teaching performance art is like.pdf

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Teaching Performance Art is LikeSharpening the Blade of a Knife

Diana Glazebrook

The music, dance and narrative practice of Arnold Ap, Sam Kapissa and the performance

troupe Mambesak may appear to conform to the Indonesian state project of inventorising

local cultures in the context of unified national culture. This paper examines the political

project of using cultural performance to build an alternative identity. Ap and Kapissa

documented and rearranged traditional music and dances, Irianised foreign music and

drew on local metaphors and meanings in new compositions. Aps evocative music and

his status as national martyr provide inspiration to West Papuans in exile and in the

homeland Irian Jaya.

Keywords: Irian Jaya; West Papua; Arnold Ap; Independence; Music; Performance;

Refugees; Indonesian National Culture; Resistance

The compilation soundtrackWest Papua: Sound of the Morning Star, released in 2003

by Australian musician David Bridie, is dedicated to West Papuan musician and

curator Arnold Ap (Bridie et al. 2003). This article unravels Bridies dedication to Ap

by exploring the analogy that is the papers title. Teaching performance art is like

sharpening the blade of a knife was said to me by a West Papuan refugee during

fieldwork in 1998/9 at a former United Nations High Commission for Refugees

(UNHCR) settlement in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The refugee*/an artist*/usedthe analogy to illustrate how his proposal for an arts school came to be rejected by the

Irian Jaya provincial government in the early 1980s. In the context of Indonesia, the

logic of the analogy is that cultural performance as a representation of nationhood is

conceived as an activity of resistance. The analogy is played out in the detention

without trial of Arnold Ap in 1983, which led to the flight into Papua New Guinea of

some 250 people, including Aps students, colleagues and fellow musicians.1

Diana Glazebrook is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Australian

National University. Correspondence to: Diana Glazebrook, Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Stanner

Building, Australian National University 0200. Tel: '/61(0)2 612 55429. Fax: '/61(0)2 612 52438. Email:[email protected]

The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology

Vol. 5, No. 1, April 2004, pp. 1/14


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The article begins with a chronology of several events that foreground the

emergence of a discourse of Irianese cultural performance tradition in the period

1974/84. (I follow the convention of using the term Irianese rather than West

Papuan to refer to this period, as the latter was considered separatist in sentiment,

and punishable by the state.)2 This discourse of Irianese cultural performance is

examined in the music, dance and narrative practice of Arnold Ap and ethnomu-

sicologist Sam Kapissa, and their performance troupe Mambesak. Such practice

included the documentation and rearrangement of traditional music and dances

from ethnicities and localities across Irian Jaya, the superimposition of local elements

to Irianise foreign music, and the use of local metaphors and meanings in the lyrics

of new compositions. The article examines how this discourse of Irianese cultural

tradition articulated with the Indonesian states own discourse of national culture

in the tropes tunggal bhinneka ika (unity in diversity) and wawasan nusantara (the

unified archipelago). It considers how Aps cultural performance activity, whichapparently complied with national rhetoric about diversity, came to be perceived

as an activity of resistance. Finally, the legacy of Ap is brought into the present

through a brief exploration of the approach and political intent of Bridies recent

production.

Emergence of a Discourse of Irianese Cultural Tradition

Narratives of Indonesian theft, subjugation and violence in a West Papuan historical

discourse have been framed as collective memory of the nations suffering ormemoria passionis (Giay 2000; Hernawan & van den Broek 1999). Several core events

in this memoria passionis in the period 1961/9 provide a backdrop to the emergence

of a discourse of Irianese cultural tradition in the following decade. On 19 December

1961, a campaign to wrest Netherlands New Guinea from the Dutch was mobilised by

Indonesian President Sukarno.3 Dutch control was subsequently ceded to Indonesia

in the New York Agreement on 15 August 1962. This agreement included provision

for a referendum on self-determination known as the Act of Free Choice. Between 14

July and 2 August 1969, voting by eight assemblies (1,022 delegates appointed by the

Indonesian administration) resulted in the declaration of West Irian as Indonesias

seventeenth province. Each of these events led to state development policies andmilitary campaigns that were deemed oppressive, and provoked resistance usually

conflated as Free Papua Movement (OPM) activity (Ondawame 2000).

