The music of Papua New Guinea has a long history.
The music of Papua New Guinea has a long history.
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After independence, the outside world knew little of the diverse peoples' traditional music genres. The first commercial release to see an international audience did not occur until 1991, when percussionist Mickey Hart's Voices of the Rainforest was released.
After 1872, foreigners introduced Christian hymns, including Gregorian chanting. Peroveta anedia, ute and taibubu, all forms of Polynesian music, were also introduced in this period. The Gold Rush brought an influx of Australian miners who brought with them the mouth organ.
Traditional celebrations, which include song, dance, feasting and gift-giving, are called sing-sing . Vibrant and colorful costumes adorn the dancers, while a leader and a chorus sing a staggered approach to the same song, producing a fugue-like effect. 1993 saw television spreading across the country, and American popular music continued to affect Papuan music given the diffusion of radio since World War II. Since 1953, singsings have become competitive in nature, with contests occurring in Port Moresby, Mt. Hagen and Goroka. 1949 saw the first Papuan to achieve international fame, Blasius To Una, begin his career.
By the end of the 1970s, a local recording industry had appeared and artists such as Sanguma and later George Telek began mixing native and Western styles like rock and jazz.
Below are pictures from Papua New Guinea and Papua Indonesia.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Christian hymns, work songs and gold rush songs were popular, some in native languages and some in English or German. By the 1920s, recorded music had become popular and radio broadcasting of western popular music appeared by the late 1930s. A few years later, Allied soldiers and sailors during World War II popularized the guitar and ukulele while stationed in the Philippines and Hawaii. String bands became very popular by the early 1950s, and soon dominated the pop landscape. In the late 1960s, rock bands like the Kopikats had appeared in cities, while string bands like the Paramana Strangers had become well known internationally. This was followed by the importation of bamboo bands, a style of music from the Solomon Islands using bamboo tubes played by hitting them with sandals. [1] It first arrived in the area of Madang in the mid-1970s, and soon spread throughout the country.
Anslom Nakikus is a leading figure in Papua New Guinean reggae. [2]
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O-Shen was one of the first to blend hip hop with reggae. The culture soon spread as many local underground talents surfaced, such as Naka Blood with their first hit "Pom Pom City" followed by "Time is Now". Another group surfaced later by the name of 3KiiNgZ, taking Papua New Guinea by storm with the hits "High Groove Theory", "Kanaka Walk", and "One Sound" (featuring Sprigga Mek from the hip hop collective Naka Blood.) Sprigga Mek of Naka Blood went solo and released "Sweet Mekeo", rapping in his local Mekeo dialect, and later released "Pasin Kanak;" this is now known as the unofficial national anthem of the Papua New Guinea Kanakas. Papua Gong Native with his Kanaka rhyming skills is one of the best-known local rappers rapping in Motu dialect. As the 21st century progressed, technology and influence from the outside world caused an exponential growth of recording artists and 'Pacific-style' music. Artists such as Wild Pack (Tasik Yard), Daniel Bilip, Ragga Siai, Tarvin Toune, Saii Kay and Tonton Malele began to create their own mixture of modern and traditional music sung in Tok Pidgin, English and local tribal languages. This style of music by these popular artists now dominate music scene in PNG.
Music of Malaysia is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres in Malaysia. A great variety of genres in Malaysian music reflects the specific cultural groups within multiethnic Malaysian society: Malay, Chinese, Indian, Dayak, Kadazan-Dusun, Bajau, Orang Asli, Melanau, Kristang and others.
The music of Martinique has a heritage which is intertwined with that of its sister island, Guadeloupe. Despite their small size, the islands have created a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Martinique and Guadeloupe. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Martinique and Guadeloupe, especially Martinican chouval bwa, and Guadeloupan gwo ka. There's also notable influence of the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition and Haitian kompa.
Indonesia is a country with many different tribes and ethnic groups, and its music is also very diverse, coming in hundreds of different forms and styles. Every region has its own culture and art, and as a result traditional music from area to area also uniquely differs from one another. For example, each traditional type of music is often accompanied by its very own dance and theatre. Contemporary music scene have also been heavily shaped by various foreign influences, such as America, Britain, Japan, Korea, and India.
The music of Laos includes the music of the Lao people, a Tai ethnic group, and other ethnic groups living in Laos. The traditional music of Laos has similarities with the traditional music of Thailand and Cambodia, including the names of the instruments and influences and developments. To categorize Lao music, it seems helpful to distinguish between the nonclassical folk traditions, the classical music traditions and its basic ensembles, and vocal traditions.
