Songs of a Distant Jungle
odd: label: Local Number
content: HSFA 1990.20.3
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Charlton, Robert
setName: label: See more items in
content: Robert Charlton films of Papua New Guinea music
physdesc: label: Extent
content: Film reels (20 minutes, color sound)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1982
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edited film produced by Bechtel Group of Companies documents the work of a musician from the Juilliard School, Christopher Roberts, recording, documenting, and preserving traditional music throughout Papua New Guinea. Roberts, with a grant from the Bechtel Group, spent a year recording, translating and notating 300 songs and recording 200 more. This film shows him playing his bass for villagers, recording and translating songs, and participating in their celebrations. Also shown are scenes of a gold and copper mine construction site near Bultem Village and the carving of a bass by a Trobriand Island carver. Locales include Butem, Western Province; Tifalmin, West Sepik Province; Kopiri, Southern Highlands Province; Obweria, Milne Bay Province; and Oluweta, Milne Bay Province.