PNG singsing….

I had the opportunity to watch and listen to some PNG traditional singsing last Saturday afternoon, organised as part of the Independence Day celebrations here at UNITECH. Many events were organised and there was something to see, hear or participate in every day for the past week.

The traditional singsing does it to me everytime. There is something about the music, the singing and the drumming all combined that makes my hair stand on end and gives me goosebumps. I watched/heard my 1st PNG singsing the weekend I visited Wagang village. The experience did it to me that weekend and it did it to me again this past weekend.

This Saturday just gone, as I was watching the dancing and listening to the drumming, I experienced the singsing not just with my eyes and ears but also with my heart and body. There is something about the way the words are sung or perhaps its the rythmic beat of the drum but something, something deep within, is touched.

Perhaps my body remembers the sound, for it is an ancient sound. As I experience the singsing I cannot help thinking that these very songs, these very rythms, have been played for 1000′s of years. They are as old as the hills, as old as time itself.

As I listen and watch these ancient sounds, watch the movements of the dancers, and feel the rythm, I can’t help but think that the “old” is slowly disappearing, making way for the “new”. Change is inevitable and nothing lasts foreever. The tears well up and my eyes get watery. I feel grief and pain and joy. I have existence, I have awareness. The human experience is as it is.

Photos from these celebrations can be found in the ” Independence Day (16/9)” Album.