202 The most usual arrangement is for these to be two melodic lines that tend to move in contrary motion to
each other, but sharing a common rhythmic foundation. Occasionally, one finds two melodic lines that move in independent rhythms.
This cyclic style of performance is more noticeable in their instrumentalvocal music where the higher parts are the higher vocal lines or higher pitched instruments panpipes and provide an additional independent
line in the middle, and where the lower instruments different sizes of wooden trumpets punctuate the structure and help give a definite form to any particular piece.
The polyphonic style of performance is limited to the Islands of Papua New Guinea and a few coastal areas in the eastern part of the mainland where the island musical culture has intersected the main coastal styles
of music personal consultation with SIL Ethnomusicologist, G. James.
15.4.1 Songs past and present
Years ago, in an attempt to document songs old and new, a group of us in Togarao village worked together to produce and transcribe over thirty-five Rotokas songs. Some of these were so old that the meanings of the
archaic words could no longer be remembered. The songs were published in a booklet made possible by the National Cultural Council of Papua New Guinea in 1974. Although we did not realize it at the time, both
Brother Julian and I were working on the same kind of project and for the same purpose. His was much broader and the music was transcribed using different notations. Samples of both are given below, starting with
songs from Brother Julian’s Bougainville Sings. The numbers 1 to 7 represent the notes of the western scale: 1 is doh, 2 is re, etc. A dot above the note indicates an octave above, and a dot below indicates an octave lower.
124. The waterfall is too fast for 125. Children’s song
the flying fox to stop Ia-ia oape ia-ia oape
Siri asiri siriwa 55 55 25 4.55 55 25 4
†
5 5 5 5 6 6 5 Bakopisi saru saru
Biapau uvui pauei urakava 5 2 5 4 2 2
‡ ‡
††
6 5 5 6 5 3 5
† †
Repeat La vua kepisiri
†
66 5 5 5 5 Ia-ia oape
55 55 25 4
127. A chief with a bottle of kerosene and a canoe. Story dance
Rei reito o reito 55 53 1 3 53 1…
Rei reito o reito 55 53 1 3 53 1.
Aeta karasirio puruba reito 6.6. 4 5 6 65 5 3 1 53 1. Repeat
129. A cockatoo dropped a lizard over the pandanus tree Ovareoko vi ira kove eva kakata 6 6 6 6 3
6 6 5 5 3 5 3 1 1 Uva ora ari ari roepa kari kari a
3 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
203
Old songs of the distant past
Only a few words of the Avavata Vivirauko song are understood. The context is that when the parents returned from their gardens, while singing this song, they would find the children hiding along the paths in the
grass. The word piopio refers to a child with scars in his hair or bald patches.
Women going to their gardens would leave their children in the care of other women in the village. If the children began to cry, the song above was sung to soothe them and to put them to sleep. None of the words are
explained.
204 The song, Kovai Tuupuu, is more of a wail in which a woman is asking, “Who put more taro leaves on my
stack making it big?” The word tuupuu big is now archaic and has been replaced by riro or rei. She had prepared a stack of taro to be planted. Returning to it later, she found that more had been added.
Present day songs
The words of this song are, “Ae, ae, ae, teach me, you smart one.” The explanation is that when a person is doing something and another person comes up and says, “That is not the way to do it,” then the first person
replies, “Okay, then teach me, smart one, if you know so much about it.”
205 In this song, the two lines are sung simultaneously.
One asks the question, “Who is that man that you are going to marry?” The other replies, “That is the man you are going to marry.”
This song tells of a young Aita man and woman who are pledged to be married. The young man cares very much for the young woman, but she rejects his overtures.
One day a group goes to trap fish and crayfish. They dam up a river in the Aita area and get a very large catch. After that, the young woman likes the man and goes to live with him. Subsequently, he wonders, “What
was there about that fishing trip that turned her heart to me?” He then makes up the song which says, “In the Aita, the two were brought together who could never get along.”
15.4.2 Future of songs in Rotokas
