Tony Lewis 1 The Evolution of Polpolot: Innovation and Continuity in a Baluan Song Form Tony Lewis Independent researcher, Australia e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Recent developments in the polpolot song style from Baluan Island (Manus Province, Papua New Guinea) constitute examples of simultaneous innovation and continuity, in both performance format and language usage. Polpolot is one of three traditional two-part vocal forms from Baluan, whose usage has been in gradual decline over the late 20th century, as younger generations have eschewed them for newer, introduced song forms. Whereas the original language of polpolot is an archaic form of the indigenous language, Ngolan Paluai, a body of polpolot that concerns PNG’s transition to political independence in 1975 uses Tok Pisin, the official language of the new nation. This fact draws interesting correlative lines between the evolutions in song form and language. At the Balopa Festival in 2006, a local clan chief, Mela Popeu, presented a 12-member polpolot choir. While an innovation, the choir constitutes a clear developmental line from the original polpolot and represents continuity in a way that the introduced song forms do not. Moreover, the language of the choir’s repertoire was principally contemporary (as opposed to archaic) Ngolan Paluai, with one song in English. These song texts were concerned with welcoming visitors to Baluan for the Festival. This choice of languages is simultaneously looking inward and outward; the use of contemporary indigenous language is inclusive of the younger generations of Baluan and the use of English looks outward, past broader PNG, to a potentially international audience. Keywords Baluan, indigenous song, Paluai language, Papua New Guinea, Polpolot INTRODUCTION Baluan Island in the Manus Province of Papua New Guinea — known as Paluai to its indigenes — is renowned in the region for the rhythmically complex music of its garamut (log idiophone) ensembles (see Lewis 2012, 2014, forthcoming 2017). Baluan is also the home of three particular indigenous song genres: kolorai, woei and polpolot. Usage of these three indigenous forms has been in decline through the later part of the 20th century, going into the early 21st, as the younger generations turn to introduced song forms — principally stringben (stringband) music and to a lesser degree, hymnody (and sometimes hymnody expressed through the medium of stringben). Recent innovations in Baluan, however, give hope for the survival of polpolot as a relevant contemporary genre. This paper traces developments in these Baluan song forms — focusing particularly on polpolot — through recent decades, and up to recent 2 Malaysian Music Journal Vol. 5, Num. 1 (1-19) ISSN 2232-1020 developments. Through examination of four different polpolot songs, composed over a 40-year period (from 1966 to 2006) we see changes in both structure and presentation formats. More significantly, we see how the languages in which the songs are sung are changing to reflect the changing times and contexts of the songs, as well as concurrent aspirations of the Baluan community. BALUAN ISLAND AND ITS SONG FORMS The island of Baluan lies about 65 kilometres south of the Manus provincial capital Lorengau and is accessible only by boat. To its immediate north-northeast are the islands of Lou and Pam and together, these three islands make up the Local Level Government area of Balopa. These islands can be seen in Map 1 (Baluan is a little below the centre of this map, and Lou and Pam are to the north-northeast of Baluan). The name Balopa is composed of the first two letters of the name of each island — Baluan, Lou, Pam. Map 1 Map of Manus Province, showing Baluan, Lou and Pam Islands that make up the Local Level Government area of Balopa (Source: Otto, 1991, p. 12. Map reproduced by permission of the author) Baluan is a volcanic island protruding from the sea; the majority of the population lives in seven villages, six of which are along the north coast and one on the south coast. Much of the activity addressed in this paper, both historical and contemporary, has taken place in the village of Lipan, which is the largest village in Baluan and the second from the eastern end of the north coast line of villages (see Map 2). Lipan village is also where I stay whenever I visit Baluan. The population of Baluan is difficult to estimate and historical reports differ significantly. Messner (1981, p. 433) states it as 300 while Otto (1992a, p. 264) estimates it at around 1,000 people. Schokkin (2014, p.10n) concludes that “it is hard to Tony Lewis 3 estimate the number of inhabitants of Baluan Island, since sources are out-dated and the population appears to have grown rapidly in the last decade”. A reasonable estimate for 2016 can be made by comparing the Papua New Guinea national census figures