Songgeri - Gospel String Bands from the Ambai Islands of Papua

Songgeri is a gospel string band tradition from the Ambai archipelago of Papua. The Ambai people, fervent Pentecostals since mass conversion in the mid-20th century, have taken the string band format popular across Melanesia (a wide cultural region of the Pacific including parts of East Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands) and embraced it as a vehicle for a unique gospel sound unlike anything else in Indonesia.

The name songgeri itself means "joy" in the Ambai language, and every bit of the music is designed to channel a particularly Pentecostal religious ecstasy: handmade lutes (four string "ukulele" and five string "gitar') stick to just three easy chords, while giant double bass-like stembas are turned towards the players and plucked with both hands and hand-carved wooden picks to get a thunderous sound. Musicians play a non-stop medley of 'praise and worship" verses sung in Ambai and Indonesian - in one piece, "Nemunu Doana Kamia Wowong," for example, they sing: "His house is built on coral/ The gates of heaven are open/ He awaits us!"

In this clip, villagers from Kawipi on the island of Ambai play in an incredible welcoming party in front of their church - a showcase put on exclusively for Aural Archipelago by nearly the whole village!

There are so many more songgeri videos to share from a few days spent with the people of Kawipi - tune in later this week for more! Until then, check out the new Aural Archipelago post on songgeri, complete with recordings, photos, stories, and more:

https://www.auralarchipelago.com/aura...