May 2004

Greetings,

Days are getting colder... Was only a couple of weeks ago that Melbourne had a whole week of 30 degrees Celsius. But that’s certainly turned now. I hated last winter but this time I am enjoying the short, smoky days and spending nights playing the pump organ in my studio. ‘Tis a welcome diversion from the crap in the world at present.

TOUR
Thanks to all who came along to support the gigs round the country. Phil and I had a ball, were augmented by the films, Amanda ,Paul and Greg in various places.We’re taking a breather from it now for quite a while... give it a rethink. I'm not sure that it's working as well as it could... but I believe that the material being played and the way its being presented with the films and soundscapes is suitably artistic and challenging and offers up something different. I've been working on a few Harry Connick Jr. covers of cover songs and have a firm belief that in our next reincarnation this will take this country and the world by storm... We like our cover bands in Australia... We’ll have minders and bouncers and 5 star hotels and gold chains and a contract with Vodafone and Telstra. And I’ll live in a big gold house on the top of a hill, with a pool and a fashion designer wife and be featured in all kinds of society pages.

 But Phil and I approached the “On A Day Like This” tour (and why didn’t we play “On A Day Like This” earlier... works really well live) with the mindset of having a good time all the time. Had a few post gig drinks with some of you mob round the traps... We appreciated the feedback (get a real job) and the fellowship (to quote the Methodist PM).

Really enjoyed Hobart, which was well attended and the Perth dates, especially as it had been a while since we’d been there. Phil and I ate tremendous seafood wherever we went which was a highlight. Phil’s incredible Cartman impersonations (...focus on the candy, it does not judge you, it is your friend) kept me well amused as we challenged airline excess baggage laws.

The rest of this year is pretty chockers with film soundtracks, producing, Cake, NDW and DVD issuing... I have a few song ideas floating around in the empty cavern on top of my shoulders which I’ll doodle with at some stage.

 Will certainly do a London and Glasgow gig whilst the cake are over there in August which will be fun.

DVD
October 10^th release. Will be a double with both Act of Free Choice and Hotel Radio albums and films. Just finalising the films and we’ll get into some other fun and artistic options that this wonderful format allows… surround mixes, bilas samples, gallery of shots, some live gigs, a commentary track… this and more. Am so rapped that it is finally happening… truly ruly it really is… Graham Ashton at EMI, bless him is firmly behind this and a great supporter.

FOOTBALL REPORT
Phil and I had two gig football experiences on the tour… prior to the Sydney gig we were taken by EMI to the bulldogs/roosters riot at the Sydney football stadium… Man, talk about blokes on stupid pills… from the time we walked in to the ground there was an evil undercurrent… we don’t really understand the game at all… although George Telek taught me an appreciation for Marcus Bai and PNG gives you a fascinating insight into State of Origin football (now there is a documentary waiting to be made… watching Origin football round a tv set in a village with 400 rampaging PNG grassroots supporters cartons of beer, tin fish and rice and betel nut for days)… did seem that there are less women than at AFL games and that NRL is the worse for that (as is the safety of weedy gents like Wales and myself)...  Minicello’s (I know I’ve spelt that wrong) try in that game was a corker tho... and whilst in Perth we were taken to the Freo/Geel game… Les Everitt, our mate over there, is a die hard Freo supporter and twas fun... was on ANZAC day and the organisers played the Last Post with a yidaki(didj) accompaniment which was tres classy. It was a good game too. And whilst we’re on football… go the Demons.. playing very well at present.. and the hammers may even get back up to premier league... and all this coupled with Alan Jones and David Flint proving exactly how this rabble runs the country... love it... a nice little diversion

CAKE
Go to the Cake website for songbook, tour (June, July in Australia, August in the UK) and Parade album information...

TELLURIDE
Am attending the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado to present Mark Worth’s doco “Land of the Morning Star” and some old NDW/DB film clips that Mark made for “Up in the Mountains”,”Sing Sing”,”Act of Free Choice” and “Bird of Paradise”.Am also doing a one off gig there.The festival is having a section on Melanesian films and issues.Should be an interesting week in the Rockys.John rumbiak,West papua’s Xanana Gusmao who spoke at the Morning Star Concert and Willaim Takaku whose record will be released eventually on Blunt will be in attendance as well...

TELEK
Possibility of Glen Low, Ben Hakalitz, Phil Wales and myself heading for Honiara in the Solomons to play a few gigs at the end of July... What a hoot! So if you’re up that way...!

