A Sailing Canoe and Other Sorry Things: Anthropology of Contemporary Guitar Band Music in Peri-Urban Madang
Author(s)
Title
A Sailing Canoe and Other Sorry Things: Anthropology of Contemporary Guitar Band Music in Peri-Urban Madang
Publication Type
Language
eng
Location
Papua New Guinea
Keywords
stringband music
Madang
Relevance to ICH Safeguarding
Description
A consideration of the importance of sore singing ('sad/mourning songs') by people considered to be "peri-urban grassroots." "Peri-urban" refers to a local social formation that is communal, using precontact institutions such as land titles. They are "grassroots," representing the Melanesian population of the country. The complex traditional distribution of languages is particularly apparent around Madang town, where mourning songs performed by string bands have become very popular locally and nationally and have played a key role in the development of the recognition of a Madang style of singing. Such laments have become so prevalent that they are now also used at funerals.
Publisher
University of Tsukuba
Place of Publication
Tsukuba
Date of Publication
1999
Academic Field
ethnomusicology
anthropology
Community/Ethnic Group
Yabob
Madang
Contributor
Active Contribution
Papua New Guinea, FY 2024