Goroka Show 2009 (Saturday)

Goroka Show 2009 got of to a start today in the grounds of the National Sports Institute (NSI) at the western end of town. Despite the initial indecision a few weeks ago as to whether the show would actually take place this year – day one of this two day Papua New Guinea cultural event unfolded according to plan.

The Goroka Show is the longest running Cultural Festival in PNG. The staging of the Goroka Show started back in 1957 at the Independence Park opposite the Goroka Main Market. It was first introduced and organised by Australian Kiaps (patrol officers). Kiaps from each district would coordinate the building of a typical round house from their respective Districts each proudly displaying cultures of from their districts. The kiaps brought in singsing groups from their area and with the Eastern Highlands having some twenty nine languages and tribal groups the gathering and display became a reflection of their culture.

From what I witnessed and experienced today the Show did not seem to be as well organised nor as well attended as previous years. Perhaps the current Cholera and Dysentery Outbreak kept some of the usual throngs of visitors away. Geographic diversity and quality of the traditional bilas worn by singsing groups also appeared to be lacking. As per previous years there was the odd adventurous touristy looking type wandering around snapping the locals with SLR cameras fitted with lenses as long as one’s arm (or longer).

Tickets to get into the NSI Show Ground were either K3 or K100 depending on the thickness of your wallet and how close you wanted to get to the action. By lunch time the inner arena (the K100 ticket area) was opened to the general public which meant that the K3 gate fee was just as good as the K100 gig. The event was well policed although the usual swirl of chaos and aggression took place at entry and exit points with the odd drunk loitering and yelling “kaikai kan” at anybody walking nearby.

It feels a bit like… you seen one Highlands Cultural Festival – you seen them all. Although not entirely true, my level of motivation to take photos of the groups and traditional bilas wasn’t as strong as previous occasions. Having said that I did carry my Olympus (short lens and non SLR digital) around most of the day and managed to snap around 40 odd stills.

All of the photos from today’s Show have now been uploaded and can be found in the “Goroka Show 2009” album. To whet your appetite here’s a random sample – just click on any of the thumbnails or Online Album below. For some other snaps of the Show head on over to Joeri Kalwij’s blog – he’s one of those “fortunates” to have one of those cameras with a lens longer than your arm! (He’s also happens to be top photographer!).