The Voice of Makira, Solomon Islands

This is the real 'voice' of Makira Island: Old Man Dominic sings a custom song about a snake, with an endemic, red crowned parakeet from the forest screeching in the background -- enjoy! See below for more information on the Chief and for the translation of the song.

Please click here to listen

Old Man Dominic or Dominic Hagawaremou is a chief from Hunama village in the Highlands of the Makira Conservation Area. He is in his sixties and recorded the song and the full story for Conservation International on tape as part of a 'cultural conservation' project with the communities. The full story is quite complex (as all good custom stories tend to be to Western ears!). However, the gist of the song is that a grand-mother who is part human and part snake is looking after her young grand-child who begins to cry. To reassure the child the snake sings this song (loosely translated by Goretti and Sarah):

Quiet grand-daughter
We will look for the mother of the small baby
Mummy has gone in the early morning
In the morning she is weeding the taro [potato-like food]
She is weeding the taro at Irowano [place-name]
She also has slippery cabbage
The slippery cabbage is suruhuto [way of preparing the food]
Oh , Oh, Oh

In Bauro dialect the song looks like this:

Manapu kasikukare eo
Karu bore karia kabagangamutae eo
Kanamu iani barneagoroto eo
Eangaroto ne wawawoaro eo
Ne wawawoaro irowano eo
Maetotora na banaweniko eo
Navako weko ha suruhuto eo
Oh Oh Oh

Related BCNet Links

Community Monitoring of Ngali Nuts in the Solomon Islands

Nut Oil Processing and Ecotourism, Makira Island, Solomon Islands

Conservation International (CI)

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