When I first saw Vincent, he was banging on a kundu drum, singing in the Miani language, and wearing a loincloth, pig tusks, and a few shells and feathers. He doesn't usually do this, but on the afternoon of August 10, 2008, he and his companions were giving Cultures in Harmony a traditional welcome to the Yoro community in Madang province, Papua New Guinea.
Friends like Vincent made the eight days we spent in the middle of the jungle a pleasure. He was an excellent actor in the play we saw the day after our arrival. He portrayed a youth from PNG who is seduced into exploiting the natural resources of his country by a Malaysian businessman, portrayed by Alex Korom, our main partner for the project.
Alex had gathered about thirty people in their twenties to participate in our workshops. We taught them about music composition; they taught us about their heritage. Together in small groups, we created compositions about AIDS, cultural preservation, and the environment. Vincent joined my group.
Each morning we met on the grass beneath a bamboo and thatch structure open to the surrounding jungle. As the composition developed, Vincent took an interest in the baton that I still had with me, since I came to Papua New Guinea directly from Mexico, where I had conducted the Youth Orchestra Program of Mexico City during our project there. I showed him the basic conducting patterns and how to cue.
William and CiH percussionist Steve Solook rehearse the piece created by William's group in Yoroa; at the right of the picture in a yellow shirt, Vincent makes his conducting debut
During our final concert at the University of the Divine Word in Madang, Vincent made his conducting debut. More important than this new skill, he learned that Americans care about and respect his culture, and what we learned from him and his compatriots would fill a book.
In Papua New Guinea in August 2010, we will start in Yoro and then travel to ten communities that speak critically endangered languages. None of these languages is spoken by more than a hundred people. The communities will create texts in their languages that our composer will set to music, and then our soprano and percussionist will perform them. Called "The Vanishing Word," this project will call attention to the importance of preserving beautiful languages before it is too late.
Donate now to Cultures in Harmony to strengthen the bonds between America and Papua New Guinea and to celebrate an invaluable slice of our global ethnolinguistic heritage. Click here to read William's travelogue about our 2008 project in Papua New Guinea.
Watch a video about our work in Papua New Guinea, produced by Stephen Solook:
