Selling Lokal Music: A Comparison of the Content and Promotion of Two Locally Recorded and Released Albums in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Issue: Vol 1 No. 1 (2014)
Journal: Journal of World Popular Music
Subject Areas:
DOI: 10.1558/jwpm.v1i1.51
Abstract:
This article examines the production and reception of local popular music in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and draws on ethnographic research undertaken in recording studios in Port Moresby, a major centre for music production in Melanesia. Specifically, the linguistic and musical content of two contrasting albums, Gera Verere by the band Waterfall Tunes and Cool as Ice by soloist Flora Suve, are compared in the way they were constructed, promoted and marketed. Both albums were released in 2009 by a newly established record label called Spaida Trakz. The label’s perspective on the relative success versus failure of both albums (in terms of sales) informs the analysis and was attained through participant observations at the record company’s offices and complemented by a series of interviews with its staff. These insights demonstrate how perceptions concerning place and cultural identity were both exploited or neglected by Spaida Trakzin its attempt to connect these albums with local consumers. Through this comparison, this article examines the broader sociocultural processes that underpin the operation of the recording industry in Port Moresby, and explores PNG popular music’s capacity to reflect and embody indigenous knowledge.
Author: Oli Wilson
References :
Bennett, Andy. 2000. Popular Music and Youth Culture: Music, Identity and Place. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Cattermole, Jennifer. 2007. “ ‘Fiji Blues?’: Taveuni and Qamea Musicians’ Engagements with Recording Technologies”. World of Music 49/1: 171–87.
Connell, John, and Chris Gibson. 2013. Sound Tracks: Popular Music Identity and Place. London: Routledge.
Cottrell, Stephen. 2010. “Ethnomusicology and the Music Industries: An Overview”. Ethnomusicology Forum 19/1: 3–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17411912.2010.489279
Crowdy, Denis. 1999. “PNG Contemporary and the Role of the FCC”. Perfect Beat 4/3: 96–8.
—2001. “The Guitar Cultures of Papua New Guinea: Regional, Social and Stylistic Diversity”. In Guitar Cultures, edited by Andy Bennet and Kevin Dawe, 135–55. Oxford: Berg.
—2005. Guitar Style, Open Tunings, and Stringband Music in Papua New Guinea, Apwitihire. Studies in Papua New Guinean Musics, 9. Boroko: Institute of Papua New Guinean Studies.
—2006. “Tribute without Attribution: Kopikat, Covers and Copyright in Papua New Guinea”. In Access All Eras: Tribute Bands and Global Pop Culture, edited by Shane Homan, 129–39. Berkshire: Open University Press.
—2007. “Studios at Home in the Solomon Islands: A Case Study of Homesound Studios, Honiara”. World Of Music 49/1: 143–54.
—2010. “Live Music and Living as a Musician in Moresby”. In Villagers and the City: Melanesian Experiences of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, edited by Michael Goddard, 137–57. Wantage: Sean Kingston Publishing.
Crowdy, Denis, and Steven Feld. 2002. “Papua New Guinean Music and the Politics of Sound Recording”. Perfect Beat 4/4: 78–85.
Crowdy, Denis, and Philip Hayward. 1999. “From the Ashes: A Case Study of the Re-Development of Local Music Recording in Rabaul (Papua New Guinea) Following the 1994 Volcanic Eruptions”. Convergence 5/3: 67–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/135485659900500306
Diettrich, Brian, Jane Freeman Moulin and Michael Webb. 2011. Music in Pacific Island Cultures: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
Feinberg, Richard. 1995. “Introduction: Politics of Culture in the Pacific Islands”. Ethnology 34/2: 91–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3774099
Goddard, Michael. 1992. “Big-Man, Thief: The Social Organization of Gangs in Port Moresby”. Canberra Anthropology 15/1: 20–34.
—2000. “Three Urban Village Courts in Papua New Guinea: Some Comparative Observations on Dispute Settlement”. In Reflections on Violence in Melanesia, edited by Sinclair Dinnen and Allison Ley, 241–53. Canberra: Asia Pacific Press.
—2001. “From Rolling Thunder to Reggae: Imagining Squatter Settlements in Papua New Guinea”. Contemporary Pacific 13/1: 1–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cp.2001.0007
—2005. The Unseen City: Anthropological Perspectives on Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Canberra: Pandanus Books.
Hau’ofa, Epeli. 1975. “Anthropology and Pacific Islanders”. Oceania 45/4: 283–9.
—1993. “Our Sea of Islands”. In A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands, 2–16. School of Social and Economic Development, The University of the South Pacific in association with Beake House.
—2000. “The Ocean in Us”. The Contemporary Pacific 10/2: 392–410.
Hayward, Philip. 1995. “A New Tradition: Titus Tilly and the Development of Music Video in Papua New Guinea”. Perfect Beat 2/2: 1–19.
—2000. Music at the Borders: Not Drowning, Waving and Their Engagement with Papua New Guinea Culture (1986–96). Sydney: John Libbey.