for 2000 and 2011 (National Statistical Office, 2002, pp. 7-8; 2012, p. 30), and projecting consistent and uniform growth. That would put the current population of Baluan at around 1,800. Map 2 Map of Baluan Island. Lipan village can be seen on the north coast (Source: Otto, 1991, p.46. Map reproduced by permission of the author) Currently, there are four languages spoken on Baluan. Ngolan Paluai (literally ‘the language of Baluan’) is the primary indigenous language or tok ples of Baluan, and is spoken as the first language by a large majority of the population. Titan is the secondary indigenous language, introduced in 1946, when a group of Titan speakers were given a small area of land on Baluan (Schwartz, 1958, p. 69; 1962, p.262). Both Ngolan Paluai and Titan are of the Austronesian language family; Schokkin (2014, p. 1) confirms that all languages of the Manus Province “belong to the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family”. Tok Pisin (Melanesian Pidgin English, or Neo- Melanesian) is the lingua franca of all Papua New Guinea and some people (mainly the younger generations and some of the more widely-travelled of the older generations) have skills in English as well. 4 Malaysian Music Journal Vol. 5, Num. 1 (1-19) ISSN 2232-1020 Significantly, Ngolan Paluai has been through its own evolution during the 20th century, and the language that is commonly spoken today differs from the language that is used in the majority of historical polpolot songs. The use in songs of a language that differs from the language of everyday usage is a widespread phenomenon in Papua New Guinea. Niles (2015, p. xl) summarises the breadth of occurrence in this way: In almost every source that discusses Papua New Guinea song texts, mention is made of the use of poetic language, either in reference to individual words or longer parts of the text. These might be words from specialised or less familiar vocabulary; an archaic version of the present language; another dialect or language (perhaps, thereby, suggesting origin, trade, purchase, or prestige); the language of spirits or ghosts; or newly created words as the result of word taboos. Sometimes such poetic usage can be readily understood, but more often it appears to challenge and entice listeners. In the case of Baluan, the language of the older polpolots appears to be an archaic version of the present language.1 Whether this older language was once the commonly spoken language of Baluan, or whether it existed only in song texts, is not something I have been able to establish. The three indigenous song forms are more or less identical in structure, but differ mainly in distinctions in gender of the performers. Kolorai, woei and polpolot are all two-part genres, being sung either by two men (kolorai), two women (woei), or one man and one woman (polpolot). A typical musical structure, from which there is rarely any variation, consists of a short introductory passage by a single voice, which is then echoed by the second voice following closely behind, before the two voices fall into rhythmic unison. Messner (1998, p. 603) identifies the indigenous terms for these parts respectively as yaret (call out) and isiol (join). The aural effect of this introductory statement is immediately reminiscent of the dulugu ganalan, or ‘lift-up-over-sounding’ that Feld (1988, p. 76) describes in his studies amongst the Kaluli people of the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. (See also Feld’s sound recordings of the Kaluli—Bosavi: Rainforest Music from Papua New Guinea (2001) — and the Smithsonian Folkways web page on the CD set.) This vocal introduction begins (in terms of Western scale structure) approximately a fourth above the closing note. The closing note is what I will refer to herein as the ‘home note’, being the note that is sustained by the lower vocal parts that follows. The introduction is generally sung on vocable syllables that have no textual meaning, such as ‘oi’, ‘or’, ‘oo’ or ‘ee’. I provide a notated example below (Example 1) of a typical yaret sung by Alup Songo Molmole (whom I discuss further below), although I caution the reader against reading too much into this notation. The placement of notes on a five-line treble-clef stave can invite immediate associations to western standards in pitch, temperament and metre, but the singers of Baluan recognise no such standards. Therefore, this notation and all others that follow herein, are approximations only, in order to give the reader a broad sense of what is happening musically. I begin this yaret on the note E because that is the closest note in the Western scale to Molmole’s starting note. Tony Lewis 5 Example 1 A typical yaret sung by Alup Songo Molmole (transcribed by Tony Lewis) Following this introduction, a song usually consists of three stanzas, each sung syllabically and each repeated.