EVAR
Producing an album for EVAR which includes ex “Big Country” member Colin Berwick and Ian Nessick. Tis sounding really good so far... Working with Simon Polinski again on this... Has been a while since I worked with Simon. Some tracks groove a la my life in the bush of ghosts, other tunes are more spacious…some fine barss in there. Colin is a fantastic guitar player

SPINACH 7
Back in the eighties there was a great magazine doin the rounds called VIRGIN PRESS.It combined politics,media and the arts in a progressive and interesting way. It certainly wasn’t dry, featured a range of different and other wise little heard voices and it gave great support to Not Drowning,Waving at a time when that was required. The Virgin Press folded a couple of years after it began and was much missed. Recently a magazine has emerged edited by some vital and interesting bods that reminds me a lot of the VIRGIN PRESS... It's called SPINACH 7. I urge you to check it out!

The recent issue contains an obituary to Mark Worth entitled “Art of Darkness,” an article on legendary indigenous activist Gary Foley (whom I have a CD of rapping with the Clash at their Melbourne Festival hall gig some years back!), a John Martinkus article on the future of Iraq, views and reviews of books, film, music and digital media, an article about thermodynamics, energy use and the future of suburbia, a look at the medical industries new found interest in natural therapies, and an article about Metallica’s current revival in the Islamic Republic of Iran. All great stuff, varied, not too stuffy and well worth your support.

MUSIC OF NOTE
Saw Radiohead and Richard Thompson within a week of each other... Both tremendous gigs, which took my breath away. The former played National Anthem and RT played Vincent Black Lightning so I was a contented fan.

The new High Pass Filter album, “Soft Adventure” I thoroughly recommend... unique and inventive and fresh and inspired. For more info have a gawk here.

There’s two young Melbourne bands I’ve stumbled across that in my humble opinion I reckon are worth checking out... Folding for Air and Mid State Orange... Check out their records or go and see them play if they are in your neighbourhood.

And All India Radio are one of the best going around...

LOSING MY RELIGION
Someone asked on the SWARM site (hi to you swarmers!) whether I was a religious person. Whilst valuing the social justice roll that many in the Church are playing these days... (am a fan of your Desmond Tutus, Tim Costellos, Peter Garretts and Deane the GG,) I’m sorry to say I ain’t a believer, especially a Christian kind... each to their own... I share your belief in the importance of the battle for social justice that the better readings of jesus c imply, but have that bleak view that unfortunately this is it, we won’t get eternal life, we probably don’t deserve it either, and that if there was a religion that held universal principals it probably wouldn’t have derived from the Middle East. Sufi’s and Buddhists and Quakers have some interesting viewpoints and I have great respect for these beliefs. And when in PNG or outback Australia, the indigenous beliefs I’ve come across intrigue me and are to be respected and they certainly make a bit of sense to me whilst I’m there…

Finally got to see the film “Waiting for Guffman” by the Spinal Tap lads… Does to community theatre what Tap did to hard rock bands... It is very funny!

BLACK PARADISE
This West Papuan band’s album Spirit of Mambesak is being pressed as we speak. I hope you support this release on Blunt. The band deserve it and the monies from the CD will assist the West Papuan cause. Spread the word.

Here’s an article Jason Mcleod wrote on this record... It’s lengthy but well worth it...

Cheers, David

SINGING FOR LIFE
By Jason McLeod

Black Paradise
I am in West Papua meeting some of the new generation of musicians to follow in the legacy of Mambesak. Ferry Marisan, works for Elsham -- The Institute for the Study and Advocacy of Human Rights in West Papua -- a widely respected human rights organisation. His job is to investigate and monitor human rights violations in his violence-ridden homeland. Mr. Marisan, also a graduate in anthropology from the University of Cendrawasih, is the leader of the West Papuan cultural music group, Black Paradise. When I first met him, Ferry was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Arnold Ap sitting down with guitar in hand, singing, with the words "Spirit of Mambesak" emblazoned at the top of the shirt. "Arnold Ap's motto", says Ferry Marisan, "was 'to sing for life. Yesterday, today and tomorrow'." "The people of West Papua," recounts Marisan, "dearly loved Arnold Clemens Ap. He helped transform our consciousness from the tribal to the national."

Black Paradise is continuing what Mambesak began: nurturing cultures battered by militarism, undermined by Christianity, and exploited by commerce. Most of the group are also human rights activists who work for Elsham. The work of defending human rights cannot be separated from their music. Recently a few band members traveled to Timika, the frontier town located in the shadow of a gargantuan copper and gold mine. Freeport, the controversial military backed Mining Corporation that owns the mine, has caused massive environmental damage and created enormous social unrest While in Timika, investigating human rights violations, they also collected songs. One such song, Akai Mbipae recounts the suffering of the indigenous Amungme as a result of the mine: A mother is weeping because people, especially Freeport, have destroyed the environment.

