Melanesian Music

The site was hacked a month or so ago, so has been out of action for a while. Apologies to all affected. I have restored up to March 2012, and will continue to work on the site over the next few weeks to get it back to normal.

Thanks,

Denis Crowdy, site maintainer

Tony Subam, pioneering Papua New Guinean musician died on Christmas day, 2011, and this is a tribute I wrote for him that was published in the The National (Jan 6, Weekender, p5):

Tony Subam, Papua New Guinea musician, founding member of the iconic band Sanguma, and head of music at the University of Papua New Guinea, died after a short illness, most likely malaria, on Christmas Day 2011.

An excellent new book on dance in Papua New Guinea, edited by Naomi Faik-Simet and Don Niles has just been published by IPNGS. It contains edited papers from a 2010 Dance Day Symposium held at the University of Goroka. This much-needed volume is well worth checking out, particularly given that the FPA is being held this year in the Solomon Islands. Congratulations to Naomi and Don and the many contributors.

I've uploaded a review of the CD, Ae Tinil Wen Lir: Music of Lihir, which is a combination of two I was solicited to write at the end of 2009 and which weren't subsequently published. It may be of interest to those who have heard the CD.

In November/December 2011 film maker Hideki Isoda accompanied me on a field visit to the Maskelyne Islands, Vanuatu, to capture footage for a documentary (working title: The love of the noise, the love of the music!) we are making on a song and dance genre known as salvesen ami (Bislma: Salvation Army) based on late 19th century Victorian gospel hymns with an interesting local transmission history. Here is a 'trailer' Hideki recently assembled: http://www.youtube.com/sydneycon. It is not a trailer of the actual film since this hasn't been made yet.

Have just come across this great thread of comments again, and have been meaning to link to it for ages. Great info about the classic Solomon Islands song Wakabaot lon Saenataun.

http://masalai.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/walkabout-long-chinatown/

Songwriter Patti Potts Doi is one of a few Papua New Guinean songwriters based in PNG to have received multiple royalty payments from APRA (the Australasian Performing Right Association) in the last five years.

Steep Slopes
Music and change in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

Kirsty Gillespie

Don Niles from the IPNGS Music Department has announced that Kulele 4: Occasional Papers on Pacific Music and Dance is out. It was formally launched on 17 November by Marianna Ellingson, the Director General of the newly established Office of Tourism, Arts, and Culture. Media coverage includes:

http://soabasstoryboard.blogspot.com/2010/11/kulele-pulse-and-beat-of-tourism.html

"Music of the Ancestors" is now available as an interactive DVD from Gordon's site