No.1 Neighbour: Art in Papua New Guinea 1956-2016

58 №1 NEIGHBOUR SING-SING ‘A Bit na Ta’ describes the source of the sea in the Tolai language of East New Britain. Specially commissioned for ‘No.1 Neighbour’, the installation features songs by leading Australian and Papua New Guinean musicians that transpose 100 years of Tolai history (1875 to 1975) into contemporary beats. The foundations for the project include the 30-year creative collaboration between Australian songwriter and music producer David Bridie and celebrated Tolai musician George Telek, as well as the rich cultural and historical knowledge of Tolai historian Gideon Kakabin. The installation is also shaped by the film work of Garret Low and the vision of Melbourne- based Tolai artist Lisa Hilli, as well as Keith Deverell. SONG IS A SIGNIFICANT FORM OF INTANGIBLE HERITAGE. HOW HAS THE TEAM HARNESSED THIS IN A BIT NA TA? Music and song will drive a Bit na Ta . Tolai musical heritage is very tangible — music is everywhere; men sing on the roadside, women sing working in their gardens, kids sing on the beach, teenagers are glued to their phones listening to their favourite PNG artists, PMVs (buses) blare out distorted local songs. In customary events, law is sung. The masked Tubuans (spirit figures) are welcomed with drums and song at the Kinavai ceremony as they come in from the ocean. Clan history is sung, defining people’s sense of where they stand in their clan line. For the project, we’ve recorded songs celebrating local garden foods, as well as sacred pidik songs that use abstracted imagery to reveal and conceal secrets. There are Garamut and Tutupele beats (referring to a clan’s totem animal), moral songs directing behaviour, and chants giving you the energy to make canoes. And, of course, there is the distinctive four‑part harmony of Lotu singing that is found in churches throughout the Pacific. Every village has a string band and their songs represent oral history — abot, or stories within songs. In Matupit, we recorded a song telling the story of an uprising against the colonial administration. The Gilnata Stringband sang a song about the killing of Australian District Commissioner Jack Emanuel, 1 and the Amidel tribe sang a song commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Bitapaka killings, which secured German New Guinea at the commencement of World War One. Julie Toliman, a famous Tolai singer, has said that sound and music are inseparable in her culture. 2 In a tropical climate, bird, frog and insect sounds combine to produce a symphony at night. For the project, I am using these sounds to build up a range of soundscapes, as well as spoken word material, to sit around the songs. The centrepiece of a Bit na Ta is the recording of songs by Rabaul’s most famed practitioner George Telek. Telek has composed six new songs especially for a Bit na Ta , while older songs — ‘Tolili’, ‘Ririwon’, ‘Go Ralom’ and ‘Wali’ — have been reworked. We have also made a recording with Anslom, one of Rabaul’s rising stars. For a Bit na Ta , Anslom is foregoing his Lucky Dube‑reggae style to record a customary lili song called ‘A Gap Na Kete’. We have also gone into villages to record a range of older men and women singing apinpidik, malira, lili and aut songs. 3 HOW DO YOU SEE THE ROLE OF VIDEO IN THE INSTALLATION? a Bit na Ta will comprise a series of 30-minute thematic sequences of images and film footage that will work synchronistically with the aforementioned songs and soundscapes. There will be five sequences working simultaneously, with three being projected onto barkcloth, made especially by the Gaulim Baining people. For the main three-channel projection, ceremonies in Raluana, Mioko and Matupit will feature. Footage of the volcano Mount Tavurvur will be a constant backdrop, with the ocean (a Bit na Ta) shimmering on the floor. Audiences will find themselves inside a distinctively Tolai realm when they experience the installation. WHAT DOES THE TEAM WISH TO COMMUNICATE ABOUT THIS DISTINCTIVELY TOLAI REALM? Hopefully, the audience will leave with a sense of DAVID BRIDIE INTERVIEW BY RUTH M c DOUGALL