Papua, New Guinea (PNG) is one of the youngest countries in the world, having secured its independence from a string of Colonial masters in 1975. But the island of New Guinea—including the western half of the island, known as Irian jaya, which is part of Indonesia—has been continuously inhabited by indigenous tribes for more than 50,000 years and has evolved a staggering multiplicity of cultures, with over 700 indigenous languages alone. Thanks to the rugged isolation of the mountainous, jungled interior, many of these indigenous peoples retain their languages, cultures and music to this day; while the coastal regions and port towns host a new hybrid culture, evolving from the exchange between the island's native Melanesian people and the European, East Asian and Polynesian peoples of the Pacific.
Traditional music in Papua New Guinea is as diverse as the many hundreds of different indigenous groups that populate the island, though there are common ties across these groups. Many musical instruments, such as slit gongs, bamboo flutes, and musical bows are found all over the island. While others, such as drums and bullroarers have specific ritual purposes among certain groups. But the most ubiquitous musical form in Papua New Guinea is the village ceremonial music known simply as singsing.
Singsing is the Tok Pisin (or pidgin) term for the music and dancing that accompanies village feast ceremonies across the island. Every village has its own unique variations on this, with elaborate costumes—often involving plumed headdresses, body paint and intricate beads—and highly choreographed dances accompanied by complex polyphonic choral singing. Despite the attempts of Christian missionaries and European colonial authorities to ban certain indigenous rituals, singsing practices have survived and even evolved into competitive events, with major annual festivals held in both in the interior and the capitol, Port Moresby.
Popular music in PNG remains limited, thanks to underdevelopment and lack of infrastructure. But there are a few prominent local styles, and even stars worth noting. Popular music in PNG began its evolution in the later half of the 19th century, when missionaries, sailors and goldminers brought their music and instruments to the island. During World War II the massive influx of American and Australian military personnel brought guitars and ukuleles, picked up by servicemen in other parts of the Pacific, to PNG, and the following decade saw a boom in homegrown stringband music. One of the most famous of Papuan stringbands was the Paramana Strangers, who gained international recognition in the 1960s. Today the stringband tradition is alive and well, especially around the Eastern port town of Rabaul, where American guitarist Bob Brozman recorded with a five local stringbands in 2004.
Rock 'n' roll also came to the island in the 1960s, and inspired local cover bands like the Kopicats and the Kagan Devils. In the 1970s another imported style, bamboo band, took root. Bamboo band music originated in the Solomon Islands, and was characterized by the slapping of bamboo tubes with plastic flip-flops. The Wagi Brothers were PNG's premiere practitioners of this unusual style. In the late '70s and early '80s, the band Sanguma pioneered a new Papuan roots-fusion sound, which combined traditional songs and dances with rock and jazz influences.
During the 1990s, singer George Telek emerged as an important new voice, fusing rock and reggae with stringband music and the polyphonic singing styles of the Tolai people of his hometown, Rabaul. Telek forged a fruitful creative partnership with Australian rock band, Not Drowning, Waving, and was a repeat performer at Australia's WOMADelaide festival. In 2000 he recorded the album Tam for Peter Gabriel's influential Real World label, Telek's largest-selling international release to date. -- Tom Pryor
