Teaching performance art is like sharpening the blade of a knife

Abstract

The music, dance and narrative practice of Arnold Ap, Sam Kapissa and the performance troupe Mambesak may appear to conform to the Indonesian state project of inventorising local cultures in the context of unified national culture. This paper examines the political project of using cultural performance to build an alternative identity. Ap and Kapissa documented and rearranged traditional music and dances, Irianised foreign music and drew on local metaphors and meanings in new compositions. Ap's evocative music and his status as national martyr provide inspiration to West Papuans in exile and in the homeland Irian Jaya.

Keywords:

• Irian Jaya
• West Papua
• Arnold Ap
• Independence
• Music
• Performance
• Refugees
• Indonesian National Culture
• Resistance

Notes

This article was inspired by fieldwork undertaken at East Awin UNHCR camp in Western Province, Papua New Guinea, between April and August 1998 and February and September 1999. Thanks to Marthen Rumabar at East Awin; Justine Fitzgerald for translation advice; and to Sjoerd Jaarsma, Kathryn Robinson, Peter Toner, Michael Cookson and the anonymous reviewers of this paper for their comments. Thanks also to George Aditjondro for access to his unpublished material on Ap (subsequently published as Cahaya Bintang Kejora, 2000). During the period of Ap's curatorship at the Cenderawasih University (Jayapura) (UNCEN) museum, Aditjondro was Director of the non-government organisation, Irian Jaya Development Information Service Centre (Irja-DISC), which was located in the Cenderawasih Museum, Jayapura. A version of this article was presented at the Arts and Human Rights Conference convened by the Humanities Research Centre, The Australian National University in Canberra, 8–10 August 2003.

Between 1984 and 1986, 11,000 West Papuans crossed into Papua New Guinea seeking political asylum. Approximately 2,460 remain in settlements at East Awin in Western Province, Papua New Guinea (Glazebrook, 2001).

This article uses ‘Irianese’ and ‘West Papuan’ interchangeably to refer to indigenous people of Irian Jaya. Generally, ‘Irianese’ is used in recognition of its official use by the state during the period of this article 1974–84. ‘West Papuan’ is used to refer to refugees in exile after 1984, as this was the term preferred as it invoked their nationhood. ‘Irian Jaya’ is used in recognition of the region's administration as a province of the Indonesian Republic at the time of this fieldwork in 1999. (The name change from Irian Jaya to Papua was ratified through the Special Autonomy Bill for Papua Basic Law No. 21 of 2001 by the Indonesian Parliament in Jakarta on 21 November 2001.)

Netherlands New Guinea’ is used to refer to the period 1962 until 1973, when the Indonesian government changed the name to ‘Irian Jaya’.

Dutch anthropologist G. J. Held's 1951 publication The Papuan: Cultural Improvisor claims that north coast music had long been influenced by a variety of popular musical styles including Hawai'ian ukelele and Malay-Portuguese keroncong (Aditjondro, 2000a).

• There is a further layer of symbolism in the mapping of Irian Jaya as the upper body of a bird-shaped island:

  • • The Island of Papua can be divided and compared with the body of a bird: Samarai to Port Moresby in PNG is the bird's tail; Port Moresby to Nabire in West Papua is the bird's body; Nabire to Waropen is the bird's neck; Manokwari together with the Arfai mountain range is the bird's chignon; Lake Ayamaru is considered the bird's eye; Bintuni Bay in the Fak Fak region is the bird's lung and mouth/gullet; the mountain range in the middle is the bird's backbone; Yos Sudarso Island (Kimaam) and the estuary of the Digul River is the stomach and anus of the bird; the rivers on the island of Papua are the arteries; the dense forests are the bird's feathers. (Merauke Central Committee, 1998, p. 29)

1. Mimika language/Kokonao/Fak Fak Regency. 2. Auyi language/Arso/Jayapura Regency. 3. Biak language, Teluk-Cenderawasih Regency. 4. Tobati-Enggros language/Jayapura Regency. 5. Kendate language/Tanahmerah/Jayapura Regency. 6. Moor-Mambor language/Nabire/Paniai Regency. 7. Asmat language/Merauke Regency. 8. Waropen language/Yapen-Waropen Regency. 9. Inanwaten language/Sorong Regency. 10. Tehit language/Teminabuan/Sorong Regency. 11. Demta language/Tanahmerah/ Jayapura Regency. 12. Bintuni language/Sorong Regency. 13. Genyem language/Jayapura Regency. 14. Lower Waropen language/Yapen-Waropen Regency. 15. Kemtuik-Gresi language/Jayapura Regency. 16. Sentani language/Jayapura Regency. 17. Sarmi language/Jayapura Regency. 18. Ekari language/Paniai Regency. 19. Wandama language/Manokwari. 20. Mamberamo language/Jayapura Regency. 21. Ayamaru language/Sorong Regency. 22. Kimaam language/Merauke Regency. 23. Serui language/Serui/Yapen-Waropen Regency. 24. Barapasi language/Lower Waropen/Yapen-Waropen Regency. 25. Woi language/West Yapen/Yapen-Waropen Regency. 26. Buruai language/Kaimana/Fak Fak Regency. 27. Marind language/Merauke Regency. 28. Kurima language/Jayawijaya Regency. 29. Muyu language/Merauke Regency. 30. Iha language/Fak Fak Regency.

In 1987–8, a complete set of Mambesak recordings and cassette notes were deposited at the Cornell University's ethnomusicology library by George Aditjondro.

By Irian dialect I refer to Suharno's (1979) differentiation of Standard Indonesian from Irianese Indonesian spoken in Irian Jaya in terms of four fields: phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon.

See Budiardjo & Liong (1988, pp. 125–36), Ruhukail (1985) and Aditjondro (1993a).

Lembaga Studi dan Advokasi Hak Asasi Manusia (Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy in West Papua).