At the time of the visit of the UNs special representative to West Irian during the

1969 voting period, Arnold Ap led a demonstration with fellow Cenderawasih

University (Jayapura) (UNCEN) students and was imprisoned (Ireeuw 1994).

Following his release, Ap dedicated himself to engaging West Papuan people in the

preservation of their cultural identity in spite of their existence within the

Indonesian Republic (Aditjondro 1993b, p. 9). In the late 1970s, Ap was appointed

Curator of the UNCEN Museum by the Director of the Institute of Anthropology,Ignasius Suharno. At the time of his appointment, Ap was a geography graduate and a

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Figure 1 Irian Jaya and the border region of Papua New Guinea showing the location of CenderaEast Awin, and regions from where Ap recorded performance material.


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musician with intimate ties to customary leaders and artists. The political nature of

Aps occupation as curator has been made explicit: [as] curator of a state-built

museum devoted to Irianese (provincial) culture the link between Aps assassina-

tion and occupation is hardly accidental. . . .For museums, and the museumising

imagination, are both profoundly political (Anderson 1983, p. 178). The idea of the

museum functioning as primary maker of Irianese nationalism has been contested.

Rather, it was the cultural performance movement on the edge of the UNCEN

Museum, particularly the activities of the performance troupe Mambesak, that were

more likely to invoke Irianese nationalism among followers (Aditjondro 1993b,

p. 16). Mambesaks repertoire was restricted to songs and dances considered

traditional and originating from within Irian Jaya. The bounded nature of the

repertoire imagined a certain cultural congruity*/an overarching cultural

Irianeseness*/whereas the states discourse of national culture imagined different

ethnicities as congruent parts of a unified Indonesian archipelago.TheIndonesian states discourse of national culture is promoted in thetropesunityin

diversity and the unified archipelago. These tropes may be traced back to 1935 when

Dutch anthropologist J. P. B. de Josselin de Jong (1983)[1935]) theorised a Malay

archipelago to include Netherlands New Guinea, comprising a population whose

culture appears to be sufficiently homogenous and unique to form a special object of

ethnological study, and which at the same time apparently reveals sufficient local shades

of differences to make comparative research worthwhile (quoted in Ploeg 2002, p. 87).

It was later claimed that the concept of the Malay archipelago as a field of ethno-

logical study was only ever intended as an areal field of study, not a checklist ofdistinguishing features of the culture area Indonesia (Pouwer 1992, p. 99).

Theunified archipelago concept is the basis of orthodoxIndonesian museumpractice

where sequences of material culture items from different provinces of the archipelago

are displayed in nusantara sections (Taylor 1994). Certain cultural items (folk stories,

motifs, costumes, dances) are arranged to form archipelago-wide sequences. These

sequences represent both the distinctiveness of an ethnic group and its congruence as

part of the archipelago. In an essay in the edited collection Aspects and Prospects of the

Cultural Arts of Irian Jaya (Flassy 1983), Ap himself used the metaphor khasana,

meaning treasury or storage area for valuable objects, to imagine a national culture as a

containerof regionalcultural sequences: clearly variegated artsof regionalcultures needto be uncovered and cultivated and processed as well as developed in order to fill and

enrich the national cultures treasury (Ap 1983a, p. 117).

Anthropologists have drawn attention to the way that regional diversity is honoured

and valued by the Indonesian state as long as it remains at the level of display and

performance, rather than at the level of belief or enactment (Acciaioli 1985, p. 161). In

other words, the kinds of cultural differences which can be legitimately sustained are

subjected to state-defined parameters of what kinds of cultural differences can be

legitimately expressed (Robinson 1993, p. 229). The orthodoxy of the nusantara

concept allowed Ap and Kapissa a certain liberty to represent performance art andmaterial culture as regional, as long as it was located alongside other regions, and

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within the wider national culture. Drawing on de Certeaus theory of tactic, we might

say that Ap and Kapissa used the official rhetoric with respect to ends and references

foreign to the system they had no choice to accept (de Certeau 1984, p. xiii). They

used the rhetoric about unity in diversity to justify endeavours that kept a sense of

alternative identities alive (Rutherford 2001, p. 16). While Ap did not explicitly

represent his viewpoint in relation to Indonesian cultural forms as intrusive, or

Irianese cultural identity as alternative, it was implicit in his practice, and, according

to some of his peers, was the subject of their private conversations with him.

