*Adaptations by traditional contemporary groups to dances is in violation of peoples’ cultural rights as assured in the National Constitution. Dr JACOB SIMET writes *

THE cultural splendor of the East Sepik province and the Momase region was displayed during the recent 7th Garamut Na Mambu Festival in Wewak.
Garamut (slit-drum) and mambu (bamboo flutes and other bamboo musical instruments) were on display. A number of tumbuan masks performed, in association with garamut or mambu musical instruments. These were strictly traditional cultural performances.
There were however two tumbuan masks that appeared at the festival which appeared to have come out of no mask culture known to us.
On enquiry, it transpired that one of the masks was from a contemporary performing group from somewhere near Wewak Town. The other was from a cultural group from the Sandaun province.
The first of these two masks was similar to those found in the Wewak district and nearby offshore islands. It was only when the mask-figure began to dance that we noticed its dance choreography was unlike those of masks we were familiar with.
The dance movement of this mask was simply a lot of rushing back-and-forth and swaying from side to side. These movements lacked any sense of choreography.
It became clear that the mask was not majestic as most mask figures in PNG would be. It had lost the integrity associated with mask figures. It simply was an eye-sore for those familiar with tumbuan in PNG and their associated dance performances.
The second of these two masks was from an area in the Sandaun province which is also known to have mask culture. However, the mask figure which appeared at the festival was nothing like masks we know from this area.
Instead a wooden mask from the Middle-Sepik area was carelessly tied to a bundle of kunai-grass and which was in turn tied around the person supposedly wearing the mask.
These masks appeared in-front of official guests which included the Prime Minister Grand-Chief Sir Michael Somare, his wife, Lady Veronica, Wewak MP Jimmy Simitab and myself as the National Cultural Commission Executive Director.
When these two masks made their entries into the performance arena the Grand-Chief and I looked to each other, partly in confusion about these odd sights but also as if to seek clarification from each.
We managed cynical smiles at the first of these two odd figures. However, we burst out laughing at the entry of the second figure; a reaction to a silly situation. It was a silly situation which created a few laughs for the occasion.
It was a situation indicative of trends taking place in many parts of the country.
Where in the past indigenous peoples’ cultural performing groups were associated with villages or other communities, in recent times there has been a proliferation of “cultural groups” and “contemporary performing groups”.
While many of these groups are formed in urban areas, many are also coming out of rural areas. Most, although not all, are initiatives of young people. These groups are formed for different reasons; some say to safeguard and promote traditional culture while others are formed for economic reasons.
Where the groups are formed for economic reasons, the performances are a way of making money. The groups are hired out for a payment. Then there are those that perform these traditional forms of cultural expressions with the idea that it is towards the preservation and promotion of indigenous traditional culture.
Where the cultural groups’ aims are for the preservation and promotion of traditional cultures, often the integrity of performances are maintained to some extent.
However, where the cultural group traditional forms of cultural performances are being used for economic gain the performances are different from their traditional original forms.
They have undergone some adaptations; into those forms which are sometimes referred to in some circles as “traditional contemporaries”.
The adaptations are made to suit the demands and requirements of being saleable. The end result is that the traditional performances lose some degree of their cultural integrity. Those who make these adaptations and changes do so without any regard for the integrity of such traditional cultural forms and the cultural rights of the original owners.
The integrity of a people’s culture is something which had been developed over a long period of time. It encapsulates many matters, such as social, economic religious and political. In this sense they symbolize the societies to which they belong. Through the integrity which they espouse, we recognize the cultural societies which they represent. To carelessly diminish or destroy the integrity of these cultural forms is to diminish and destroy their meaning and value.
To diminish and destroy the cultural meaning and value of a people without regard is to deny their cultural rights. In PNG people’s entitlement to their cultural rights are assured in a number of areas in the National Constitution.
At the international level cultural right is a human right which is assured in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. More specifically assurance is also provided under the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Further, as indigenous peoples our cultural rights are assured under the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
The creation of those two odd masks which appeared at the 7th Garamut Na Mambu Festival is part of the process of the development of “traditional contemporaries”, a trend which is taking place in many parts of the country.
Among the Tolai of New Britain, there was the attempt to adapt traditional dances into pre-recorded guitar music. It met with resistance from the old people, so much so that it is now only seen outside of Tolai society. Very common among this “traditional contemporaries” development are some of the more popular dances of the country such as Manus, Balimo, Tapioca (of the Trobriand) and the Sia dance. The custodians of the original forms of these dances often complain about the adapted versions of these performances.