The music of Solomon Islands has received international attention since before the country became independent from the United Kingdom in 1978.
Guinea is a West African nation, composed of several ethnic groups. Among its most widely known musicians is Mory Kanté - 10 Cola Nuts saw major mainstream success in both Guinea and Mali while "Yeke Yeke", a single from Mory Kanté à Paris, was a European success in 1988.
The dizi, is a Chinese transverse flute. It is also sometimes known as the di or héngdi, and has varieties including Qudi, Bangdi, and Xindi. It is a major Chinese musical instrument that is widely used in many genres of Chinese folk music, Chinese opera, as well as the modern Chinese orchestra. The dizi is also a popular instrument among the Chinese people as it is simple to make and easy to carry.
West Papua, formerly Irian Jaya Barat, is an Indonesian province located in Indonesia Papua. It covers most of the two western peninsulas of the island of New Guinea, the eastern half of the Bird's Head Peninsula and the whole of the Bomberai Peninsula, along with nearby smaller islands. The province is bordered to the north by the Pacific Ocean, to the west by Southwest Papua Province, the Halmahera Sea and the Ceram Sea, to the south by the Banda Sea, and to the east by the province of Central Papua and the Cenderawasih Bay. Manokwari is the province's capital and largest city. With an estimated population of 569,570 in mid-2023, West Papua is the least populous province in Indonesia after South Papua, following the separation off in 2022 of the western half of the Bird's Head Peninsula to create the new province of Southwest Papua, containing 52% of what had been West Papua's population.
Sanguma was a Papua New Guinean musical ensemble active from 1977 to 1985. They combined music from the cultural tradition of Papua New Guinea with Western instruments and were one of the first Papua New Guinean music groups to perform internationally. Sanguma formed at the National Arts School in 1977 and performed in their homeland at the South Pacific Festival of Arts in 1980. Sanguma were nurtured very closely in their early days by the Australian musician Ric Halstead, who was a lecturer at the National Arts School in Port Moresby from whence Sanguma originated and Les McLaren.
Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. The largest city and capital of Maluku province is Ambon on the small Ambon Island. It is directly adjacent to North Maluku, Southwest Papua, and West Papua in the north, Central Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi in the west, Banda Sea, Australia, East Timor and East Nusa Tenggara in the south and Arafura Sea, Central Papua and South Papua in the east. The land area is 57803.81 km2, and the total population of this province at the 2010 census was 1,533,506 people, rising to 1,848,923 at the 2020 census, the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 1,908,753. Maluku is located in Eastern Indonesia.
The music of Vanuatu may refer to any kind of music played in the country of Vanuatu.
Chouval bwa is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Martinique. There are two versions, traditional and modern. Chouval bwa has been popularized by artists such as Claude Germany, Tumpak, Dede Saint-Prix, and Pakatak.
The culture of Papua New Guinea is complex and multifaceted. 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.
Arts by region
Gendang beleq is a dance and music performance from Lombok island, Indonesia. It is a popular performance among the native Sasak people.
Folk dances of Assam include the Bihu and the Bagurumba, the Bhortal, the Ojapali dance. Assam is home to many groups: Muslim, Indo-Aryan, Rabha, Bodo, Dimasa, Karbi, Mising, Sonowal Kacharis, Mishmi and Tiwa (Lalung) etc. These cultures come together to create an Assamese culture. Residents of the state of Assam are known as "Axomiya" (Assamese). Most tribes have their own language, although Assamese is the primary language of the state.
Kundu is a pidgin name in Papua New Guinea for an hourglass drum used to accompany formal occasions, religious ceremonies and for celebrations. This drum is emblematic of Papua New Guinea and it appears on the country's coat of arms.
The tifa, tiwa or tiva is a single-headed goblet drum used throughout the Maluku Islands of Eastern Indonesia, where it is traditionally the "dominant instrument" in Maluku province music. The term tifa has been used outside of the Maluku Islands, including on the island of Java and on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia's Papuan provinces.
Southwest Papua is the 38th province of Indonesia to be created, and was split off from West Papua on 8 December 2022. Despite being named southwest, it is a misnomer and this province is actually located in the northwest edge of Papua. The province comprises the Greater Sorong area which consists of Sorong City, Sorong Regency, South Sorong Regency, Maybrat Regency, Tambrauw Regency, and Raja Ampat Regency. The Bill (RUU) on the Establishment of the Southwest Papua Province was passed into law and therefore it became the 38th province in Indonesia.