An Irianese Cultural Performance Practice

Ap accompanied anthropologists on fieldwork trips, and used these opportunities to

notate and record songs and dances, and document material culture such as carving,

sculpture and pottery. He occasionally published this research (Ap 1974, 1983a,b; Ap& Kapissa 1981; Ap & Mansoben 1974; Ap & Solheim 1977). In his essay Inventory of

basic dance steps from Irian Jaya, Ap detailed dance steps from four regions, and

proposed that the foundation movements of every traditional dance were a response

to the surrounding environment of that dances location (Aditjondro 2000a).

Costumes made of local materials autochthonised the dance, tracing its origin to a

place. Imported materials erased the identity of the dance (Ap 1983a, p. 123):

uncovering regional dance material which is still abundant in our region must beworked on with detail and care so that we dont disregard certain elements which

constitute the character or identity of the dance material mentioned. In order thatwe can account for each element which is presented we need to gather informationor data from around the area of the region of origin of that dance material. (Ap1983a, p. 122)

Ap urged resistance to the polluting impact of the Indonesian media on local dance

and advocated that choreographers utilise traditional dance material:

it is still too early in Irian Jaya to busy ourselves with creative dance because thattype is suitable for regions that have already exhausted their regional dancematerial. We need to direct our attention to unearthing traditional dance materialwhich is still abundant and preserve it so that it can then be worked on in newcreations. (Ap 1983a, p. 123)

In the early 1980s, Mambesak choreographed the Yospan dance (Aditjondro, pers.

comm., 1999), which is currently exhibited as one of several provincial icons in the

Irian Jaya pavilion at the miniature cultural theme park Taman Mini in Jakarta. In

spite of its synthesis from Pancar, Yosim, Lemonipis and Balengan dances, the Yospan

dance can be traced back to the local places of its constituent parts as though its

genealogies were constant (cf. Rutherford 1996, p. 594).

The Pancar dance is reckless. It reflects Biaks hot climate. It comprises sets of

leaping or jumping movements called tuna fish and forward retreat repetitionscalled prawn. The dancer vigorously strikes his/her own buttocks with the heel

The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 5


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making a sound like crashing of waves. The leaping movement in striking is like theexhilaration felt upon running alongside breaking waves. The Yosim dance fromSerui is slow and inviting. It is a firm stepping dance because Serui houses are closeto the ground. It may have originated from Sarmi, taking its name from the Yosim

mountain there. The Lemonipis dance comes from Sarmi, Jayapura. It ischaracterised by regulated, synchronised steps. Dancers hold hands and dance ina large group usually in a field, not in a house, circling a person beating the tifa-drum. The Balengan dance from Manokwari is more refined with little bodymovement. Steps are trod lightly because houses in this region are built high aboveswamps. (Mambesak member, Marthen Rumabar, East Awin 1998)

Aps approach as curator, composer and choreographer was to utilise dasar or

foundation elements as the basis for innovation. Such elements included composition

structures, cadences, minor key (rather than diatonic form), movements and

gestures. These elements were also used to Irianise foreign music. For example,

hymns were commonly Irianised by translating lyrics into regional languages andusing familiar composition structures and local instruments (Kapissa 1983a).4 In the

1970s, Arnold Ap and Sam Kapissa contested the European orientation of the

liturgical music of the Christian Protestant Church, claiming it was not rooted in

their own culture. In protest, they arranged religious songs in the languages of Biak,

Windesi, Skou, Yali and Aitinyo, accompanied by accordion, tifa-drum, ukelele and

guitar (Aditjondro 1984, p. 27). The trend toward Irianising music in the Protestant

church in the north spread to Catholic congregations in the south (Aditjondro, pers.

comm., 1999).

