COMPOSERS: Various
LABELS: Topic
PERFORMER: Various
CATALOGUE NO: TSCD 918
These field recordings are at the opposite extreme from consumer products, and the PAPUA NEW GUINEA collection is more documentation than sustained musical experience.
You need to read the full and detailed notes to flesh out in your imagination the samples from performances which, as they admit, go on ‘with increasing passion, for hours’.
Mostly for voices and percussion, with occasional flutes, the items represent a wide range of songs and dances and catch a full share of vitality and atmosphere. There’s also a track of wildlife sounds including a particularly startling cockatoo.