The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-06
GOT JAZZ MUSIC FROM CANNIBALS
 IN OWN ISLAND
Capt. Hurley Went To Papua And Made
 His Records

romantic QayS explorers sought new lands for gold or a fountain of youth.
 But, now that we seem to have plen- ty of gold and have taken to monkey glands instead of searching fruitlessly for youth, explorers have a new quest They seek either new tribes whose char acters will lead to new developments in science, or they seek new music whose characteristics will give a new thrill to jaded followers of jazz.
 From Jungle to Broadway" is a short but complete history of the music played by the orchestra of Dan Greg ory at his Broadway Dancing carnival. This music is no mild imitation of the negro melodies that haunt the south. It is arranged directly from records taken of the weird, thrilling songs of the native. of the Island of Papua.
 The Papuans are head-hunters. They pin skulls on their belts as nonehalant- ly as we pin medals on our bosoms. And the music that spurs on the prim- itive emotions of the dusky cannibals as Z they work themselves into q man-eating frenzy is transferred to a Broadway cabaret for pleasure e-seekers to listen to as they pick at their lobster Newburg and sip their lemonade.
 The way the tribe was discovered and the music secured is story of sad- venture, science, strategy and coinei- dence.
 Captain Frank Hurley, Australian aviator and explorer, decided that there was all too little known about the east ern end of the island of New Guinea or Papau, which lays directly north of his native continent. The western half contained a generous population of .Dutchmen who lived in civilized con fentment. But of the eastern end lit tie was known, except that it contain ed rich tropical foliage, persistent number of insects, and consistently high temperature. -...
 Captain Hurley decided upon the un- inspiring pastime of mapping this re- zion. He started up the Fly river, which flows through the heart of Pa pua. He was equipped with two sea planes, an oil-burning yacht, with wireless, tons of gaudy brightly colored beads, motion picture camera and a phonograph. The photograph worked both ways. It was to entertain the crew with their familiar popular songs, and was to record the language of any native tribes they might run across:
 Although Captain Hurley was aware that he probably would encounter na- tive tribe of one sort or another, hls widest dreams never admitted the pos sibility of discovering a tribe ot dyed in-the-wool nian-eating savages.
 Finally, after travelling 250 miles up the Fly river-250 miles of endless cbarting and mapping and listening to the unearthly screeching of the tropical birds through the pungent moisture Of the night-the expedition came upon that delight of delights-a cannibal tribe. ..
 The expedition's introductio9 to the cannibal tribe, however, was not quite so delightful. The yacht had gotten as far as Lake Murray, 250 miles up the river. when they noticed some dark skinned natives padding about in ca noes near the shore. The natives were waving their paddles in friendly fashion and calling out "Sambio Sambio!'
 The members of the expedition took this for call of truce and allowed them selves to be lured into ambush on their first visit ashore. They succeeded Tn escaping a playful hail of poisoned ar
 
 rows.
 Finally the white men established friendly relations with the natives by trading shining glass beads and glisten- ing tin cans for native products. The natives had never seen metal before and were delighted with their new toys.
 Once friendly relations had been es- tablished, the explorers began to dis cover very interesting things about their new friends. They found that although these men were of small stat ure-ranging from five foot six to five foot nine in height-they were very pow erful and could bend bows several feet longer than themselves.
 There is some mystery about these savages. They bear the distinctive tea- lures of the ancient nebralc types and' but for the darkened color of their skin, look more like modern inhabitants or Palestine than they look like the great husky negroes of the Dark Continent.
 Could the "Sambios' be descendants of some lost tribe of Israel that may have wandered south and settled ln a new uncharted country, losing their civ ilization by having to cope with the tropical conditions, or are they merely a tribe of humans that have gradually developed from certain species Of ape man that once inhabited the East h. dia Islands!
 The study of the habits and customs of these people may reveal connecting links between themselves and a highly civilized people. Their customs may be like others-their music may bear sim ilarity to early Jewish chants.
 Recording Their Music
 Captain Hurley found the music of his '7Sambios" interesting enough to record. He found it possessed the super natural strains that run icy chllls up one's back and make blood run like living fire throgh one's veins. So, after much inducement, he got the natives to sing into his recording photograph.
 When he returned to Sydney, Aus tralia, with the startling news of his discoveries, one of the first friends he met was Hobart Denton. When Gap tain Hurley turned on the phonograph records of the cannibal songs, Denton recalled a friend of his that he had not seen for years. The friend was Dan Gregory. He had met him five years previously, when Gregory was bud ding musician in a Pennsylvania town. Denton had never forgotten the pe- culiar genius of Gregory in transpos- ing music. He knew what meat and drink these jungle songs would be for him.
 Finally Captain Hurley did come to America. And finally he happened to meet Dan Gregory at his dancing car nival, where he plays nightly for New Workers to dance. Hurley surprised Gregory by telling him he had come 1000 miles to see him. He whistled a few bars of one of the cannibal songs 4. L;rn An hn did SD Dan GrepOrY