An example of the practice of Irianising music is detailed in an essay by Sam

Kapissa on the church hymn For you, praise and respect (Kapissa 1983a). The lyricalsubject for this hymn was taken from Revelations 4: 11, but the melody is randan*/a

traditional Biak melody of praise sung during certain rituals. The lyric form is also

randan, characterised as a traditional poetic form and comprising verses made of two

parts. The tip (kadwor) mentions the verses subject in an obscure way, and the

starting point (fuar) reveals the subject. The lyrics are in Bahasa Indonesia rather

than English, with the exception of the greeting Allah which Kapissa substitutes with

Neno-nene, a Biak term of greeting for a revered person. By using Neno-nene, the

hymn is given the form of a song of praise for a titled person. Beginning with a

dedication, it becomes a classical Biak randan hymn. Kapissa categorised thissynthetic form as a Christian-Irian hymn.

Mambesak

In 1974/5, Ap, Kapissa and their Biak peers formed a performance group called

Manyori, meaning sacred bird indigenous to Biak-Numfoor. In August 1978, they

changed the name from Manyori to Mambesak. The name change is explained in

terms of the symbolism of birds: manyori was a sacred bird native only to Biak-

Numfor, whereas mambesak (bird of paradise) was revered throughout Irian Jaya(Aditjondro 1984, pp. 29/30).5 Mambesak member Sawaki (pers. comm., 2001)

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described the bird of paradise in analogous terms. Like any nation, the bird of

paradise species includes varieties of different colour, size and movement. It is a

unique species of bird, easily audible and identifiable in the middle of a forest among

other birds. Like the various ethnic groups imagined as the West Papuan nation, the

classification bird of paradise contains scores of sub-species. The bird of paradise,

too, has a history of appropriation and theft.

In renaming the group, members sought a regional translation of bird of paradise

that was already popular among West Papuans. The Biak translation mambesak was

chosen as it was a household name following the televised performance of the

Mambesak dance at Taman Mini, Jakarta, in April 1975 (Sawaki, pers. comm., 2001).

Mambesak was embraced by the public. Their songs were sung at parties and festivals,

and broadcast by the governments rural development program (Ireeuw 1994).

Between 1978 and 1983, Mambesak recorded five volumes of folk songs in thirty local

languages from nine regions.6

Lyrics of these songs were transcribed in the songbookCollection of Folk Songs of Irian Jaya (Lembaga Antropologi Universitas Cenderawasih

1980), and cassettes were marketed throughout the province.7

Besides music and dance, Mambesak performed an oral narrative known as mop.

Its form may be a short vignette or dialogue spoken between two characters, and its

subject is often a moral commentary on a particular event or social interaction. Mop

is written and performed in the Irian dialect, claimed to truly touch the ear and heart

of the people (Irja-DISC 1983) and tap the feelings of rural Irianese (Ajamiseba &

Subari 1983, p. 13).8 Kapissa (1983b) distinguished between street mop and art

Figure 2 Arnold Ap (seated fourth from right) and fellow Mambesak Musicians, c.1981(photo: Marthen Rumabar).



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mop. Street mop is categorised as shallow, objectifying people for the sake of

entertainment. Whereas art mop resembles a religious parable, mirroring aspects ofsocial life: [through mop] a heart which is unscrupulous may be corrected, excessive

ambition bridled, power which is corrupt restricted, greedy appetite controlled

(Kapissa 1983b).

Mops humorous veil enabled its performance and circulation despite its political

subject matter of scruples, ambition, power and greed. Its meaning was often esoteric:

to know mop was to know local social life intimately. Mambesak performed mop on

the radio program Warung Pinang, broadcast on Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) in

Jayapura. Mambesak also performed 187 live broadcasts on RRIs program Pelangi

Budaya or Rainbow of Cultures, a program promoting unity in diversity. PelangiBudaya aimed to introduce regional Irian Jaya culture and awaken as well as develop

community appreciation toward regional culture in a framework of protecting the

values of regional culture and the enrichment of a treasury of national culture

(Ajamiseba & Subari 1983). After leaving Mambesak in 1980, Kapissa developed a

music industry in Biak that boasted at least ten recording groups and produced

thousands of cassettes for distribution (Aditjondro 2000b, pp. 122/5). Performance

groups proliferated throughout the northern region of Irian Jaya during the early

1980s. These groups comprised students and civil servants, and most groups made

recordings. Performances were occasionally transparently political. For example, at

the time of the states Koteka campaign, Mambesak members danced unclothed as a

Figure 3 Yospan dancing accompanied by Mambesak musicians in front of theGovernors Office, Jayapura (Kapissa is the spectacled dancer facing the photographer,

and Ap is second guitarist from right), c.1981 (photo: Marthen Rumabar).

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statement against the Indonesian states attempt to extinguish aspects of Baliem

culture, including the wearing of the koteka penis sheath. In a dominated political

environment, performing a dance of familiar local origin, to music played by local

performers using tifa and ukelele, among people considered us, was affective.

Collectivism may be embodied in the progression or form of dance (Bottomley 1992,

pp. 72/3) and in the nature of audience or crowd formation. Dancing while singing

in ones own regional language further intensifies the experience (Pigay 2000, p. 298):

When we hear songs sung in our regional language it is like it is our own flag that is

waving. To hear the lyrics of a song in ones own language outside of ones place is

enough to make that person weep (elderly man at East Awin, fieldnote 1998).

The political intention of Aps lyrics was sometimes concealed in metaphor. For

example, The Orphan Child (Anak Yatim Piato), composed by Ap in the Biak

language in 1980/1, used an archetype of destitution in Indonesian popular culture.

Among West Papuans, orphan signifies abandonment by the Dutch and neglectunder Indonesia:

First verse: When just a baby/Embraced with full affection/Held and caressed/Withbliss. Second verse: But after coming of age/Looking after ones self/Parents alreadyleft this world/That child lived alone. Refrain: Not anyone to look out for him anymore/He lives alone/The contentment of the past/Already gone/Pity orphan child/Who has no parents/Pity, orphan child/Who has no homeland.

A Mambesak member at East Awin recounted Aps paraphrasing of The Orphan

Child during a rehearsal in the early 1980s:

West Papuan people were like infants: what was needed or asked for was given.Upon coming of age and experiencing the abandonment of its parents, the infantbecame an orphan. The child remained an orphan despite its new Indonesianparentage. Indonesia is not a benevolent parent. The child must face lifes hardshipsalone, without parents. It has no homeland.

Aps song associates mother and homeland. Attachment to the mother produces

home and, conversely, the death of or abandonment by the mother or parents

extinguishes home and security. The naturalness of the Dutch parent, manifest in

the expression of symbiotic love, contrasts Indonesia as a neglectful adoptive parent.

In spite of adoption, the childs condition remains pitifully homeless.

Following Aps Death

On 30 November 1983, Ap was arrested on suspicion of several charges (see

Aditjondro 1993b), including an allegation that he had confessed that Mambesak

songs were intended to inspire the Free Papua Movement separatist struggle

(Budiardjo & Liong 1988, pp. 126/7). On 26 April 1984, Arnold Ap was killed by

soldiers allegedly as he escaped from jail where he had been detained since his arrest.9

Seventeen years later, in her obituary of Sam Kapissa, anthropologist Danilyn

Rutherford parallelled Kapissas courage to survive for a cause with Aps courage todie for it (2001, pp. 16/17). Aps death occurred against a backdrop of political



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uprising that had resulted in heavy reprisals by the Indonesian military: house-to-

house searches in urban areas, sweeping activity in rural areas and counter-

insurgency activities on the PNG border deploying thousands of Indonesian ground

troops and airforce equipment (Osborne 1985, p. 100).

Following Aps death, students did not go to the UNCEN campus for months.

Those who arrived were fingerprinted and photographed (Aditjondro, n.d.). Some

students returned to their villages of origin in order to conceal themselves, others fled

to Vanimo, Papua New Guinea. Remaining Mambesak members were told by the

authorities that if they wished to perform publicly they must sing not of Papuan

culture, but of the unity of Indonesia (Osborne 1985, p. 153). At the time of fleeing

Jayapura in February 1984, a Mambesak member retrieved the original master copies

of recordings and a large dual tape recorder from Aps office in the museum. He

carried these items and some other meagre possessions in his flight to Vanimo.

Some exiled West Papuans liken Ap to a Biak prophet figure or konor: Arnold Apmade Koreri live again (Kaisiepo in Sharp 1994, p. 64) and he could spark fire in

others (Ireeuw 1994). In Biak terms, Koreri refers to a religious-political movement of

the north coast of Irian Jaya based on the expected return of a mythical figure called

Manarmakeri. Konor is a person who receives divine inspiration from Manarmakeri,

or God in the Biak language and belief system (see Kamma 1972; Rutherford 1996).

The logic of Ap as konor, and Mambesak as Koreri movement is like this: if Aps work

was considered to be bequeathed by Manarmakeri, then recognition of him as konor

would manifest in the emergence of a Koreri movement*/conceivably Mambesak.

The posthumous veneration of Ap as konor can be compared with the canonising of a

person as a Christian saint.

Conclusion

Aps work was apparently in line with the Indonesian states inventorising of

provincial cultures towards a unified national culture. The motivations were

divergent however. Mambesaks performance repertoire was culturally bounded,

limited to songs and dances considered traditional, and originating from within Irian

Jaya. The bounded nature of the repertoire imagined a certain cultural congruity and

an overarching cultural Irianeseness*/an alternative identity. For Mambesak member

Constant Ruhukail, the states reaction to Aps project revealed the boundaries of the

governments own culture project articulated in the statement Broad Outlines of the

Nations Direction (Garis-Garis Besar Haluan Negara (GBHN)):

what was carried out by Ap, that is, to uncover, revitalise and introduce Irian Jayaregional traditional artistic culture was in line with the substance and spirit ofGBHN which constituted the principal basis of the pattern for Indonesian nationaldevelopment. (Ruhukail 1985, p. 2)

Aps project to represent an Irianese cultural performance practice is resonant inthe production of West Papua: Sound of the Morning Star. Producer David Bridie

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asked ten musicians (electronica, remix and soundscape artists) to contribute a

soundtrack to the compilation recording. The contributors were provided with

various audio clips including traditional West Papuan songs from the 1950s

recording Muo Reme: An Anthology of Music from West Papua, vol. 1, by Dutch

ethnologist J. C. Anceaux (1950s). The notes to Bridies album allow the listener to

trace each soundtrack back to the local via Anceaux: for example, the yellow bird of

paradise song in the language of Kayupulau; a hunting song in the Tobati language; a

Nimboran funeral song mixed with Karawari sacred flutes; a Kajob lamentation from

Biak; an origin song of the Demta people; a vocal of Wunin women singing to the

ancestors; and a Mapnduma song about journeying. Bridies orientation to Melanesia

is reflected in his mixing of soundscapes and styles: conch drones recorded in the

Trobriands, rain and kundu drums recorded in East New Britain and sesano musical

form from Aitape.

Like Mambesaks alleged project of inspiring and supporting political resistance,Bridies recording will assist the West Papuan human rights body ELS-HAM10

establish an office in New York to lobby the United Nations. The meaning of the

analogy teaching performance art is like sharpening the blade of a knife is contained

in the intention of Bridie, whose production of West Papuan music will support

resistance at the highest level. In Arnold Aps death, the meaning of the analogy is

transparent: where the Indonesian state conceived cultural performance as an

alternative representation of nationhood, it acted with violence to repress such

performance.

Notes

This article was inspired by fieldwork undertaken at East Awin UNHCR camp in Western Province,

Papua New Guinea, between April and August 1998 and February and September 1999. Thanks to

Marthen Rumabar at East Awin; Justine Fitzgerald for translation advice; and to Sjoerd Jaarsma,

Kathryn Robinson, Peter Toner, Michael Cookson and the anonymous reviewers of this paper for

their comments. Thanks also to George Aditjondro for access to his unpublished material on Ap

(subsequently published as Cahaya Bintang Kejora, 2000). During the period of Aps curatorship at

the Cenderawasih University (Jayapura) (UNCEN) museum, Aditjondro was Director of the non-

government organisation, Irian Jaya Development Information Service Centre (Irja-DISC), which

was located in the Cenderawasih Museum, Jayapura. A version of this article was presented at theArts and Human Rights Conference convened by the Humanities Research Centre, The Australian

National University in Canberra, 8/10 August 2003.

[1] Between 1984 and 1986, 11,000 West Papuans crossed into Papua New Guinea seeking

political asylum. Approximately 2,460 remain in settlements at East Awin in Western

Province, Papua New Guinea (Glazebrook 2001).

