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Boomerang Festival Q&A with Airileke
by Chryss Carr 1 August 2013 Airileke, could you tell me a little about your cultural heritage?
My family come from Gabagaba village in Central Province PNG. Gabagaba village itself goes back about 18 generations, our ancestral people are the Koiari people from the foothills of the Kokoda Track. Gabagaba literally means “Drum Drum” our people were drummers and dancers and the village became the grounds for ceremonies and big dances in Tok Pisin called “Sing Sing”. Can you tell me how that influences the music that you produce?
I have many influences, mostly any good music that inspires me is potentially influential... from
traditional music to reggae, Hiphop, electronic, krump, orchestral, Indian, whatever. But for my own music everything stems from the roots. The drum from my village is called Gaba. It’s like the kick drum in a band... it holds everything together, the heart beat, which keeps all the other parts of the body working in synchronization and connected in the one flow. I am also influenced by traditional music from other parts of PNG and the pacific, like Garamut from the Manus Province and the Sepik Province, The Kwakumba flutes of the Highlands, and chants from the Markham Valley. I grew up with all of these music and have been playing them pretty much my whole life. Unfortunately the traditional music
of my own village of Gabagaba is close to extinction now, not many of my generation know how to dance the old traditional ways. The peroveta style of singsing, which was introduced by Polynesian missionaries, and string band music pretty much took over from the old traditional Gabagaba dances in the past 50 years or so. So I am really inspired by people like my Bubu Billy who are some of the last song men of the old pre-colonial era. Bubu Billy taught me traditional music, and his music and the spirit of our ancestry is an influence on the way I think about music and relate to other music. All log drumming of the Pacific inspires me, growing up I was fascinated by the stories of how the log drums have travelled around
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the Pacific over the centuries. I lived in Rarotonga for a little while and learnt about Cook Island drumming, then I learnt about Tahitian drumming while I was in Hawaii. I guess understanding the full picture of roots, and how cultures and drumming styles have evolved over the past millennia gave me a good understanding of where to take it next. What things are sacred and should remain where they are, and what elements of our cultures can be used for entertainment and expressing new ideas. What are the sounds or beats that you keep going back to?
Heavy beats usually. 808 kicks, Garamut drums, Kundu, Warups, all the sounds of melanesia mixed with MPC basically. I like rootsy sounds that have some kind of story to them. I don’t usually sample much vinyl anymore, I usually sample recordings I’ve made myself in the islands and use them in the MPC so the samples themselves are part of the story. What kind of places do you try to take people to with your music?
Maybe each track might have its own place it takes you... Some like the Morobe and Central dencaes will take you to the sing sing grounds, the place of the tribal dance parties of PNG. That’s where the magic is, where the collective sound created by the dance takes you to another place. In a traditional Sing Sing there is no
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DJ or Drummers, the dancers hold the drums and dance. So the music is created by the dancer. I think its pretty much the same as it is today without the technology. The kundu drums and warup are the closest things I’ve heard to an 808. But in a sing sing there might be hundreds of them. Then a track like “Full Freedom”, which will literally take you to the front line of West Papua’s civil resistance. It includes recordings of the OPM, of demonstrations, protests, and confronting visual images that bring the history and current reality of the situation to the stage. Then tracks like “Kwakumba” that are traditional flutes from the highlands of PNG. They will take you to the islands in the clouds. Then ambient tracks like “Dolphin” which will take you in sounds and visual, to the iconic waters of Fiji and polynesia, with underwater footage swimming with Dolphins.
with nature clashed with the world’s largest gold mine, who ruthlessly exploit their land. The whole island of Niu Guinea from Sorong to Samarai, is the only place you will find the Birds of Paradise. They are possibly the most beautiful birds in the world. And these birds are represented in the dances and songs of our people. These birds flying above lands where massacres have taken place. There is over 500,000 West Papuan deaths under the military of Indonesia, thats half a million stories to be told. They need to be, but with music we can only give you a feeling of it. It really is the responsibility of international media to tell these stories and for the free world to demand they be heard.
Is it possible to tell the story of a region, like West Papua with a soundscape?
Well I guess its more than an influence, most of the crew in my band live in Moresby, Markham, Dadiigii, Paluai Sook Sook so what you see on stage is urban PNG. So I guess I am part of that story, I grew up in the city, pretty much between Darwin and PNG. Many stories there have inspired my music,like the Pagahill Art Resistance, where a settlement resisted eviction and take over by a major real estate company. They used Art to spread awareness about it and to engage and unite the young people.
Yes and we need to tell that story. But there are so many stories to be told. There are so many sides to West Papua. It is such a complex, beautiful yet violent, and unique place that you could never give the full story with a soundscape. But perhaps you can communicate a feeling, a sense of beauty clashed with violence, of ancient culture clashed oppression, of human beings living in complete balance
Are there new stories of PNG that you try to tell with your music?
Yes, my own.
What about urban Papua New Guinea - how does that influence your music?
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Moresby is one of the best places you can visit if you have the time to meet people. Once you get over the fear factor about “rascals” and actually connect with real people and places you will find its one of the most beautiful and fascinating places, and a pretty successful multicultural city. The Settlements are not just breeding grounds for crime, but some like Pagahill are more like urban villages, with their on system of family and community, from which some of our regions most talented and creative minds are emerging. I have heard that Melbourne was apparently #1 most livable cities, and Port Moresby was 3rd to the bottom of the list. But its funny because I live in Melbourne but I’d rather live in Moresby. What are the key defining characteristics of PNG that makes its way into your music?
Traditional instruments such as the Garamut and Kundu Drums, Kwakumba flutes, and the languages Tok PIsin, Motu, tok ples.
How are you creating ‘a new hybrid music community between Australia and the Pacific’?
I am part of what is happening but I wouldn’t claim to be the one creating it. But yes there is a growing community. I guess we are creating bridges over the water that has divides us. The Pacific is much more accessible now, this has happened through Social Media, internet etc. Festivals such as Boomerang, Fes Napuan, Lukoutim Gud Santo, Wantok Musik Foundation, other Record Companies, Collective projects, etc Last year I started an org with my West Papuan bro Ronny Kareni called “Rize of the Morning Star”, which is a musical campaign to bring about awareness for what is happening in West Papua. We engage other musicians from Australia and around the globe such as Blue King Brown, John Butler, O-Shen(PNG/USA), Feel Style (NZ/Samoa), Nano Stern (Chile) and many more to speak out about West Papua. This has also created a kind of world wide community of musicians who stand in solidarity with raising awareness
and amplifying the cries of the indigenous West Papuans.
Tell me a little about ‘Weapon of Choice’ - what was the concept for the album, did you end up achieving what you set out to?
Basically I moved to Melbourne to start the Wantok Musik Foundation with David Bridie about 6 years ago. This was one of the first albums that was allocated funds. But the concept originally was I needed the money so I said I’d contribute an album. Musically though it is a collection of tracks I’ve produced over the past 10 years. Its a mix of traditional music and rhythms, MPC production, reason production, Ableton live production, Pro tools editing and everything in between. Yes I guess I achieved what I set out to but I’m already into the next one. What should we expect for your performance at Boomerang?
Penis gourds and phallic dances, headhunters and cannibals. Haha not really PNG they call it Land of the Unexpected. http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=SPlF2_OT8vA
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