Blasius To Una Turtavu (born 2 February 1925, date of death unknown) was a Papua New Guinean musician. He composed hymns in his language Kuanua. [1] He has been described as "probably the first Papua New Guinean music personality to receive attention from a wide public". [1]
Blasius was born on 2 February 1925, [2] in the Paparatawa village in the Kokopo sub-province of East New Britain. Two months after he was born, his mother died, and his father, a Catholic priest, took him to Vunapope Convent. Blasius was raised by his sisters. In 1933, he was sent to Milmila Catholic Mission in the Duke of York Islands, where he attended primary school until 1938. He then returned to Vunapope and lived with his father until 1941. He was in Vunapope when the Japanese Army invaded New Britain, and in 1942, he was unwillingly recruited by the Japanese as an interpreter. During this time, he had to teach Japanese soldiers Melanesian Pidgin and Kuanua (the Tolai language). Towards the end of the war, suspected of sympathy towards the allied American and Australian armies, he was jailed and condemned to death by the Japanese, but was eventually freed by an American pilot. Blasius was happy when the war ended, and after a few months recovering from a leg injury, started working at the Nonga Military Hospital, becoming a doctor's driver in 1947. He later worked with the Department of Transport in Rabaul.
He first started playing guitar in 1946, borrowing it from a brother-in-law for 5 shillings. At this time, his salary was very low and he could not afford to buy his own instrument. Nevertheless, later in the year he managed to buy himself a ukulele, and started his musical career. His first composition in 1949, was a series of four hymns. Then, he composed regularly, not only hymns, but also High Masses, ballads in his own Kuanua tongue, and satirical songs in Pidgin. Blasius To Una was very popular in the Gazelle Peninsula, but found fame all over Papua New Guinea, particularly amongst speakers of Pidgin. He was a regular participant of the Tolai Warwagira Festival, held annually in Rabaul, and took part in the Port Moresby Arts Festival in 1974. He also performed at numerous social occasions in his home province.
His imagination and ingenuity was recognised amongst the Tolai people of East New Britain, and he was often commissioned to compose songs for a particular occasion or purpose. Two of his songs that were commissioned for this purpose were "A Umana Beo", written for the women of the Kabaira Vocational Centre, and "Iau Lus Man Takodo", written in June 1977 for a leader of the village of Nodup where Blasius latterly lived. Individuals and community groups would sometimes commission songs from him for traditional occasions, with some preferring his music to the orthodox Tolai music. At 53, Blasius was still actively making music. He is deceased. [3]
Tok Pisin, often referred to by English speakers as New Guinea Pidgin or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an official language of Papua New Guinea and the most widely used language in the country. However, in parts of the southern provinces of Western, Gulf, Central, Oro, and Milne Bay, the use of Tok Pisin has a shorter history and is less universal, especially among older people.
New Britain is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel. The main towns of New Britain are Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe. The island is roughly the size of Taiwan. While the island was part of German New Guinea, it was named Neupommern . In common with most of the Bismarcks it was largely formed by volcanic processes, and has active volcanoes including Ulawun, Langila, the Garbuna Group, the Sulu Range, and the volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcan of the Rabaul caldera. A major eruption of Tavurvur in 1994 destroyed the East New Britain provincial capital of Rabaul. Most of the town still lies under metres of ash, and the capital has been moved to nearby Kokopo.
Rabaul is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash from a volcanic eruption in its harbor. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air, and the subsequent rain of ash caused 80% of the buildings in Rabaul to collapse. After the eruption the capital was moved to Kokopo, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) away. Rabaul is continually threatened by volcanic activity, because it is on the edge of the Rabaul caldera, a flooded caldera of a large pyroclastic shield.
The music of Papua New Guinea has a long history.
SirJohn Kaputin, CMG is a Papua New Guinean athlete and politician.
East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 1994. East New Britain covers a total land area of 15,816 square kilometres (6,107 sq mi), and the province's population was reported as 220,133 in the 2000 census, rising to 328,369 in the 2011 count. Provincial coastal waters extend over an area of 104,000 square metres. The province's only land border is with West New Britain Province to the west, and it also shares a maritime border with New Ireland Province to the east.
The culture of Papua New Guinea is many-sided and complex. It is estimated that more than 7000 different cultural groups exist in Papua New Guinea, and most groups have their own language. Because of this diversity, in which they take pride, many different styles of cultural expression have emerged; each group has created its own expressive forms in art, dance, weaponry, costumes, singing, music, architecture and much more. To unify the nation, the language Tok Pisin, once called Neo-Melanesian has evolved as the lingua franca — the medium through which diverse language groups are able to communicate with one another in Parliament, in the news media, and elsewhere. People typically live in villages or dispersed hamlets which rely on the subsistence farming of yams and taro. The principal livestock in traditional Papua New Guinea is the oceanic pig.
Unserdeutsch, or Rabaul Creole German, is a German-based creole language that originated in Papua New Guinea as a lingua franca. The substrate language is assumed to be Tok Pisin, while the majority of the lexicon is from German.
The Tolai are the indigenous people of the Gazelle Peninsula and the Duke of York Islands of East New Britain in the New Guinea Islands region of Papua New Guinea. They are ethnically close kin to the peoples of adjacent New Ireland and tribes like the Tanga people and are thought to have migrated to the Gazelle Peninsula in relatively recent times, displacing the Baining people who were driven westwards.
The Tolai language, or Kuanua, is spoken by the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province.
Lungalunga, frequently though ambiguously called Minigir, is spoken by a small number of the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province. It is often referred to in the linguistics literature as the Tolai "dialect" with an.
The Gazelle Peninsula is a large peninsula in northeastern East New Britain, Papua New Guinea located on the island of New Britain within the Bismarck Archipelago, situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The Rabaul caldera is located on the northern tip of the peninsula. Upon the Gazelle Peninsula are the Baining Mountains, of which the highest point is Mount Sinewit at 2,063 m (6,768 ft). The Gazelle Peninsula houses Vulcan Crater and Mount Tavurvur, both of which conducted volcanic activity in the 20th and 21st centuries and have provided extremely fertile soils. The body of the Gazelle Peninsula is about 80 km (50 mi). The southern isthmus upon which the Gazelle Peninsula is connected to the main body of East New Britain is reduced to about 32 km (20 mi).
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rabaul is a Latin Rite Metropolitan Archdiocese in Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea, a sovereign state in Oceania, is the most linguistically diverse country in the world. According to Ethnologue, there are 840 living languages spoken in the country. In 2006, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare stated that "Papua New Guinea has 832 living languages ."
Jack Emanuel was an Australian colonial administrator who served as district commissioner in the East New Britain district of Papua New Guinea who was posthumously awarded the George Cross, the highest British award for bravery out of combat, for gallantry displayed between July 1969 and 19 August 1971. Emanuel served as a police officer and fireman in Australia before accepting a posting as patrol officer (kiap) to the Australian-administered United Nations trust territory of New Guinea, shortly after the Second World War. Emanuel was appointed acting district commissioner for East New Britain in 1969, and was confirmed in this role in 1971. He was well-respected as a local government official and noted for his willingness to negotiate resolutions to local disputes without police escort. Emanuel was trying to discuss a resolution to a land dispute between European settlers and the Tolai people in August 1971 when he was stabbed to death during negotiations. His killers were brought to trial and his death shocked the Tolai who largely abandoned the dispute.
Michael John Manning OBE was an Australian-born Papua New Guinean anti-corruption activist and economist. Manning served as the second Chairman of Transparency International PNG (TIPNG), one of Papua New Guinea's largest organizations dedicated to eradicating corruption, from 2003 until 2008. He was a naturalized citizen of Papua New Guinea.
Sisters of War is a telemovie based on the true story of two Australian women, Lorna Whyte, an army nurse and Sister Berenice Twohill, a Catholic nun from New South Wales who survived as prisoners of war in Papua New Guinea during World War II. Sisters of War was written by John Misto, produced by Andrew Wiseman and directed by Brendan Maher. It made its debut at the Brisbane International Film Festival on 11 November 2010. It premiered on television on 14 November 2010 on Australian channel ABC1.
Matthias Tutanava Toliman was a Papua New Guinean politician. He served as a member of the House of Assembly between 1964 and 1973, also holding ministerial roles from 1964 until 1972.
Ephraim Jubilee was a Papua New Guinean educator, magistrate and politician. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1961 until 1964.
Serious Tam is the second studio album by Papua New Guinean musician George Telek. The album was released in July 2000. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2001, the album was nominated for ARIA Award for Best World Music Album.