[2] This article uses Irianese and West Papuan interchangeably to refer to indigenous people of

Irian Jaya. Generally, Irianese is used in recognition of its official use by the state during the

period of this article 1974/84. West Papuan is used to refer to refugees in exile after 1984, as

this was the term preferred as it invoked their nationhood. Irian Jaya is used in recognition of

the regions administration as a province of the Indonesian Republic at the time of thisfieldwork in 1999. (The name change from Irian Jaya to Papua was ratified through the Special



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Autonomy Bill for Papua Basic Law No. 21 of 2001 by the Indonesian Parliament in Jakarta on

21 November 2001.)

[3] Netherlands New Guinea is used to refer to the period 1962 until 1973, when the Indonesian

government changed the name to Irian Jaya.

[4] Dutch anthropologist G. J. Helds 1951 publication The Papuan: Cultural Improvisor claimsthat north coast music had long been influenced by a variety of popular musical styles

including Hawaiian ukelele and Malay-Portuguese keroncong (Aditjondro 2000a).

[5] There is a further layer of symbolism in the mapping of Irian Jaya as the upper body of a bird-

shaped island:

The Island of Papua can be divided and compared with the body of a bird: Samaraito Port Moresby in PNG is the birds tail; Port Moresby to Nabire in West Papua isthe birds body; Nabire to Waropen is the birds neck; Manokwari together with theArfai mountain range is the birds chignon; Lake Ayamaru is considered the birdseye; Bintuni Bay in the Fak Fak region is the birds lung and mouth/gullet; themountain range in the middle is the birds backbone; Yos Sudarso Island (Kimaam)

and the estuary of the Digul River is the stomach and anus of the bird; the rivers onthe island of Papua are the arteries; the dense forests are the birds feathers.(Merauke Central Committee 1998, p. 29)

[6] 1. Mimika language/Kokonao/Fak Fak Regency. 2. Auyi language/Arso/Jayapura Regency. 3.

Biak language, Teluk-Cenderawasih Regency. 4. Tobati-Enggros language/Jayapura Regency. 5.

Kendate language/Tanahmerah/Jayapura Regency. 6. Moor-Mambor language/Nabire/Paniai

Regency. 7. Asmat language/Merauke Regency. 8. Waropen language/Yapen-Waropen Regency.

9. Inanwaten language/Sorong Regency. 10. Tehit language/Teminabuan/Sorong Regency. 11.

Demta language/Tanahmerah/ Jayapura Regency. 12. Bintuni language/Sorong Regency. 13.

Genyem language/Jayapura Regency. 14. Lower Waropen language/Yapen-Waropen Regency.

15. Kemtuik-Gresi language/Jayapura Regency. 16. Sentani language/Jayapura Regency. 17.Sarmi language/Jayapura Regency. 18. Ekari language/Paniai Regency. 19. Wandama language/

Manokwari. 20. Mamberamo language/Jayapura Regency. 21. Ayamaru language/Sorong

Regency. 22. Kimaam language/Merauke Regency. 23. Serui language/Serui/Yapen-Waropen

Regency. 24. Barapasi language/Lower Waropen/Yapen-Waropen Regency. 25. Woi language/

West Yapen/Yapen-Waropen Regency. 26. Buruai language/Kaimana/Fak Fak Regency. 27.

Marind language/Merauke Regency. 28. Kurima language/Jayawijaya Regency. 29. Muyu

language/Merauke Regency. 30. Iha language/Fak Fak Regency.

[7] In 1987/8, a complete set of Mambesak recordings and cassette notes were deposited at

Cornell Universitys ethnomusicology library by George Aditjondro.

[8] By Irian dialect I refer to Suharnos (1979) differentiation of Standard Indonesian from

Irianese Indonesian spoken in Irian Jaya in terms of four fields: phonology, morphology,syntax and lexicon.

[9] See Budiardjo & Liong (1988, pp. 125/36), Ruhukail (1985) and Aditjondro (1993a).

[10] Lembaga Studi dan Advokasi Hak Asasi Manusia (Institute for Human Rights Study and

Advocacy in West Papua).

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