The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea

The Trobraianders of Papua New Guinea, cover of zine, 8.5x5.5", stencilprint

 The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea is the title of an anthropological study by Annette B. Weiner published by Wadsworth in 1988. I read the book last winter and drew all the photos (by Weiner) from it in the summer. I then collected the images and compiled these in a zine I published in an edition of eight. The covers for them are original stencil prints in a variety of colors. They are a remake of the original cover of the book by Weiner. The zine is #12 in the Ach Ja series I have been publishing since 2015. Some images from the inside can be found here. The same image that was used for the cover is found inside as well as photo 16. The caption reads: "About to leave the house for the first time after giving birth, Borobesa wears a long cape and covers her head." 

The Trobrianders are a rather famous subject of anthropology, as they were the subject of Argonauts of the Western Pacific [G. Routledge & Sons, 1922] by Bronisław Malinowski. Malinowski introduced the practice of 'participant observation' to the field of social anthropology, a practice that was adopted by the field of ethnography became the standard of all anthropological fieldwork. Weiner's book, published 66 years after Malinowski's, is a valuable (feminist) update to the Argonauts, as the original work lacked attention and access to the vantage point of the women of the Trobriand Islands. Weiner did not record any music during her research and, interested, I had to look elsewhere. There are several videos on YouTube that have sounds, and sometimes music, most notably Kama Wosi: Music in the Trobriand Islands [Documentary Educational Resources (DER), 1978] by the filmmaker Les McLaren. Between 1915 and 1918, Malinowski also recorded the Trobrianders on a series of wax cylinders that are now at the British Library. One of the recordings, Ragayewo by Tokulubakiki of 1918, made the Top 100 2022 list. The two paintings for the top 100 series are (first) the portraits of Malinowski and Weiner, and below of Tokulubakiki, his wife Kuwo’igu, and youngest child. Malinowski mentions the singer Tokulubakiki as a close friend. The photographic source for the painting is his. In the photo the singer and his wife are much closer. I separated the two for the sake of the canvas size and double portrait format. It now looks like two pages from a book of photographs.

Bronisław Malinowski/Annette B. Weiner

Tokulubakiki, his wife Kuwo’igu, and youngest child (after Malinowski)

Helen Rees: Echoes of History

He Jinhua, Helen Rees, 11x14 inches, oil on canvas, 2022

The next two paintings in the Top 100 2022 series concern the Naxi people of Southwestern China. The two tracks in the top 100 they illustrate come from a cd tucked in the book Echoes of History: Naxi Music in Modern China. [Oxford University Press, 2000] The author is anthropologist Helen Rees, who worked extensively in Southern China. The book is a study of how a minority culture in China (Naxi) fared during a century of regressive policies in the post-dynastic era. While the music and culture of the Naxi was stripped of certain characteristics not in line with official Chinese policies,  they were lucky enough (unlike some others') to receive a status as an officially recognized minority group by the central government. The status allowed the Naxi, to some extend, to practice traditional customs and music. As a result too, the Naxis perform during official festivals organized by the central government to highlight the minority cultures in China, and to give the appearance that the government is good, inclusive, and tolerant.

The first painting is of the author of the study Helen Rees (on the right) and of the Naxi singer He Jinhua. He Jinhua is a distinguished singer who has recorded extensively, most notably (for us) on a recent issue on the Smithsonian label. Echoes of History is an in-depth study of Naxi Music. Rees speaks the local language as well as Chinese, and visited and stayed among them numerous times during the 1990s. After reading the book I was curious if I could find anything published recently on the topic. Most contemporary accounts are about the star singer He Jinhua. It is due to her that the traditional Naxi songs are being preserved. Most Naxi who knew the songs have died or are aging. This was already the case in Rees' accounts of the 1990s. He herself is not included in the top 100 list even though the CD Songs from the Naxi in Southwestern China [Smithsonian, 2022] is a wonderful collection of songs. Several, especially the solo voice performances, are in a style quite similar to the song Bbai neiq bbaq jji huil, by He Fenxiang, recorded by Rees in 1991, and listed in this year's top 100. It is possible, but not likely, Fenxiang and Jinhua are related. He is a common surname among the Naxi.

The image of Rees I used I had already painted about a month ago as part of an experiment of superimposing image upon image on an older painting of Vision of Disorder. It doesn't exist in the form you see below, and I kinda regret destroying it. On the right side is the DJ Ruben Rivera Jr (Aka The Tyrant) who remixed the VoD song Slapped by an X for the film and cd Threat: The Music that Inspired the Movie. [Halo 8, 2006]

Ruben Rivera Jr./Helen Rees, 30x40 inches

The next painting (below) is based on the cover photo of Echoes of History and illustrated the short track Salua bba xiuq bbaq by Yang Houkun. Salua bba xiuq bbaq is a folk melody played a single leaf and was recorded by Rees in 1993. In the image Yang is seen instructing his son Yang Zemin on a transverse flute.

