tci20131009

This is a set of recordings made in the village of Yokwa or Safés. Yokwa is about 10km to the West of Rouku. I was invited to Yokwa to witness a the opening of a communal yam storage house. This is part of a ritual which the anthropologist Mary Ayres has called finishing the memory. It involves the destruction of a grave house and the subsequent erection of a yam storage house on the same spot. The festivities of this day involved a number of different activities. tci20131009-01: a couple if men describe to me what this event is about. The main speaker is Yofar Anau. tci20131009-02: a story by Kimai Mbari tci20131009-03: Railey Abia from Rouku and Ntami Kawar sort their share of the yams. tci20131009-04: Ntami Kawar and Joseph Maiwar talks about what is happening. Joseph Maiwar shows me his share of yams and takes me on a tour through the inside of the yam house. The recording ends with a public announcement by Moronk Nḡwam. tci20131009-05: Ntami Kawar is sorting his yams tci20131009-06 - tci20131009-16: several shots of the yam storage house tci20131009-12 & tci20131009-13: lunch is served tci20131009-17-18: I am walking through the village with Ntami Kawar and Nḡwam Foyam to the grave house. It is the grave of Ntami Kawar's father. His name was Kawar Ntami and he passed away about 5 years prior. tci20131009-19 - tci20131009-23: The grave house is taken apart. Almost all parts are burnt. The plants surrounding the grave are also cut down. The ground is flattened at the end. tci20131009-22: Wärménḡ Maembu from Rouku describes to me that the old customs have changed: The grave will be marked with a concrete slab and the practice of building the yam storage house directly on top of the grave has been abandoned. tci20131009-24: back at the yam storage house John Kawar presents his knife dance. John is a man who has been away from the Morehead District for many years. He worked in Bougainville as a welder and lived in Moresby for most of his life. I met him many times before in Rouku or in Morehead. He promised to show me his knife dance - a performance greatly anticipated by all the younger people. tci20131009-25: Ntami Kawar describes the yam house and its cultural significance to me. recorded with a Canon XA 10 with a mounted shotgun microphone Rode Videomic