1994) and his songs reflect everyday village and began in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, spiritual life. He tours internationally, so keep up with the part harmony of church hymns sung in with his schedule at telek.com. local languages. By the turn of the century, mission songs, colonial songs and gold-rush songs had also made their mark. From the 1920s, 78s of Western Traditional PNG Music popular songs were played around plantations and In 1898, some of the world’s first field-recordings colonial towns and broadcasting began in the late were made along PNG’s south coast. However, 1930s. A further foreign influence arrived dur- music research did not begin seriously until the ing the war, when foreign servicemen played and 1970s, with independence and the establishment of taught songs locally. the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies music Guitars and ukuleles became popular. String department and recording series. Traditional PNG bands – groups of acoustic guitars and ukuleles music also received a huge boost in 1991 when playing a hard-strummed and lightly swinging the Grateful Dead’s drummer Mickey Hart pro- style already in broad Pacific circulation – were duced anthropologist (and chapter co-author) first recorded in the early 1950s, and were com- Steven Feld’s Voices of the , the first monplace ten years later. By the late 1960s, widely available CD of traditional PNG music. It rock’n’roll cover bands like the Kopikats were per- shows a rich traditional musical culture, although forming at hotels in PNG’s main cities, and string its diversity has doubtless been greatly diminished

64 by colonization, missionaries, and industrial devel- Although the Republic of the Fiji Islands is official- COUNTRY COUNTRY opment. Certain types of traditional songs, sing- ly part of Melanesia, and the indigenous are ing styles, instruments and their performance were physically similar to other , Fijian cul- targeted for eradication by missionaries, who dis- ture shares a number of features with the culture approved of the spiritual or erotic power of the of : hereditary chiefs, patrilineal descent | music. Length of contact with missionaries – just and a love of elaborate rituals, while music and Genre over a hundred years on the coasts and under sixty dance are closely related to the western Polynesian in the central highlands – has played a part in how varieties. well local or regional indigenous musical tradi- is the generic term for dance, and the tions have survived, as did the church involved: most important types are: meke wesi (spear dance the Catholics and Lutherans were generally quite for men) meke i wau (club dance for men), meke tolerant, while the Baptists and Evangelicals were iri (fan dance), vakamalolo (sitting dance) and sea- more hostile and restrictive. sea (standing dance for women). The dances are Singsing is the general name for vil- accompanied by a choir singing in parts, as well lage ceremonies which involve feasting, elabo- as ni meke (slit ) and derua (bamboo rately costumed song and dance, and exchanges stamping tubes). Another popular style is sere ni of objects and food within and between com- cumu (literally “bumping songs”), which frequent- munities. Singsings often involve entire clans or ly accompanies -drinking sessions (the basis communities performing together. Songs are often for a controversial herbal remedy in the West, the sung with a leader and chorus, in unison or with kava plant is used to make an intoxicating liquor an overlapping and staggered approach to the of the same name). same text and melody, producing something like One currently prominent traditional perform- an echo effect. Performers exuberantly decorated ing arts troupe which occasionally tours abroad in paints and plumes often accompany the singing is Veivueti Ni Medrau Sucu. In the 1980s, Laisa with regular hand- pulses, while bouncing Vularoko enjoyed popularity with her vude pop and swaying in dance lines, clustered groups or style, which incorporated meke rhythms, and more semicircles. recently the popular group Black Rose have used Some singsings associated with preparing for traditional songs in modern pop contexts. Giant warfare or secret initiations have been abolished lali drums were traditionally used to announce or were banned by colonial government officers a wide variety of important events, and are still or missionaries; others were abandoned by the used to summon churchgoers. There is a rich vocal communities themselves because of social and tradition of church music as well as styles such as economic change. In some areas they have dis- same and polotu. appeared completely, or have been modified or With albums difficult to obtain, the best way to replaced by newer forms, often held only in con- hear Fijian music is to go there. Although there has junction with national events like Independence been some political unrest in Fiji recently, this is Day, school holidays or Christian festivals. Sings- largely confined to the capital, Suva. Since a series ings are the public and celebratory side of PNG of coups beginning in 1987, the proportion of the culture most likely to be seen by foreign visitors. population made up of Indo-Fijians has fallen Large competitive shows with costume and dance below forty percent as a result of ongoing dis- contests attract regular audiences, and have been crimination, although locally produced bhajan held regularly in Port Moresby and in the High- and qawwali music can still be heard. lands towns of Goroka and Mt. Hagen since the 1950s. Alongside these powerful displays, the more The Solomon private, sometimes mystical music based on vocal poetry doesn’t easily cross linguistic and cultural boundaries. Many song texts in PNG evoke the Islands power of place, describing the local landscape, Independent from Britain only since 1978, the flora and fauna. These are often full of metaphors are sparsely inhabited. About about spirits, and their meanings can be extremely four hundred thousand people, mostly Melane- difficult to grasp and translate. sians, live on almost a thousand islands, most on the principal half dozen. Musical life in the Solomons reveals a variety Fiji of solo and group vocal styles. Large slit-drum

