Instruments of the spirit

Father Louis J. Luzbetak/Tua playing a kambar

Wahgi and Shimbu melodies. Two men play on their home made 'spirit' flutes kambar) recorded by Louis Luzbetak in Papua New Guinea. From the record Primitive Music of the World [Folkways, 1962] selected and edited by Henry Cowell. The image of Tua playing a kambar comes from a slide taken by Dr. Michael David Peter O'Hanlon in 1979 in the Wahgi Valley in Papua New Guinea. Since the image is in the collection of the British Museum, the data for it are impeccable. I quote from the page dedicated to it: "Previously, such flutes were secret from women and revealed only to boys at initiation; while no longer secret, they made and played only during the Pig Festival." Father Louis J. Luzbetak (1918-2005, American) was a professor of Cultural Anthropology at Georgetown University. He studied the Wahgi extensively in 1954 and I may assume the recording was also made in that year.

Musical bow (Mitsogho)/Pierre Sallee

Harp and vocal solo from the Bwiti ritual from the LP Gabon: Musiques des Mitsogho et des Bateke [Musee de l'Homme, Ocora, 1968] recorded by Pierre Sallee. The Bwiti is an all male sacred ceremony that involves ingesting the bitter root from the iboga tree. Initiates enter other dimensions and see the past, present, and future of their own lives. [MusicRepublic, blog] Pierre Salle (1933-1987, French) was an ethnomusicologist known for work in Gabon.

'Are'are and Mitsogo

Hugo Zemp/Sisiwa, oil on canvas, 11x14 inches.

 

Ya Mwei masks/Pierre Sallee, 11x14 inches, ink on paper

The otherworldly sounds heard on Voice of the Genie Ya Mwei (mother of the inundations) come from two performers who ingested irritant leaves causing a swelling of the throat. While performing the secret male-only rite they also wear Ya Mwei costumes establishing a total transformation from man to spirit. Pierre Sallee recorded the sounds of a night of rituals by the Mitsogo people of Gabon in 1968. 

Top: Aamamata: Lament by Oko'ohimana sung by Sisiwa and Nonohanapata. Outake from the film 'Are'are recorded in Malaita, Solomon Islands in 1974 and 1975 by Hugo Zemp. For the film Hugo Zemp made a special effort to employ Sisiwa who was the only singer who knew the old lullabies and funeral lamentations. Zemp had made sound recordings of Sisiwa when he visited the Solomon Islands in 1969 to capture the music of the 'Are'are for the Ocora record label.