Item details
Item ID
MW6-077
Title Interview with Dokta Taule, Malay Town, Rabaul
Description Tape#1 : The Creation of Rabaul Indigenous Brass Band in late 1930s'
Side A & B:

Dokta Taule was born on 6th September 1928 and attended the Waterhouse Memorial School from 1937to 1939 where he tells the background and his knowledge of the creation of the Rabaul Indigenous Brass Band. The Brass Band was taught by David Crowley who had opposition and discouragements by the Australian colonial administrators who did not have confidence in the learning and skills ability of the indigenous people with discouraging response to the idea. Crowley took on the challenge to prove to them that the Brass Band with its members learning to play musical instruments as a skill is achievable. He proceeded to get the band together and began practicing the instruments for establishing the band which can develop towards entertainment and performances into the future.
The members of the Band were selected students of Malaguna Technical, Malaguna Elementary, Nodup Waterhouse Memorial School.
Dokta witnessed their practice sessions to eventual first ever Band performance marching through the streets of Rabaul Town after Crowley was satisfied of the competence of the Band. The display and entertainment provided on the streets became popular and event to expatriates all came out to the street to watch the Band march. As for the local and indigenous people, it was a great achievement of new music performance on learnt instruments as Dokta puts it, it felt like a "miracle" in action and unfolding.

Other music history was with the first female choir conductor in Lila IaMatalau in Matupit. She had the skills of sowing uniforms for the choirs and other general patterns for laplaps, blouses for women and shirts for men.
Dokta was also a choir conductor and was taught music by Ray Sheriden at Malaguna Technical School. He also worked for the Japanese during the war in their occupation of Rabaul and Gazelle Peninsula mainly digging tunnels at various locations and harvesting from the forests mainly in North Baining areas for timber.
Other musical history of various Tolai people in brass bands and choral music were described by Dokta.

(Steven Gagau, April 2019)
Origination date 1993-08-25
Origination date free form
Archive link https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/repository/MW6/077
URL
Collector
Michael Webb
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 Rabaul, Gazelle Peninsula, East New Britain Province
Originating university
Operator Nick Fowler-Gilmore
Data Categories historical reconstruction
Data Types Sound
Discourse type interactive_discourse
Roles Steven Gagau : data_inputter
Michael Webb : interviewer
Dokta Taule : speaker
DOI 10.26278/HZZP-NT23
Cite as Michael Webb (collector), Steven Gagau (data_inputter), Michael Webb (interviewer), Dokta Taule (speaker), 1993. Interview with Dokta Taule, Malay Town, Rabaul. MPEG/VND.WAV. MW6-077 at catalog.paradisec.org.au. https://dx.doi.org/10.26278/HZZP-NT23
Content Files (4)
Filename Type File size Duration File access
MW6-077-A.mp3 audio/mpeg 28.7 MB 00:31:28.549
MW6-077-A.wav audio/vnd.wav 1.01 GB 00:31:28.529
MW6-077-B.mp3 audio/mpeg 28.8 MB 00:31:35.180
MW6-077-B.wav audio/vnd.wav 1.02 GB 00:31:35.160
4 files -- 2.09 GB -- --

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Collection Information
Collection ID MW6
Collection title Music in Rabaul, Gazelle Peninsula, ENBP and New Guinea Islands Region (ca. 1950s - 1990s)
Description Recordings of a wide range of music in Rabaul 1950s-1990s covering areas of the Gazelle Peninsula of East New Britain Province and the New Guinea Islands Region. This collection was the PhD research work by Dr Michael Webb focused on music of Melanesia in the Pacific. This collection was located as a result of PARADISEC's 'Lost and Found' project and digitisation was funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language.

Note: This video recording on Item MW6-012 labelled Queens Birthday Singsing, Rabaul in 1993 was unable to be digitised due to poor quality of tape so deleted from collection.
(Steven Gagau)
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 Steven Gagau
Michael Webb
View/Download access
Data access conditions Open (subject to agreeing to PDSC access conditions)
Data access narrative
Metadata
RO-Crate Metadata
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