65 COUNTRY COUNTRY ensembles (like those in PNG on the islands of groove and percussive, syncopated ukulele play- Manus or Bougainville) are found, but the most ing. Fes Napuan is a large annual music festival distinctive sounds are the solo and group panpipe in the capital Port Vila, featuring rock, reggae, ensembles, particularly those from Guadalcanal traditional and stringband groups. As throughout and Islands. The most famous ceremo- Melanesia, gospel music of various kinds is popu- | Genre nial groups, from the ‘Are‘are people in Malaita, lar, with cassettes widely available locally. One of feature up to ten performers with instruments of Vanuatu’s finest musicians is Vanessa Quai, who several sizes. These have unique tunings and play a has a growing international profile. powerful repertory of polyphonic songs associated with natural sounds like water, insects and , as well as work and other human activities. New Guinea’s From the 1920s a kind of bamboo music developed, where tubes of different lengths and Indigenous diameters were struck by coconut husks to cre- ate a twangy, bouncing, island-music sounding Instruments remarkably like an ensemble of ukulele and bass. The Americans had bases around the capital Principally found in the region in the north- Honiara, and – just as their abandoned oil drums west and surrounding islands like Manus, New were tempered into instruments for steel bands in Britain, New and Bougainville, the gar- Trinidad – in the Solomon Islands their footwear amut is a wooden , between one and kick-started the modern bamboo bands: plastic or twelve feet long and often elaborately carved. rubber thong-sandals replaced coconut husks in Struck with wooden beaters, the drums can the 1960s, when the bamboo-band sound spread produce different tones, and ensembles make from the Solomons to PNG, and became a favour- a powerful, thundering sound. Sometimes the ite in schools and colleges. There are some con- garamut is used strictly as a message-signalling temporary urban bamboo-band albums available device for long-distance communication over on cassette. both land and sea. Other bands specialise in popular local-lan- By contrast, the smaller kundu, an hourglass- guage music (also well-known in PNG towns), shaped hand drum with a lizard, or particularly the Polynesian- and Christian-influ- snakeskin head, is generally associated with enced guitar and ukulele string-band sound usually singsings and found throughout the country. called Island Music and local varieties of rock and Like garamuts, kundu can be elaborately carved reggae. Distinctive fusion developments are repre- and painted and produce sounds associated with sented by groups like the Narasirato ‘Are‘are Pan spirit voices; their throbbing pulse can have a Pipers, who join the indigenous bamboo sounds deeply moving and hypnotic effect. of the large Malaitian ‘Are‘are panpipe ensembles Bamboo flutes, or mambu, are end- or side- to the rubbery basslines of large bamboo tubes blown and range from one to over three feet whacked by flip-flops. They perform live at cul- long. They are generally found in the Sepik area tural centres in the islands, and in recent years and parts of the highlands. The most famous have also toured , , Canada variety are played in pairs at male initiation rites, and the UK. Their cassettes are locally available and are kept in the men’s cult house, the haus in Honiara. tambaran, away from women and uninitiated men. Both the carved designs and the sound pat- terns of these flutes are symbolically important, Vanuatu making present the voices of ancestral and place spirits. The Sepik flutes, said to be the longest With around one hundred languages and a popu- in the world, have ethereal, breathy tones rich in lation of about two hundred thousand people, harmonics. They are always played in groups with Vanuatu music is characterized by cultural diver- perhaps five or seven players, but never with less sity. Instruments include bamboo and wooden than two. Although these are the best-known voice-modifiers, panpipes, coconut-shell ukuleles and most widely recorded bamboo flutes, other and unique log drums (some huge) placed verti- types of end-blown flutes and panpipes can be cally in the ground. Reggae is very popular and found in the PNG highlands. there is a vibrant local recording scene. Stringband Of the less formal instruments, the best known groups are very common with their tight swinging is the susap or bamboo Jew’s harp. It is particu-

