Gebusi Traditional Séance Singing – 1980-1982 (songs sung by a shaman and echoed by male singers, in the main male part of the longhouse in dead of night with no light)
Séance singing except #1 (Click on the right arrow below):
Séance singing excerpt #2:
Séance singing excerpt #3:
Séance singing except #4:
Men’s Whooping and Cheering, 1980-82
Excerpt #1:
Excerpt #2:
Women’s Weeping and Mourning, 1980-82
Excerpt:
Gebusi Traditional Dancing & Singing – 1980-82
Gebusi Women’s Hayay Singing : songs of longing and separation sung by women while sitting on the men’s sleeping section of the longhouse as the male dancer/s dances in full costume).
Hayay singing excerpt #1:
Hayay singing excerpt #2:
Hayay singing excerpt #3:
Male Gebusi dancer at an all-night feast while women sing, 1981;
Photo Credit: Eileen Knauft
Ritual dancers dress in a standard costume form that is always almost exactly the same, and remains so to the present. The dancer bounces up and down slowly to the beat of his drum. The male dancers are accompanied by songs of melancholy longing sung by women, who sit off to the side.
In 1980-82, Gebusi ritual customs included all-night dances at which dancers incarnated the various spirits of the Gebusi cosmos. Spirit forms from the upper spirit world, including birds and tree animals, grace the upper half of the dancer’s body. Those from the lower spirit world, such crocodiles and fish, are indicated in the lower half of the costume, for instance, in the crocodile-mouth drum and crayfish rattles that extend from the rear of the dancer’s costume and clack as he dances up and down. In composite, the dancer literally embodies the aesthetic and social harmony of the various spirit forms. This spiritual commemoration parallels the actions of Gebusi themselves, who come together at the rituaul feast in peaceful association with each other.
Gebusi Church Music & Speech, 1998
Church exhortation and hymn, Evangelical Church of Papua at Nomad Station:
Evangelical praying by individuals collectively in church:
Catholic church exhortation and hymn:
Exhortation to congregation by the Catholic visiting lay Pastor
Gebusi string band music – 1998
Click below to hear sound clips of string band singing:
“Bidubi” song (click on forward arrow below) Link to lyrics
Natonal Independence Day song. Link to lyrics
Love Blues song. Link to lyrics
Song commemorating Bruce’s return to Gebusi. Link to lyrics
(PNG national rock music clips, 1998, are accessible at the bottom of this page)
1. Rock singers in neo-traditonal costuming at Nomad Independence Day festivities, 1998
2. Nomad schoolboy’s drawing of himself as a rock singer in the future, 1998
3. Children and teenagers dancing disco in Gasumi Corners
4. The flag of Papua New Guinea(see below to hear PNG’s national radio song)
5. Men in neo-traditional dress dancing disco at Nomad Station on Independence DayGebusi String Band Music – 2008
Click below to hear MP3 sound clips of Gebusi string band singing. Songs were recorded by Bruce Knauft in February, 2008 in the main longhouse of Gasumi Corners.
Song C (12:13) Note the background joking, including to and from Bruce, during this song.
Catholic Church music & speech – 2008
Church songs, scripture reading, sermon segment, and the author’s remarks to the congregation were recorded in the Gasumi Corners St. Paul Catholic Church on February 10, 2008.
Church Scripture reading by Anagi
Church sermon by Luke (Yamdaw)
Bruce’s remarks to the congregation (first in English, then in Gebusi)
Click below to hear sound clips of rock/national singing, 1998:
PNG National Radio song. Link to lyrics
PNG national rock music: Kuskus
PNG national rock music: Saugas
Link to PNG Rock web-site “CHM Supersound”
(international/neo-traditional – “exotic”)