Black Paradise has a simple message. "We are here to show that West Papuan culture is still alive," says Marisan. "We are a distinct and separate people. We want the Indonesian Government to stop the violenc and let us be."

Not all the music is overtly political, however. Aye Nanawe, one of the bands signature tunes, is a sexy, funny and upbeat hip-swinging number about one of songwriters most popular themes: unrequited love. No matter what the music is about, though, it affirms the dignity and identity of the Papuan people. "We the young generation of Papua have to care for our culture" says Marisan. "West Papuan culture could be dead within 10 years if the people do not find ways to protect, promote and revive their indigenous traditions." With the deterioration of the political situation, and increasing repression by the military and government, this need is becoming increasingly urgent. Recently the band travelled to Australia for the Morning Star Concert for West Papua, a showcase of Australian talent organised by Melbourne musician David Bridie, which put the spotlight on what was happening a few short miles from Australian shores.

"Start by telling them where West Papua is" the late Silas Rumboirusi, Elsham's Accountant and Black Paradise vocalist, always said to me whenever I had the pleasure of introducing them. Although the band was often amazed by the welcome they received around Australia, they quickly noticed that most Australians didn't even know where West Papua is. Rather than being downcast at the lack of awareness, however, the band felt that their performances "had touched people, and hopefully inspired them to learn lore about West Papua." Notable human rights defender John Rumbiak says that the tour was a great opportunity for Australians to be really educated about what is going on in West Papua. He felt "that just by Black Paradise coming here performing, and appearing in papers and radio, many more Australians have learnt about Papuans as a people; that they have a culture and the problems they are facing." Culture, says Rumbiak, is a good way of to communicate and inspire closer solidarity between neighbours. "Australia is one of the countries that has benefited politically and economically from what is going on in West Papua." "The struggle is not the struggle of Papuans alone", says Rumbiak. "This is a struggle for everyone, no matter where they are in the world, who believes in respect for other human beings and their cultures, and for the beautiful planet upon which we all depend for life."

Having tasted success in Australia, Black Paradise is now formulating plans it wouldn't have dreamed of just over a year ago when it first came together. A CD is has been recorded on Bridie's label Blunt, which the band hopes to follow up with a video compact disc; a speaking and music tour around West Papua; starting up a recording studio; and opening a centre to preserve and promote indigenous culture throughout West Papua.

A Dangerous Job
It is nearly 20 years since Arnold Ap and Eddy Mofu's bloated corpses were found washed up on a beach, their bodies showing signs of torture. But writing, uncovering, cultivating and promoting Papuan music and culture are still dangerous activities. Two years ago, ex-Mambesak member Sam Kapissa, cultural activist, respected elder, and mentor to Black Paradise, was found dead. Kapissa was another victim of the mysterious spate of poisonings.

Marisan has honoured Sam Kapissa and Arnold Ap by writing a moving tribute in his -- and their-- native Biak language. The song, entitled "Mambruk ma Manyouri", tells the story of the two men, both of them from Biak Numfor, who are represented in the song as the Mambruk and Nuri bird. "Arnold Clemens Ap and Sam Kapissa were two leaders who strove to unite the Papuan people, through their creations in song, dance and music. But the powers-that-be viewed their struggle as a political one that endangered the country, so in the end, they were killed" says Ferry. It is stories like this that are often recounted to me as I travel throughout West Papua. And with each passing day, seduced by beauty and suffering, I find the land and people entering more deeply into my heart. Although people in West Papua are still afraid to sell Mambesakecordings in the market for fear of recriminations by the Indonesian state, the music is everywhere. Scratchy songs are handed down from parents to children. In the cloud veiled jungles and mountains of West Papua several days walk outside of the nearest town, I witnessed weather beaten copies carried in on foot to remote villages and played on ancient cassette players. Villages where women sell sweet potatoes and garden produce just to afford the batteries to play the tapes on ancient cassette players.

And when Black Paradise gears up for one of there not to be missed cultural performances people stream in, eager to soak up the sounds and dance to the beats of their land.

In West Papua music is everywhere. In so many ways it represents the irrepressible desire for life. Every evening, as the sun goes down and the jungle erupts in a cacophony of insects backed up by a syncopating base line of frogs; and every morning, when the air is still, you hear the sound of music. Songs of struggle, haunting laments, musical delights in the natural beauty of the land of their ancestors, and sultry love songs puncture the tropical heat. Ukulele, guitar, snakeskin drums, and the distinct four-part soaring harmonies of the Melanesian Pacific work there way inwards, shaping identity, weaving stories, and strengthening the courage of a people determined to be free. Soon the music of Black Paradise, recorded during their recent visit to Melbourne, will be circulating throughout West Papua and around the world. Their first CD is a powerful affirmation that in the Land of the Morning Star songs for life are stronger than ever.