66 larly associated with young boys and men, and aRiwain: PNG Pop Songs COUNTRY COUNTRY often played for fun, accompanying and mim- Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, PNG (ipgns@global. net.pg) icking rhythms of insects, birds, water and other A classic PNG pop roots anthology. Two cassettes and accom- environmental sounds. panying booklet of lyrics and guitar chords for some of the most popular songs of the 1970s and early 1980s, recorded

by bands like Paramana Strangers, Kalibobo Bamboo Band, | Sanguma, Black Brothers and Painim Wok. Available from Genre [email protected].

discography c Sacred Flute Music from New Guinea: Madang Vols 1 & 2 Melanesia Rounder, US These reissues of classic LPs are the best recordings available of the PNG secret flutes, whose ceremonial performance PNG music is released mainly on cassette, with production evokes the presence of spirits. Although better known in the dominated by the National Broadcasting Commission adjoining Sepik river region, the paired flutes heard here are and two companies, Chin H. Meen and Pacific Gold. Since from the surrounding areas of Madang and nearby Manam 1990, music videos have also been locally produced and Island. On some tracks they are accompanied by garamut aired on Mekim Musik and Fizz, programmes broadcast slit gongs, kundu skin-drums, rattles and singers. The pulsing on PNG’s EM-TV, while Chin H. Meen has produced a series cries of the flutes are absolutely mesmerizing. of compilations, PNG Super Sound Videoclips. For videos, cassettes, CDs and other information about PNG music, c Voices of the Rainforest check chmsupersound.com/companyProfile.aspx. For a wide Rykodisc, US selection of Melanesian music, try .ws/. A day in the life of Bosavi, in the central Papuan plateau. A vivid and atmospheric soundscape where vocal and instru- mental sounds of work, leisure and ritual are inspired by and blend with the noises of birds, waters, and insects of the sur- New Guinea rounding rainforest. c Bosavi: Rainforest Music from Papua New Guinea Smithsonian Folkways Black Paradise A fascinating 3-CD collection that explores the musical world of a community in the Southern Highlands province of PNG. A group from West Papua intent on communicating their Recorded and produced by chapter co-author Steven Feld. vital indigenous culture to an international audience. c Music from Mountainous West New Guinea, Irian c Spirit of Mambesak Jaya Blunt, Australia Volkerkunde Museum Collection, Germany Vibrant stringband music from West Papua – a valuable Important CD compilation with an extremely detailed book- insight into everyday life and the plight of Melanesians at the let devoted to the everyday and ritual music of the Eipo, Mek, hands of a murderous Indonesian regime. Yali, Dani and Moni. The best effort to date at a musical survey of the West Papuan Highlands. George Telek c Music of , Irian Jaya A tremendously popular Rabaul-based composer, singer Smithsonian Folkways, US and string player who led PNG’s famous rock band Painim Volume 10 in Smithsonian Folkways Music of Indonesia Wok, as well as the Moab Stringband. He was the first series: older indigenous celebratory songs, now in decline, Papua New Guinean musician to reach a worldwide audi- plus hymns sung by female church choirs, and youthful string ence. band music. Excellent historical notes. Tabaran c Papua New Guinea: Huli (Highlands) HWEA, Australia Philips, France A breakthrough collaboration with musicians from Rabaul This otherworldly disc recorded by Charles Duvelle in 1974 and Melbourne-based rock band Not Drowning, Waving. among the Huli (“wigmen”) of the Southern Highlands Combines PNG lyrics, instruments, and string bands with includes healing, recreational, initiation and other songs, with Australian rock songs, some exploring Australia’s colonial past drumming, chants, pan-pipes, Jew’s harp and musical bows. in PNG and expressing solidarity with the West Papua free- dom movement in Irian Jaya. a Papua New Guinea Music Collection Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, PNG c Amette The best introduction to the whole world of musical variety in Blunt, Australia PNG. Eleven cassettes and a comprehensive booklet illustrate His most recent album, with a strong stringband focus and the extraordinary range of styles, instruments, and ensembles flavour. found throughout PNG, from turn of the century recordings to the post-independence stringband sound of the 1980s. Available from [email protected]. Solomon Islands Papua New Guinea Stringbands with Bob Solomon Islands: ‘Are‘are Intimate and Ritual Brozman: Songs of the Volcano H Music Riverboat, UK H Chant du Monde, France Five different bands from East team up with Polyphonies and polyrhythms of ‘Are‘are slit-drum percus- guitarist extraordinaire Bob Brozman. Includes a great DVD sion ensembles, solo panpipes and amazing ensembles of documentary.