Yang Zemin and Yang Houkun, 11x14 inches

One of my activities during my five-month top 100 hiatus was to draw. And I drew a lot. I drew, for example, all the illustrations from Echoes of History. The following images are snapshots from the sketchbook they appear in.

 

Rio Piraparaná

Cristo and Bosco, Tukano elders, Piraparaná, River, Colombia

The second painting for the Top 100 2022 consists of portraits of the two main performers on the Elders chanting origin myths recording made by Brian Moser and Donald Tayler in 1960 during an expedition along the remote Piraparaná river in Colombia. They were recorded in 1960 and filmed, by Moser, ten years later (War of the Gods, 1970) on a consequent visit. The initial expedition was a joint Colombian geological survey and a sound recording mission organized by the BBC. All the recordings, in their raw original state, made by Moser and Tayler are available on the British Library Sound Archive. Highlights from these recordings, now edited for popular consumption, appear on Music of the Tukano and Cuna Peoples of Colombia. [Rogue, 1987] The above image is from a photograph by Moser appears in an on-line essay written by the anthropologists Christine and Stephen Hugh-Jones for the British Library. Below is the finished version of the first painting of Tayler and Moser, who were adventurers in their twenties when they first visited, and recorded, the Tukano peoples. Donald Tayler died in 2012.

Donald Tayler (l), Brian Moser (r). 11x14 inches, 2022

Beside the Elder's chanting origin myths, the likely number 1, three other recordings by Tayler and Moser appear in the Top 100 2022: Music at a Harvest Festival, Paired tortoise shell (goo) and panpipe, by the Tukono people and Kantule medicine man plays eagle-bone flutes by a Makuna Indian. The three individuals seen in the next painting perform a Harvest Festival ceremony in the same War of the Gods film by Moser of 1970. A similar performance was filmed by the Dutch participant on the 1960 expedition Niels Halbertsma. The ceremony continues to be performed annually by the Tukano People. In 2016, after an absence of nearly 40 years Brian Moser revisited the region and some of the same people he had met during previous expeditions. Stephen and Christine Hugh-Jones, as well as his son Titus Moser accompanied him on this reunion trip. Titus Moser documented this trip and made the film Ignacio's Legacy. [Pira Productions, 2017] All the elements of the ceremony are the same except the clothing: Men don't wear their traditional g-strings anymore and women covered up as well. 

Tukano Harvest Ceremony

The fourth and final painting illustrating the four Tayler/Moser recordings in the top 100 portray Niels Halbertsma, the filmmaker who accompanied Tayler and Moser in 1960, and Dr. Christine Hugh-Jones, an anthropologist fluent in the Tukano language. Hugh-Jones had accompanied Tayler and Moser in 1970 and on several consequent trips, as well as the 2016 reunion expedition. The image of Halbertsma comes from the same photo I had used for the initial Tayler/Moser painting. The Hugh-Jones image, like those of the Tukano people from the 1970 documentary War of the Gods. [British Library, 1971]

Niels Halbertma/Christine Hugh-Jones

 

It's a start

 

Brian Moser and Donald Tayler

The first brushstrokes of the Top 100 2022 have been placed on a 11x14 canvas which means the series have now officially started. The first painting will be a double portrait of two British anthropologists who recorded (and lived with) various tribes along the Río Piraparaná in Amazonia in Colombia. Several of their recordings will be featured in the new Top 100 including the likely #1 "Elders chanting origin myths," a fragment of which, wrongly attributed then, was also featured in the Top 100 2021. The chanting elders appear on The Indians of Colombia, that I believed to have been recorded by Lars Persson. The recording, suddenly of great interest to me this year, did not have much data so I started my research. I found on the British Library "Sounds" website the recordings made by Moser and Tayler in 1960 and 1961 of five different places they visited in Colombia's Amazonia region. A bit later I found the music on an LP named Music of the Tukana and Cuna Peoples of Colombia [Rogue Records, 1987] from which the current #1 is taken. I did not have any images yet but upon relentless searching I came across a movie following Brian Moser on a re-visit to the region 35 years after the recordings were made. The movie The Indians of the Vaupes was made by Titus Moser, who accompanied his dad together with the anthropologists Stephen and Christine Hugh-Jones, who had also visited the same peoples in the 1970s. In the film, outtakes from videos taken by Moser and Tayler during their initial visits were shown, including a fragment of the elders chanting origin myths. It supplied me with images of Moser and Tayler, as well as the leading elders of the song. I have names too: Cristo and Bosco. 

While the format of the 2022 painting is identical with that of the paintings of 2021, the concept has changed dramatically. I decided to do away with the hierarchical structure of the paintings in which the #1 from the list is also the painting in first place. The painting can now be exhibited in any order. Then, the individual paintings do not necessarily illustrate a particular song. The selection of portraits is simply a summary of those people meaningful to the list of 100 songs. It may be that a certain musician I painted is not in the list of 100 but deserves inclusion because of her presence throughout the lists compiled in the year. This way I avoid having to paint multiple portraits of one individual. Hope it works out, we'll see. I will forward the finished painting of Moser and Tayler shortly.