| Description |
a Bit na Ta: The Source Of The Sea
a Bit na Ta in the Kuanua language (Tolai Gunantuna people) means ‘The Source Of The Sea’. It was a project commissioned specifically for the exhibition at the QAGOMA (Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in 2017.
The film produced is about the experiences of the local Tolai people in the ples (place) of Blanche Bay in East New Britain between 1875 and 1975. Led by celebrated Australian musician, composer and music producer David Bridie, a Bit na Ta brings together Tolai historians, artists, musicians and community members to share their perspectives on the events that shaped this century in and around Blanche Bay.
Tolai historian Gideon Kakabin was the bedrock of the project who had extensive cultural and historical knowledge who understood the intersection of history with Tolai life and experience that has shaped much of the content of a Bit na Ta.
For the Tolai, life and culture are imbued with sound and music. a Bit na Ta draws on the importance of music that is everywhere and as reflected by David Bridie in men sing on the roadsides, women sing working their gardens, kids sing on the beach, teenagers hearing their favourite PNG artists on their phones, listening to distorted local songs travelling on PMVs. Since the Rabaul visit in 1986 by celebrated band Not Drowning Waving in 1986, David Bridie has since been championing the extraordinary music of the country through the Wantok Musik Foundation.
Bridie’s genuine and deeply felt respect for the Tolai people, and theirs for him emerges and imbued in the A Bit na Ta. The close relationship with George Telek, PNG’s most famous practitioner and his Tolai friends and family has led to a suite of new composed songs in the project such as Telek’s own voice, the Moab, Gilnata and Amidel stringbands, the Matupit choir and a group of older Tolai men and women singing a range of customary songs that fully situate the project and history within a Tolai cultural sphere.
a Bit na Ta combines music and other art forms. Collaboration in the project with Melbourne-based artist Lisa Hilli and filmmaker Garett Low has extended a rich aural experience into the visual and sensual realms. Tolai three-part harmonies, captures the emotive power of key events in Tolai history. This history intersects with major world events, including two devastating World Wars, colonisation and political self-determination and the natural disasters of volcanic eruptions.
a Bit na Ta story presents Music of Tolai life and ceremony through new recordings of singsing tumbuna (ceremonial song), string band, lotu choir style and contemporary soundscapes supported with archival film and new footage of the landscape and ceremony.
a Bit na Ta has been over three decades of collaboration between Tolai musician George Telek and Australian musician, composer and producer David Bridie including historian and artist Gideon Kakabin drawing from the Tolai wantok (family) and friends to tell the story in this project.
In Gideon Kakabin’s words about the story,
a Bit na Ta. The source of the sea. Life begins here.
Kuanua
A tinata
Marmari aria bit na ta
I valu e
Ra oaga na pipi
English
The words
come from inside the sea
he paddles
his canoe, a boat of lightening
a Bit Na Ta project was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Source: QAGOMA/Wantok Musik Foundation
(David Bridie & Steven Gagau, March 2025) |
| Cite as |
David Bridie (collector), Steven Gagau (consultant, data_inputter), George Telek (performer), David Bridie (compiler), Michael Manzini (data_inputter), Gideon Kakabin (compiler), Moab Stringband (performer), Gilnata Stringband (performer), Amidel Stringband (performer), Lisa Hilli (consultant), Garrett Low (compiler), Matupit Choir (singer), 2017. A Bit Na Ta . X-MATROSKA/MP4. WM2-001 at catalog.paradisec.org.au. https://dx.doi.org/10.26278/7zfj-3m38 |