67 bamboo tubes struck against rocks. Beautiful recordings,

COUNTRY COUNTRY Tropic Tempo excellent notes. A great example of local musical innovation from the Banks c Solomon Islands: ‘Are‘are Panpipe Ensembles Islands in Vanuatu. Chant du Monde, France There are many recordings of Solomon Islands panpipes, but c Vois Blong Ol Bumbu this is the best. A superb double CD featuring ensembles of Available from mangrove.ws | Genre four, six, eight, and ten panpipes who perform for feast music. Traditional women’s songs using both kastom (traditional ele- The groups are unique in their tuning and compositional ments) and reggae and rock arrangements and textures. The style, and astonishing in their virtuosity. first local “world music” release, it’s an interesting indication of how Vanuatu music might develop. c Solomon Islands: Fataleka and Baegu Music from Malaita Auvidis/Unesco, France Excellent sampler of panpipe, flute and vocal music. Includes PLAYLIST the original recording of the lullaby “Rorogwela” sung by Afunakwa; the sampled version of this melody became the Melanesia Deep Forest hit “Sweet Lullaby” and later the Jan Garbarek adaptation entitled “Pygmy Lullaby”. RAUDE Black Rose from Rosiloa 1 An uplifting traditional song with an infectious Other Islands dance groove.

c Kanak Songs: Feasts and Lullabies PASKA George Telek from Amette Chant du Monde, France 2 Classic East New Britain Tolai stringband style – Short but interesting sampler of indigenous songs whose a song in the Tolai language discussing gossiping. musical techniques suggest the complex ways Melanesian and Polynesian influences collided in New Caledonian chant, TOU RA VUI Gilnata Stringband from Bob whistling and other vocal styles. 3 Brozman from Papua New Guinea Stringbands c Kaneka. The Kanak Music with Bob Brozman: Songs of the Volcano , France A unique guitar and vocal texture from the beauti- Compilation of nine New Caledonian artists/groups from ful . 2001, showcasing distinctive local harmonies and rhythms, often with a pop/reggae feel and even some politicized KOHI Various artists from Five Key Bands English lyrics. 4 from PNG A fascinating blend of thick vocals, bamboo and c Music of the Fiji Islands pan pipes. Arc, UK Singing accompanied by ukulele, lali, derua, clapsticks and SONG CEREMONY Various artists from cobo (clapping), and some very pleasant acapella pieces from 5 Bosavi: Rainforest Music from Papua New the Rewasese and Nawaka Entertainment Groups. Includes Guinea the evergreen folk anthem “Isa ”. Ceremonial music featuring a unique textural qual- c New Caledonia: Kanak Dance and Music ity coined “lift-up-over-sounding” by Steven Feld. VDE-Gallo/AIMP, Switzerland Important and thorough anthology of historical and contem- METAMANI Black Paradise from Spirit of porary Kanak styles, with excellent notes. 6 Mambesak The stringband sound of Black Paradise at its best, c Vanuatu: Custom Music with rich, thick, combined voices over a solid string VDE-Gallo/AIMP, Switzerland groove. Recorded in the 1970s but still the best examples available of the incredible slit-drum (“tam-tam”) ensembles; other selections indicate the range of solo and group ceremonial vocal styles.

c Vanuatu: The Music Tradition of West Futuna Auvidis/Unesco, France Enjoyable guitar and ukulele groups from Southern Vanuatu, plus contemporary hymns from the missionary repertoire.

Black Rose One of the most popular groups in Fiji and other parts of Melanesia in recent times.

c Rosiloa Mangrove, New Caledonia This 2005 compilation of “hits, videos and remixes” includes a DVD showcasing the group’s danceable mix of traditional and original tunes with more commercial reggae/dancehall and dance grooves. Lyrics in English and Fijian.

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