Islands Of Sound

George Telek lives in a house with no electricity in the Papua New Guinea village of Raluana, where the main income is from fishing or harvesting coconuts and bananas.

Yet Telek enjoys superstar status in his homeland thanks to his inspired blend of pop and Melanesian rhythms, sung in a mixture of the local Kuanuan language and pidgin English.

Now, Melbourne-based non-profit organization the Wantok Music Foundation is attempting to spread the music of Telek and his fellow Pacific islanders to a wider audience.

"World music audiences in the United States and Europe will embrace this music if they are exposed to it," foundation board member David Bridie says. "But a lot of these recordings are lo-fi, so [they need] bigger budgets."

The foundation was formed in June this year to promote "cultural exchanges and a greater level of economic empowerment for Melanesian and [Australian] indigenous communities."

The foundation's main tool will be the Wantok Music label, officially launched in October, to sign acts and help existing labels such as New Caledonia's Mangrove Studios and PNG's CHM get their releases distributed in Australia and internationally.

"Our music needs some more 'fining up' before it can be exported," Mangrove founder Alain Lecante says, "but there are some very talented people [here]. We are also seeking some support from our politicians—being so isolated is a real big problem for us."

PNG's Telek is one of the biggest stars in Melanesia—the South Pacific region to the north and northeast of Australia including Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Fiji. In his homeland, Telek regularly draws 10,000-12,000 people to shows at football grounds, and he says his domestic album releases on his CHM-distributed Telek Records label sell "about 15,000" units each on cassette and CD—impressive figures for a country with a population of 3 million.

Even leading Melanesian acts rarely make it as far as Australia, but Telek has toured internationally, thanks to his 2000 album "Serious Tam" being released through Peter Gabriel's EMI-distributed Real World label. Other regional acts tour regularly through the Pacific, where individual islands have their own stars and sounds.

New Caledonia acts, for example, fuse traditional music, pop, reggae and hip-hop into a genre known as kaneka, while in Vanuatu, a mixture of R&B styles with pan pipes, conch shells and tamtam drums carved from logs is popular. Fiji's homespun reggae acts tour the region, while domestic audiences also devour the vude genre, which emerged in the 1980s and combines the regionally popular guitar/ukulele string-band style with disco and country elements.

"It's [all] inventive and exciting music," Bridie says, "but underrepresented in global world music."

Bridie, a successful screen composer signed to Mushroom Music Publishing, is a long-time fan of Melanesian music. He is joined on the foundation board by eight musicians/entertainment industry executives from Australia and Melanesia who make A&R and fund-raising decisions. Bridie says the label is run on a voluntary basis with no full-time employees and claims 80% of its profits will be passed directly to artists. Initial funding is from national or state government grants and private benefactors.

An Australian distribution deal is currently being finalized, but CDs will initially be available from the foundation's wantokmusik.org Web site.

"Not all the music will be commercial crossover [releases]," Bridie says, "but hopefully [the artists] can make more money to sustain their careers."

Wantok launches Nov. 19 with albums from Telek ("Amette"), West Papuan string-band Black Paradise ("Spirit of Mambesak") and a collection of PNG tracks remixed by Australian dance producers Paul Mac and Nick Littlemore ("Sound of the Morning Star").

However, Australian retailers say minimal marketing by labels means there is still little consumer awareness of Australasian/Melanesian world music titles. "They're not big sellers," says Phil Voge, assistant manager at single-store Brisbane independent Skinnys Music, "although we get a lot of inquiries from tourists."

London-based Virgin Megastores U.K. world music buyer Simon Coe suggests that Melanesia's melodic, accessible string-band music could yet find a wider international audience but says it will have to take full advantage of every avenue of exposure.

"Constant touring is a great way to build a customer base," Coe says. "But music used in a TV ad or in a movie creates a lot of demand quickly—and that would help." ••••



Additional reporting by Nigel Williamson in London.