Enuk Sing-Sing at Lissenung Island Resort, New Ireland, PNG

9 & 20 June 2010

S2 39.879 E150 43.960 – Lissenung Island Resort

The strong culture of Papua New Guinea shines through during a sing-sing – a gathering of performers from a village who sing and dance to show off their ethnicity and their traditional rituals. It is powerful, as all earthy performances are and we have been so fortunate to see two performances from Enuk Village where all the local Lissenung Island Resort staff comes from.

Jacob from Enuk waits while the rest are getting ready for the group performance

Tame Punan, who runs a banana boat ferry service, leads a small group from Enuk Village whenever there are enough guests from Lisseunung Island Resort to merit a traditional sing-sing. He is a strong force with the kids and like the pied piper, has young boys jumping to his cue.

Tame applies lime powder onto the face of Elias

Sing-sing of Laklakau in their own Tigak language is performed as a celebration. Laklakau is celebrated by a village in many occasions: during the end of a school year; when they have a certain thanksgiving; or when an important person comes to visit their village like, for example, their governor. Everyone since childhood learns the songs for Laklakau and the corresponding dance that goes with it.

The grand entrance started with a blow on the big triton shell and everybody sang and walked towards the guests

In bright red sarongs, brilliant green leaves and the kids with head gears, their look was simply stunning. The drums – one made of animal skin and the others made of bamboo, were the accompanying musical instruments to their voices.  The children’s headgear or kangal were carved birds decorated with bird feathers. For the performance in Lissenung, they sang and danced 10 songs for everyone to enjoy. A sample two songs were the Mekaul or the paddling dance, and the Manga-manga, the parrot dance. Here are the brilliant performers from Enuk Village.

Tame leading the group of eight boys

Lot, the lead boy who had the loudest voice (L-R Bradley, Lot & Anson)

As Lot was the lead boy who was always in front, he had the most pictures!

These eight boys made a striking image with their look, their voices and their dance

The one who was least shy among the boys was Philip Robert, the son of Lissenung staff Damaris and Sinivas

This shows that Philip has a good time performing

And another one . . . just because the camera loves a smiling face!

And the finale is the group picture

A group portrait during an earlier show with the performers, the guests, the hosts of Lissenung Island Resort, Shrek the Eclectus Parrot, Missy the dog and good ‘ol Panda!

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