Music as territory
Aksim Siming and stringband music in the Madang area
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v10i2.197Keywords:
Aksim Siming, Madang, music, Papua New Guinea, stringbandAbstract
This paper discusses sociocultural changes in music in post war Papua New Guinea, by presenting examples of under-researched early stringband activities in the Madang area. The musicians as social actors are seen to be undertaking an act of what the author calls ‘territorialization’, a means of cultural survival through music-making in an era of transition from traditional local chiefdom to modern independent state. The case of Aksim Siming of Kranket, a key figure in the early phases of Madang stringband music, will be presented, along with details of others who participated in guitar and bambooband activities.
References
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Schafer, R. M. 1977. The Tuning of the World. New York: Knopf.
Suwa, J. 2001a. ‘Ownership and Authenticity of Indigenous and Modern Music in Papua New Guinea.’ In Traditionalism and Modernity in the Music and Dance in Oceania: Essays in Honour of Barbara B. Smith, eds Helen Reeves Lawrence and Don Niles, 91–101. Sydney: University of Sydney.
—2001b. ‘Representing Sorrow in Stringband Lament in the Madang Area, Papua New Guinea.’ People and Culture in Oceania 17: 47–66.
—2005. Rookaru-Kayou no Jinruigaku: Papua Nyuuginia Toshi-Shuuhen Sonraku niokeru Gendaiongaku no Choushu to Minshuuishiki (Anthropology of ‘local’ songs: Listening of contemporary music and collective mind in the peri-urban rural area of Papua New Guinea). Hirosaki University Press.
Turalir, J. T. 1995. ‘Women in Contemporary Music’. In New Guinea Ethnomusicology Conference: Proceedings, ed. Robert Reigle. Auckland: University of Auckland.
Wagner, R. 1981. The Invention of Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Webb, M. 1993. Lokal Musik: Lingua Franca Song and Identity in Papua New Guinea. Boroko: National Research Institute.
—1995. ‘ ‘Pipal Bilong Musik Tru’/’A Musical People’: Musical Culture, Colonialism, and Identity in Northeastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea, after 1875’. PhD dissertation, Wesleyan University.
Bateson, G. 1972. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Benjamin, W. 1968. ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’. In Illuminations, ed. H. Arendt, 217–52. New York: Schocken Books.
Crowdy, D. 2005. Guitar Style, Open Tunings and Stringband Music in Papua New Guinea. Boroko: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies.
Deleuze, J., and F. Guattari. 1987. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Dempwolf, O. n.d. ‘Grammar of the Gedaged Language’. Unpublished manuscript. Narer, Karkar Island: Lutheran Mission.
Gewertz, D., and F. K. Errington. 1991. Twisted Histories, Altered Contexts: Representing the Chambri in a World System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hannemann, E. F. 1996. Village Life and Social Change in Yam Society. Madang: Kristen Press.
Kristen Press. 1958. Kanam buk. Madang: Kristen Press.
Linnekin, J. 1992. ‘On the Theory and Politics of Cultural Construction in the Pacific’. Oceania 62.4: 249–63.
Magne, F. 1995. ‘Where’s the Music Coming from? Dialogues on Music and Sociability around Goroka Today’. In New Guinea Ethnomusicology Conference: Proceedings, ed. Robert Reigle. Auckland: University of Auckland.
Morauta, L. 1974. Beyond the Village: Local Politics in Madang, Papua New Guinea. Canberra: Australian National University Press.
Neuenfeldt, K. 1998. ‘Grassroots, Rock(s), and Reggae: Music and Mayhem at the Port Moresby Show’. The Pacific Islands 10.2: 317–44.
Schafer, R. M. 1977. The Tuning of the World. New York: Knopf.
Suwa, J. 2001a. ‘Ownership and Authenticity of Indigenous and Modern Music in Papua New Guinea.’ In Traditionalism and Modernity in the Music and Dance in Oceania: Essays in Honour of Barbara B. Smith, eds Helen Reeves Lawrence and Don Niles, 91–101. Sydney: University of Sydney.
—2001b. ‘Representing Sorrow in Stringband Lament in the Madang Area, Papua New Guinea.’ People and Culture in Oceania 17: 47–66.
—2005. Rookaru-Kayou no Jinruigaku: Papua Nyuuginia Toshi-Shuuhen Sonraku niokeru Gendaiongaku no Choushu to Minshuuishiki (Anthropology of ‘local’ songs: Listening of contemporary music and collective mind in the peri-urban rural area of Papua New Guinea). Hirosaki University Press.
Turalir, J. T. 1995. ‘Women in Contemporary Music’. In New Guinea Ethnomusicology Conference: Proceedings, ed. Robert Reigle. Auckland: University of Auckland.
Wagner, R. 1981. The Invention of Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Webb, M. 1993. Lokal Musik: Lingua Franca Song and Identity in Papua New Guinea. Boroko: National Research Institute.
—1995. ‘ ‘Pipal Bilong Musik Tru’/’A Musical People’: Musical Culture, Colonialism, and Identity in Northeastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea, after 1875’. PhD dissertation, Wesleyan University.
Published
2009-11-11
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Suwa, J. (2009). Music as territory: Aksim Siming and stringband music in the Madang area. Perfect Beat, 10(2), 197-219. https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v10i2.197
