No open-access location is known for this record yet.
No open-access location is known for this record yet.
The songs of the eastern Torres Strait Islanders have an important place in the history of Melanesian musicology, for they were among the earliest songs to be recorded onto wax cylinders using the phonograph, and to be analysed scientifically. In 1898, the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Strait, led by Alfred Cort Haddon, included among its members the psychologist and musician, Charles Myers, who took a particular interest in songs he categorised as 'religious and ancient, [and] others secular and relatively modern' (Myers, in Haddon 1912, vol IV, 239). The 'religious and ancient' songs referred to the pre-Christian sacred songs of the Malo-Bomai cult of eastern Torres Strait;1 the 'secular and relatively modern' songs referred mainly to those sung at games or performed for secular dances.
Loading…
Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.