ABOUT THE ALBUM
This stunning cd contains 12 tracks featuring some of Australia’s top remix and soundscape artists. The likes of Paul Mac, Pnau, Biftek, Hi Pass Filter and Tim Cole merged traditional highland and coastal West Papuan vocals, sounds and spoken word grabs with contemporary loops and grooves. Produced to both draw attention to the plight of Australia’s neares neighbour.
PRESS RELEASE
I sent around a bunch of field recordings of traditional West Papuan songs to ten of Australia’s leading electronica remix and sound scape artists. The artists included Paul Mac, Nick Littlemore from Pnau, Biftek, High Pass Filter, Ben Frost, Snog, Timothy Cole from Not Drowning, Waving, Darren Steffan (who programmed and co-wrote the track ‘Act of Free Choice’ with me last year) and Airi Ingram from PNG band Drum Drum. Some of the West Papuan songs were recordings from the radio documentary Man of the Morning Star by film maker Mark Worth, some were from journalist Ben Bohane—recorded while he spent time with the OPM (Free West Papua movement) writing a news story—others were on unmarked cassettes that Jacob Rumbiak, a West Papuan man living in exile in Melbourne, had given me, and some were from a CD of 1950s recordings by Dutch ethnologist J.C. Anceaux (The CD is called Muo Reme on Pan records). Attached to the CDs were loose explanations about the meanings of these songs and a CD of assorted environmental noises and rough village ambience that I had recorded over the years in Papua New Guinea and West Papua. I also sent the Man of the Morning Star radio program which contains old newsreel audio grabs, interviews with prominent West Papuan leaders and Presidium Council members and ABC news reports on key events in West Papua's recent history. With these audio bits in hand the brief was to sympathetically draw on all of these elements and create something special to go on a compilation CD to raise money for West Papua. West Papua: Sound of the Morning Star is the result.
I appreciate the heart and soul all put into their creations. As much as the cd is valuable for social justice concerns it stands up for itself artistically. The blend of organic natural sounds with analogue glitch and filtered noises is unique and finely crafted, and while it is a compilation of contributions from a variety of cutting edge artists, it blends and flows as it made by the one artist. Many CDs of this nature work by picking your favourite artists and going directly to their tracks. This, however, works best by listening to it from beginning to end. It is the kind of record that should be coming out of Australia.
Thanks to EMI for their support—particularly Graham Ashton and John O’Donnell—Pan Records for believing in the cause and to all of the artists who, without exception, committed to the project heart and soul.
The money raised goes to assist ELS-HAM—a human rights watch body—set up an office in New York to lobby the United Nations about the situation in West Papua.
David Bridie
‘It wasn’t until sitting in the studio trying to sing along to this track as I pieced it together, that it became clear just how completely unique the voices of the West Papuan people are. It isn’t even so much their sweeping range—which in itself is astonishing—it is the tone, a strange harmonic clash of time and tradition that sums all the turmoil and suffering of West Papua into a powerful and almost physical force. It is the voice of a Nation, complete and invincible.’
Ben Frost
The album is dedicated to Arnold Ap, a West Papuan musician assassinated for his belief in music. This is his story.
ARNOLD AP
I sing to live, singing is a sign of life. If I am not singing it means I am already dead.
Arnold Ap
Arnold Ap was singer, guitarist and tifa drum player. He had intimate ties with customary leaders and other artists in West Papua. He was appointed Curator of the Museum at the Cenderwaseh (Bird of Paradise) University in Jayapura. He believed his role was to uncover, cultivate and develop Papuan songs, language, stories and arts that he believed were under threat. He saw the university as a Khasana meaning a treasury or storage area for valuable objects.
Ap wanted to represent West Papuan culture as being with Melanesia rather than the rest of the Indonesian archipelago.
He formed the group Mambesak in 1978. The band’s role was to uncover, revitalise and introduce West Papuan traditional artistic culture, ensuring that the songs and dances would not be lost. They played songs of Papuan freedom. Their music was aired on local radio stations and on village tape recorders and the cassettes were extremely popular amongst all Papuans.
His production and recording of songs in local languages rather than Bahasa was considered a political statement, akin to flying the Morning Star flag.
Such was his status that the military rulers saw him as a threat and he was arrested in November 1983. He was accused of writing songs that were intended to inspire the OPM separatist struggle. On 26 April 1984, soldiers killed Arnold Ap as he was allegedly escaping from jail where he had been detained since his arrest. His people regarded him as a Konor, a philosopher, and a saint with many powers. Konors are considered to be people who always think good thoughts, have a true understanding of life and can even foresee the future.
Ap sang the song Sup Moyiwa (My Ancestral Land) just prior to his assassination.
I am sailing away
I am sailing away to make my way
To look for knowledge as a foothold in life for the time to come
Clouds at the peak of the Blue Mountain
Sad hearted but joyful
In the land of my ancestors
On a certain day tomorrow
I imagine the suffering of my people
my nation, my mother, my father as well as my people
that earthly, and leave behind with great yearning
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