Item details
Item ID
WM2-013e
Title Moab Stringband - Miscellaneous
Description THE MOAB STRINGBAND of Raluana village Rabaul ENBP

MATOGO

GEORGE MAMUA TELEK lead vocals, guitar
WARGI APELIS bass
KENNY WARTIA guitar
KAUL WARTIA lead guitar
ELIPAS TIROVIN ukelele

PRODUCED BY DAVID BRIDIE
MIXED AND ASSEMBLED by Tim Cole at the Enormodome Feb-June 2007
Recorded by Byron Scullin at the Enormodome May 2006
Additional Telek vocals recorded by Stephen Schaeffer at Breathing Game studios.
Mastered by Tim Cole
Auspiced by the WANTOK MUSIK FOUNDATION www.wantokmusik.org

Dedicated to the wonderful memory of former Moab manager, Kenny Moab .Rest esi barata

1.DICKENS
2.HARRISON KIMBE
3. PASKA
4. TOLAGS
5. LANCY
6. APINPIDIK(KUNUNURKI)
7. NRAM(CHRISTINA)
8.ECHO
9. KIKISTAR
10. ABEBE
11.JENNY
12. GOGOL

ALL SONGS WRITTEN BY GEORGE TELEK AND THE MOAB STRINGBAND

WANTOK RECORDS
SOUNDVAULT
ORIGIN PUBLISHING

THANKYOU/BOINA TUNA –LAKMAN,DOPI,TOTI,PINIA,NA OLGETA MANNAMERI LONG PLES RALUANA KLOSTU KOKOPO ENBP,GLEN LOW AND ALL THE BARIKE LADS,OLGETA MUSICIANS LONG CHM NA PACIFIC GOLD PNG,OLGETA NARAPELA STRINGBANDS LONG ENBP ..JUNGLE JUICE BOYS,JUNIOR DEVILS,LANGA VIBRATIONS, AGOLGOL,REVANMATES,,BRIDGET,PUITA,GEORGE JNR,LULU,ALICE,CILLA,RONNY,RUBY,LULU,OL FAMILY LAIN BILONG WAGI,KAUL,ELOPAS,NA KENNY ,GREG SEETO,DIGBY HOLEONG,NA OL ENGINEERS LONG PACIFIC GOLD RABAUL,LYNNE,WINNIE ,STELLA,RACHEL CONNOR

GEORGE OFTEN TALKS ABOUT STRING BAND SONGS BEING LOVELETTERS.THAT A MAN WILL COME UP TO HIM IN THE VILLAGE AND ASK HIM TO WRITE A SONG LETTING THE WOMAN OF HIS FANCY KNOW THAT HE HAS FEELINGS FOR HER.ALMOST LIKE SONGS FOR HIRE.THE SONGS ARE VERY VILLAGE BASED .THIS ALBUM OF STRINGBAND TUNES DETAILS A WIDE VARIETY OF RELATIONSHIP SITUATIONS OF THE MOABS POROMEN (EQUAL MEN) . THIS ALBUM CENTRES AROUND RALUANA,CLOSE TO KOKOPO,NEAR RABAUL IN THE PNG PROVINCE OF EAST NEW BRITAIN.THE MOAB STRINGBAND ARE ONE OF THE MOST HIGHLY REGARDED STRING BANDS OF PNG.THIS HAS MUCH TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT THEIR LEAD SINGER,GEORGE TELEK IS A VERY WELL KNOWN PERFORMER IN HIS OWN RIGHT AS A ROCK SINGER IN THE BAND PAINIM WOK AND HIS SOLO RECORDS AS WELL AS HIS INTERNATIONAL RECORDINGS WHICH MIX TRADITIONAL WORLD MUSIC WITH ROCK AND STRINGBAND STYLES.the moab style is much pacier and rockier compared to other more lilting stringband styles.A centrepiece of the Moab style is the bass playing of Wargi Apelis who is held in high regard in both PNG and Australia.
WWW.TELEK.COM

THE LYRICS TO THESE SONGS ARE SUNG IN KUANUAN,THE TOK PLES OF THE TOLAIS PEOPLE OF RABAUL OR TOK PISIN,THE LINGUA FRANCA OF PNG.

1.DICKENS. This song is about a stalled romance between Dickens and a girl due to his parents' intervention and Dickens's final move from Rabaul to the Highlands.

2. HARRISON, KIMBE Harrison talks about a daughter's broken heart after learning her husband has left her for her mother:- (like son in law taking off with mother in law)!!KIMBE IS THE TOWN WHERE HARRISON IS FROM,ON THE WEST COAST NEW BRITAIN KLOSTU HOSKINS AND TALASEA

3. PASKA This song is about a girl by the name of Paska. Paska’s boyfriend’s parents didn’t think she was good enough for their son and were not afraid to say so.

4. TOLAGS This song is about idle gossip concerning Tolag's job as a seafarer on the passenger boat "STAR-DANCER" .the word was tolag nothing more than a labourer with no future, MAN I NOGAT PROMIS.however Tolags says he does not care.,HE NO WORI.

