Bibirosi by William Takaku & Pidia Kaur Group

“Traditionally, arts and ceremony were used to pass on beliefs, morality and codes of behaviour. Ceremonial art was integral to the ordering of society. Stories often used environmental metaphors. Tradition was based on a respect for the environment, a harmonious relationship with it. It was not a hierarchical situation in which the environment was secondary, as is the case in a technological age.
Through music we cross the line between life and death”
– William Takaku

William is not only featured on this “Bibirosi” CD, he was the inspiration behind it. William was a proud and culturally strong Bougainvillean man. He sadly passed away in 2011.

Takaku pushed for greater support of both the theatre and the national film industry in PNG. He, along with Albert Toro also wrote and directed an eight part, 25 minute television series: “Warriors in Transit”. In this series the mother and father look after the central figure, a sick child, until his death. “The child,” says Takaku, “is a symbol of the nation,
the parents are the government, which does not know how to treat the country’s sickness. “Families,” he goes on, “are the root of all love that kept societies together. Now that is crumbling, the house is rotting and people are wandering around mad.

“Warriors in Transit” is, in a sense, a question,” says Takaku. “Where do we go from here? How do we transit into this new era and why do we have to do it?”

Bibirosi is sung in Pidia language and Tok Pisin.