D160_5-027 - Sepik songs (Sepik Tape 1b)

Full description

MID- SEPIK - Recorded October 1955Tape 1B SepikCUT 1 Sing Sing Bilong Pait (war chant) song of Victory after return of a raiding party to its village. The singing is interluded with menaces and imprecations.CUT 2 Wanyan - Song with flutes and drums sung by Nelligan villagers - a yam harvest festival song.CUT 3 Pig Hunting Song a) The Rounding-up of the pig b) The Killing of the pig c) The Triumphant return to the villageCUT 4 Cassowary Hunting Song. A song descriptive of the capture of a giant cassowary (Muruk in Pidgin) in the jungle. NOTE: A cassowary is usually maimed, not killed, so that the meat will remain fresh.CUT 5 "Wanyan" Yam Harvest Song. This is one song from a long series sung specifically when the yams are carried in from the gardens. The yams (up to 30 lbs in weight and 8' long) are first laid out in pile in the village where there is no spirit house. The grower then sings this song while he selects the very best for display outside the Hanus Tamburan during the Yam Festival. MaprikCUT 6 Wanyan Song Cycle (cont). The singers are accompanied by drone pipes also called wanyan.CUT 7 Wanyan Song Cycle (cont)CUT 8 Wanyan Dron PipesCUT 9 Chapingwara songs sung by small boys while keeping pigs out of the gardens at night. The songs have a strong erotic content i.e. description of girls' physical attractions; foreskin after an erection; narrative of a woman who wouldn't come down a tree.CUT 10 Chapingwara. As above but with women as well as boys singing.CUT 11 Sepik Garamuts - Maprik village. Recorded inside a spirit house or Haus Tambaran. Technically the garamuts being played are huge slit gongs 8' in length, 2 to 3 feet in diameter with carved ends.The players can use two clubs but usually - as here - prefer two poles like billiard cues with which, they tap the tuned edges of the slits.CUT 12 Aibom Head Hunters' Song of Exultation upon return from a successful raid.CUT 13 Aibom Initiation Ceremonial. The song sung before the admission of the boys to the spirit house. The old men smear themselves with greens and charcoal; wear black cassowary palms and leg rattles and dance around the spirit house all night giving a queer back kick on each beat.CUT 14 Initiation ceremonial (cont) from Aibom village spirit House. The song before the incision. ***CUT 15 Kuminibus Village. Yodel call to work.CUT 16 Kuminibus. Women's work song (see also CUT 9) sung while the women sit up all night helping guard the tender yam shoots in a newly planted garden. Updated Collection URL: http://archivesonline.uow.edu.au/nodes/view/665 Updated Item URL: http://archivesonline.uow.edu.au/nodes/view/3193 Redefined Map to Region/Village of Aibom, Kuminibus, Maprik, East Sepik Province (Steven Gagau, March 2018). Language as given: