From: mwmg~te.net (Scott Gold) Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 09:07:26 +1000 Subject: Babeldaob: a great place to visit and think about gear and rhythms, but don't practice your harp here!
last week a trip to Palau:
under the auspices of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, The Governor of the state of Ngchesar and the Palau Visitors Authority, i took a boat ride from the main island of Koror to the huge and remarkable sparsely populated north island of Babeldaob - Ngchesar State is one oof 10 states in Babeldaob)
(twin 200 outboard yamaha engines strapped to a yamaha long runner - if any of you know your engines - you can imagine how we screamed and bounced and slapped through the waters -- due to the great distances between islands and the fact that there is NO ONE around, you need that second engine as a serious insurance policy!).
i won't get into details of the trip's purpose, except to say that there's a new 53-mile ring road going in, and we're looking at helping out with a development of building codes and design guidelines, which currently there are none-- when that road goes in there will be a major boom - tourism is already the major industry here - it's alrady known as the scuba diving mecca
conversely, i have yet to see a harmonica out there!
(do you suppose there's an inverse proportion between scuba diving and harp-playing - hey! pucker, TB, lip B, UB, handshake or headshake, i don't care what you use, playing thru your regulator under the sea is equally hard!)
okay, so we get up there - it takes an hour thru a finicky sea-chop - arrive a small village, and protocaol demands a 2-hour meeting with the clan chiefs in the Abai. the Bai house is a Men's House
(on some occasions like the one we had, women were aloowed in - women do have their own houe, BTW).
so, here's the rhythm, which was not unlike the more familiar train varieties of back home: pick..TAP-TAP..chew-chew...chew..SPIT..chewchewchew.. SPIT.chewSPIT..pick..TAP-TAP..chew/chew/SPIT/chew.
everyone was doin' it!!! what they were picking was their betel nut out of their gear bags - and gear there was! enough to make a harp-l-er appreciative: betel nuts leaves tabacco cigarettes lime various medicine bottles and sode cans jury-rigged as dispensors and (for those who are interested in the latest fashion-craze): cofee filters, which are now so popular with the women (substituion for cigarette paper) that asome are looking for endorsemnets from Mr. Coffee!
the floor of the Bai House was painted a thoughtful betel-nut red!
when asked if i chew, i repsonded that yes, i have, but i never used the lime
(which is what makes you mouth turn incredbily red and probably adds to teh pethora of all sorts of no teeth around the islands!)
to which, i was given the terse reply: well, then, you have never chewed!
now, the village was so peaceful-- we visited a 1,400 year-old settlement site and took a trip down some mangrove-lined channels where salt-water crocadiles were hanging out! my mind brought to fore scenes of a previous life aobut 20 years ago, when i resided in new orleans - this was interesting bayou country!
what a plce for some harp practice-- test out magrove acoustics - you know the routine.
but common sense prevailed: can you imagine a boat full ofPalauans not wanting to check out the harps! i would not be able to refuse (uh..hey, guys, i got a cold!) no, betel nut and reeds: Do NOT Mix! my harp remained case-bound, and i just sat back relaxed and reveled in the songs of birds agains the calming cadences of betel-nut-chewin' rhythms.
on out,
- -sg tumon bay, guam
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