5. LANCY This song is about a boy by the name of Lancy who is working at the Lihir Gold mine,a big gold mine on lihir island off the north coast of new ireland immediately to the north of rabaul.many men and woman go and work at the mine and its related businesses and save up some money and then return back to the village.lancy has a romantic fling with a girl from Matupit Island.matupit village sits right next to the volacano tavurvur that destroyed rabaul town in 1994.

6. apinpidik(kununurki) Apinpidik is a generic traditional tolais singsing style.in this track,the moab stringband fuses the traditional and stringband styles together,resulting in this stringband style lament.

7.NRAM Nram is about A STRONG WOMAN WHO DECIDES HER HUSBAND IS A HUMBUG AND HAS HAD ENOUGH OF HIS DRINKING AND TEMPER .SHE HAS TAKEN HER CHILDREN WITH HER AND MOVED AWAY FROM THE FATHER TO LIVE DOWN THE NORTH COAST ROAD .THE NORTH COAST ROAD IS A PARTICLARLY scenic DRIVE

8. ECHO Echo talks about Echo and his partner working at the Higaturu Oil palm blocks in the Oro province,near Popondetta . However, when he took a holiday break, she went off with another man and echo was left to worry about his unfortunate situation.

9.kikistar Kikistar is about a broken romance between a school girl attending Kabaira vocational school and a young man from Vunakainalama.

10.Abebe.abebe is perhaps the most well known song of the moab stringband tunes.the lyrics TRANSLATE AS “two magic butterflies fly above my head ,I notice them an then they fade away,there they go they fly off in different directions,off they go,down to where the ocean meets the shore,they fly away swiftly,as fast as they can go,they fade away,they fade away”

11. jenny jenny is a well known moab song from the hammerhead shark cassette recorded at pacific gold studios rabaul back in 1985.jenny has broken her boyfriends heart by leaving him for someone new
12.GOGOL. LIKE APINPIDIK,GOGOL IS A FUSION OF A TRADITIONAL STYLE SINGSING WITH THE STRINGBAND STYLE.THE SONG SINGS OF MAGIC THE MAN BRING ON IN AN ATTEMPT TO ATTRACT WOMEN.A LOVE MAGIC OF SORTS
Abebe song in Tabaran.

Moab Stringband
film clip of the Song by the Moab Stringband and Not Drowning Waving off the Tabaran album. Footage of Rabaul town and harbour filmed by Stuart Miller. 1988..featuring George Telek, David Bridie, Wargi Apelis, Kaul Wartir, John Phillips, Rowan McKinnon, Russel Bradley, James Southall.

https://georgetelek.bandcamp.com/album/matogo

Source: Wantok Musik

(David Bridie & Steven Gagau, May 2025)
Origination date 2007-02-01
Origination date free form
Archive link https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/repository/WM2/013e
URL
Collector
David Bridie
Countries To view related information on a country, click its name
Language as given
Subject language(s) To view related information on a language, click its name
Content language(s) To view related information on a language, click its name
Dialect
Region / village Raluana, Gazelle Peninsula, East New Britain Province
Originating university University of Sydney
Operator Jodie Kell
Data Categories song
Data Types Sound
Discourse type singing
Roles
DOI 10.26278/1hc8-1e79
Cite as David Bridie (collector), 2007. Moab Stringband - Miscellaneous. MPEG/VND.WAV/PDF/VND.OPENXMLFORMATS-OFFICEDOCUMENT.WORDPROCESSINGML.DOCUMENT/JPEG/TIFF. WM2-013e at catalog.paradisec.org.au. https://dx.doi.org/10.26278/1hc8-1e79
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WM2-013e-004.jpg image/jpeg 1.01 MB
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Collection Information
Collection ID WM2
Collection title Wantok Musik Foundation (WMF) - Music Label Recordings of Oceania Region.
Description The Wantok Musik Foundation is an Australian-based not-for-profit Music Label that records, releases and promotes culturally infused music from Indigenous Australia, Melanesia and Oceania. The brand “Wantok Musik” is a Melanesian term that reflects talking with a common language “one talk” although in the diverse cultures of the region that may have different sounds, different beats, different instruments, the music we all share is common and singing about the same things such as our history, our lore, our education, our hurts, our joys, our injustices, our struggles, our lives, our communities and our stories. This Collection preserves rich musical talents and artists of the Oceania region where the Wantok Musik Label through album recordings and collaborative projects has fostered cross-cultural initiatives and exchange. Through music and language within the diverse cultures of the region, we hear, share and learn about entertainers, performers and artistic and creative expressions where over the years, the Wantok Musik label has recorded, released and promoted of music from First Nation Australia, Melanesia and Oceania. Wantok Musik promotes local and international profile of First Nation and world music groups based in the region by supporting and providing greater economic opportunity for artists, long-term career sustainability at the same time by managing the various activities addresses social issues with creative and culturally focused approaches.
Countries To view related information on a country, click its name
Languages To view related information on a language, click its name
Access Information
Edit access Mihka Chee
David Bridie
View/Download access Mihka Chee
David Bridie
Data access conditions Closed (subject to the access condition details)
Data access narrative
Metadata
RO-Crate Metadata
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