Melanesian Music

I was in Lae when the International Music Festival took place in August 2007. For me personally, PNG was finally taking the right path in promoting its music and the world’s music to its people and to the world.
This was not some one-night bash at a night club where adults convoy in to dance in drunken stupor with no genuine appreciation of the talents and music being performed.

In Melbourne at the end of November there will be an expo for "world music" -
http://www.awme.com.au/

I've always been interested in the disparity between "world music" and lokal musik in Melanesia. Another way of putting this might be the difference between what people in Australia want to listen to in terms of music from the region, and what most Melanesians actually listen to. Perhaps this expo is a forum to explore that. I know Placid Walekwate Jr from the Solomon Islands Music Federation is going, and hope other musicians from the region attend.

Some workshops on basic audio engineering techniques for home and project studios were run in September and October in Port Vila and Honiara. I have blogged about them here:
http://motekulo.blogspot.com/2008/11/workshops-for-recording-musicians.h...

PNG music legend and John Wong died on Sunday, May 25 of a heart attack. It was reported in the National on May 27, 2008 (although I can't find the story online). There is also a letter to the Post Courier (you need to click on the viewpoint link) at http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20080527/tuhome.htm

To survive into the future, historical recordings of PNG music must be made into digital format. BALTHAZAR MORIGUBA writes ... link to National article

Article in The National about Aaroan Choulai and his work mixing jazz and Peroveta:

http://www.thenational.com.pg/030708/wkender1.htm

THE stage of the Moresby Arts Theatre at Waigani will play host to an incredible ensemble of talent next weekend, when Aaron Choulai, a Melbourne jazz band and a 16 voice Tatana village choir perform “Ai Na Asi A Mavaru Kavamu” (We Don’t Dance For No Reason)

Balopa Cultural Festival
Baluan Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea, December 2006
By Tony Lewis

Image gallery

In December 2006 I was fortunate to witness part of the Balopa Cultural Festival held in Baluan Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. The Festival’s title is taken from the local electorate of Balopa within the Manus Province, and is made up of a kind of double-barrelled acronym of the three major islands which comprise it: Baluan, Lou and Pam.

Chin H Meen and Hitron in PNG have broadcast a short film without permission. Discussion at:

http://masalai.wordpress.com/2007/10/25/chm-the-hypocrites/#comments

Great attendance recently (Mid Oct) at a concert organised in Honiara to promote awareness of copyright issues in the country. More are planned for the provinces apparently. 2000+ attendance apparently.

The gathering in Brisbane went very well - good turn out from Melanesia and other parts of the Pacific, and a series of interesting overviews, papers, and discussions. A considerable amout of drafting of relevant legislation has been done, and Scott Morris of APRA announced the start of APRA's licensing deal with FM stations in PNG. PNG musicians need to join APRA at the moment to benefit from this, but the ultimate plan is to have a PNG collection agency like APRA or FPRA (http://www.fpra.com.fj/) in Fiji.