Music of Papua New Guinea
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The island of New Guinea is divided into two halves. The east is a country a called Papua New Guinea, and the western half is the Papua province of Indonesia. Both sides were colonized by foreign powers until the 20th century. Papua New Guinea was divided into two separate UK and German areas (the Territory of New Guinea and the Territory of Papua) until after the end of World War 1, when they became trust territories controlled by Australia The united Papua New Guinea became independent in 1975. West New Guinea was a Dutch colony until Indonesian independence arrived in 1962. Template:Melanesianmusic West New Guinea's music has not been as well documented as Papua New Guinea's, partially due to the hostility from the Indonesian government towards the promotion of indigenous Melanesian culture.
Pop music
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 2 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. It first arrived in the area of Madang in the mid-1970s, and soon spread throughout the country.
Traditional music
Christian missionaries disapproved of Papuan folk music throughout the colonial period of the country's history. Even after independence, the outside world knew little of the diverse peoples' traditional music genres. The first commercial release to see an international audience didn't occur until 1991 (see 1991 in music), when 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 singsing. 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 WWII. 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 '70s, a local recording industry had appeared and artists like Sanguma and, later, George Telek, began mixing native and Western styles like rock and jazz.
References
- Feld, Stephen. "Bamboo Boogie-Woogie". 2000. In: Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 183-188. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0