Henry, Ella, and Hone Pene. 2001. “Kaupapa Maori: Locating Indigenous Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology in the Academy”. Organization 8/2: 234. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350508401082009
Hereniko, Vilsoni. 2000. “Indigenous Knowledge and Academic Imperialism”. In Remembrance of Pacific Pasts: An Invitation to Remake History, 78–91. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Hinton, Rachael, and Jaya Earnest. 2010. “Stressors, Coping, and Social Support among Women in Papua New Guinea”. Qualitative Health Research 20/2: 224–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049732309357572
Holmes, Su. 2004. “ ‘Reality Goes Pop!’ Reality TV, Popular Music, and Narratives of Stardom in Pop Idol”. Television & New Media 5/2: 147–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1527476403255833
Hviding, Edvard. 2003. “Between Knowledges: Pacific Studies and Academic Disciplines”. The Contemporary Pacific 15/1: 43–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cp.2003.0013
Lewis, Ione, Bessie Maruia and Sharon Walker. 2008. “Violence against Women in Papua New Guinea”. Journal of Family Studies 14/2-3: 183–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.5172/jfs.327.14.2-3.183
Lindstrom, Lamont, and Geoffrey M. White. 1993. “Introduction: Custom Today”. Anthropological Forum 6/4: 465–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00664677.1993.9967427
Linnekin, Jocelyn. 1992. “On the Theory and Politics of Cultural Construction in the Pacific”. Oceania 62/4: 249–56.
Moulin, Jane Freeman. 1996. “What’s Mine Is Yours? Cultural Borrowing in a Pacific Context”. The Contemporary Pacific 8/1: 128–53.
Niles, Don. 1996. “Questions of Music Copyright in Papua New Guinea”. Perfect Beat 2/4: 58–62.
Oram, Nigel D. 1976. Colonial Town to Melanesian City: Port Moresby 1884–1974. Canberra: Australian National University Press.
Oram, Nigel D., and Nancy E. Hitchcock. 1967. Rabia Camp: A Port Moresby Migrant Settlement. New Guinea Research Bulletin 14. Canberra: New Guinea Research Unit, Australian National University.
Philpott, Malcolm. 1995. “Developments in Papua New Guinea’s Popular Music Industry: The Media and Technological Change in a Country with Many Cultures”. Perfect Beat 2/3: 98–114.
—1998. “Developments in Papua New Guinea’s Popular Music Industry”. In Sound Alliances, edited by Philip Hayward, 107–122. London: Cassell.
—1999. “PNG Contemporary and the Commercial Sphere: An Interview with Greg Seeto”. Perfect Beat 3/4: 92–99.
Pihama, Leonie, Fiona Cram and Sheila Walker. 2002. “Creating Methodological Space: A Literature Review of Kaupapa Maori Research”. Canadian Journal of Native Education 26/1: 30–43.
Sillitoe, Paul. 2000. Social Change in Melanesia: Development and History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stokes, Martin. 1994. Ethnicity, Identity and Music: The Musical Construction of Place. Oxford: Berg.
Stuart, Ian. 1970. Port Moresby: Yesterday and Today. Sydney: Pacific Publications.
Suwa, Jun’ichiro. 2001. “Representing Sorrow in Stringband Laments in the Madang Area, Papua New Guinea”. People and Culture in Oceania: 17: 47–66.
Turalir, Julie ToLiman. 1995. “Women in Contemporary Music”. Paper read at Papua New Guinea Ethnomusicological Conference, July 1-6, 1993. Published in Occasional Papers in Pacific Ethnomusicology, 4, 257–63. Auckland: University of Auckland.
Walker, Shayne, Anaru Eketone and Anita Gibbs. 2006. “An Exploration of Kaupapa Maori Research, Its Principles, Processes and Applications”. International Journal of Social Research Methodology 9/4: 331–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13645570600916049
Webb, Michael. 1993a. Lokal Musik: Lingua Franca Song and Identity in Papua New Guinea, Vol. 3, Apwitihire. Boroko: Cultural Studies Division, National Research Institute.
—1993b. “Taraban: Intercultural Exchange, Participation and Collaboration: An Analysis of the Joint Recording Project of Not Drowning Waving and the Musicians of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea”. Perfect Beat 1/2: 1–15.
—1995a. “Pipal Bilong Tru/‘A Truly Musical People’”. PhD thesis (Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT).
—1995b. “Sources, Ownership of Songs and Approaches to Composition in Recent Commercial Music from Rabaul”. Paper read at Papua New Guinea Ethnomusicological Conference, July 1-6, 1993. Published in Occasional Papers in Pacific Ethnomusicology, 4, 239–56. Auckland: University of Auckland.
—1997. “A Long Way from Tipperary: Performance Culture in Early Colonial Rabaul”. People and Culture in Oceania 3/2: 32–59.
Wild, Michael. 1995. “The Growth and Direction of the PNG Video Music Industry”. Paper read at Papua New Guinea Ethnomusicological Conference, July 1-6, 1993. Published in Occasional Papers in Pacific Ethnomusicology, 4, 209–19. Auckland: University of Auckland.