Tiffany and Steve study the Miani language underneath our hut in Yoro, Madang province, Papua New Guinea. Miani is spoken by about 9,000 people near Yoro.
This project brought percussionist Steve Solook, soprano Tiffany DuMouchelle, and violinist William Harvey to Papua New Guinea from August 8 to 22, 2008, in a project underwritten by the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation. In partnership with the Labasia Cultural Theater Group, they traveled to the village of Yoro in the middle of the jungle to assist young members of the tribe in the creation of compositions designed to raise awareness about the environment, HIV/AIDS, and cultural preservation. They presented these compositions in a concert at Divine Word University in Madang on August 20, before proceeding to Port Moresby, where CiH held a press conference at the U.S. Embassy and presented a cultural exchange concert with a drum ensemble at the University of Papua New Guinea. The concert received national media attention and was attended by H.E. Leslie Rowe, the U.S. Ambassador. We gratefully acknowledge the extensive logistical support of Warren Jano and Alex Korom, without whom this project would have been impossible.
For a more personal account of this project, please read the travelogue by William Harvey. Check out the pictures from this project and a video from our cultural exchange concert in Port Moresby. Please read the testimonials from people in the Yoro community.
*This cool video trailer for our 2010 project in PNG includes footage from the 2008 project*
Performing for children by the side of the road near Madang, Papua New Guinea
