Details

Latitude

-4.29302

Longitude

152.174

Start Date

1993-08-09

End Date

1993-08-09

Tape#2: Traditional Music, Choir and Stringband Side A: Vincent ToLiman and Julie ToLiman Vincent and Julie have a Catholic Church background and attended Church run schools and involved with choir singing at namely St Peter Chanel Seminary College, Ulapia and Our Lady of Sacred Hearts (OLSH) Teachers' College, Kabaleo and Sisters College at Vunapope. There were both involved with choral music and recording were made then of these choirs led by Fr Barr and Sr Mona. There were traditional Tolai songs like "Warbat" tune and singing applied on English songs adding a contemporary and traditional flavour to songs and enjoyed by many as choir music. Conversations about traditional culture and music of Tolai song and dance were on preparation of dancers, dressing up on head, body, hands and legs with painting, masks, bird feathers and special plants and leaves. Head dress will have feathers "kangal" and "tokatokoi" . The masks "pokopoko" are worn in men dancers on their heads. The Tolai cosmology is about expression of song and dance connecting magical powers and spells and this also has be used for evil purposes where ancestors engage in killing people as warriors. The traditional music is mainly from the magical powers of "tena buai" who is an individual but a "bita buai" is a system used composition of songs, craeting dances and designing dressing to suit the dancing and decorating the dancers and special materials to wear. The "tena papait" and "tena ingiat" are for evil activities and dangerous to take up as it borders on death and life for those who take up and chose to use these magical powers as warriors. Side B: Stenlly Tokulupa Stenlly continues from previous conversations as a musician where he sung various songs from other countries with his stringband at Tavui. These songs are part of his various collections of local Kuanua and Tok Pisin songs both composed and traditional using stringband music. Stenlly also shared stories of the hardships faced during the war under Japanese occupation and learning music during the time and sung the Japanese song "Moti moti kamio". Other overseas and other provinces songs include; Motu Central Province, Buka, Bouganville, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan. Stenlly ToKulupa shows his creativity and ingenuity of ability in stringband music with talents and skills in composition and performance. (Steven Gagau, April 2019)

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