Huli wigmen for world music festival

HULI wigmen dancers will have a chance to showcase PNG culture at this weekend’s world music festival in Adelaide, Australia, The National reports.

The Huli Duna Cultural Group rehearsing in Port Moresby for the world music festival in Adelaide, Australia, starting this Friday.

The Huli dancers from Southern Highlands have been invited by organisers, a first of its kind, to add colour and a different music flavour with their kundu drums.
The biennial music festival attracts some of the world’s popular rock and contemporary bands.
The Huli Duna Cultural Group, consisting of men, women and children, will leave for Adelaide tomorrow for the March 11-14 festival.
Markham Galut, who is the coordinator for the trip, said: “We are there to showcase our huge cultural heritage.
“We want to see if we can feature, blend and promote PNG culture to the world music scene.”
Galut, a freelance artist, dancer and musician, has been working closely with David Brady, a Melbourne-based musician, who has been promoting PNG string-band music, especially Tolai rock le­gend George Telek.
Brady, through the organisers, had extended the invitation to PNG through Galut who had a difficult task in selecting a group to represent more than 800 different cultural groups.
“I sent the some sample videos of our traditional dancers and the organisers were impressed with the colourful Huli dancers,” Galut said.
The group’s return air tickets, accommodation and transport while in Australia will be met by the festival organisers.
Huli Duna Cultural Group chairman Simon Bole, who will be accompanying his dance troupe, said PNG had been talking about and promoting the LNG project.
Bole said the LNG project would only bring Western cultures and modernisation, “a threat to our culture”.
He said the LNG project would come and go but unique cultures and traditions must be preserved for long term sustainable tourism dollars.
“The LNG project will not promote our cultures. We have a rich culture that we must protect at all costs.
“We must preserve and teach our children to uphold our cultures which will become extinct if nothing is done,” Bole said.
He also appealed to Culture and Tourism Promotion Authority to support freelancers such as Galut, who had given their time and resource, to give the Huli an opportunity to become ambassadors re­presenting PNG’s different tribes at this year’s world music festival.