“Rymoka String Band” (1985) – Rymoka String Band

“Rymoka String Band” (1985) – Rymoka String Band * Produced by Gef Lucena * Recorded by David Fanshawe * LP: Spirit of Melanesia* Label: Saydisc

The late British composer and ethnomusicologist David Fanshawe captured this group of Papua New Guinea students as part of his enormous archive of worldwide field recordings. The liner notes for SayDisc’s Spirit of Melanesia compilation explains that the song was recorded at the 6th anniversary celebrations (July 28, 1985) for Passam National High School.

Fanshawe’s liner notes say the following:

“This most attractive song, recorded on BigDay at Passam National High School’s 6th Anniversary Celebrations, was led by Trudi Egi and Vincent Raka from Tubusereia. Their group Rymoka won the string band competition and this number, one of my favourites, was especially recorded in the cool of the evening in the chapel.”

What’s not made clear by these notes, though, is that the song included on the CD—with its rich 13th chords and sung in Tok Pisin, a mixture of Pidgin and English—is actually a different song, not the school contest winner. That one, sung in English, appears on ARC Music’s Music of the South Pacific. A proper title and translation for the one I’m posting here, then, is a mystery at present.

Passam National High School, by the way, is still operational but was shut down between 2010-2014 over a land dispute.

“Rymoka String Band”

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