Music and Language are central to identity in Indigenous communities and the return of legacy recordings made by researchers can be an emotional and exciting rediscovery of the past, contributing to the continuation of cultural practices. PARADISEC is a digital archive of materials from endangered cultures. Join archivist Steven Gagau and musicologist Jodie Kell from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in a series of interviews with people who have found personal and cultural connections with collections in the archive.
PARADISEC undertook a Library exhibition co-curated by Dr Jodie Kell and Steven Gagau at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from August to November 2025. It showcased some of the equipment, audio techniques and innovative solutions used to safeguard valuable audiovisual materials for the future. It also demonstrated the importance of opening the archive highlighting the value of providing access for Indigenous community members to engage with the archive through its outreach projects. Episode 18 underpins the same outreach from the exhibition, panel discussions on 8th October 2025 and this podcast about First Nations and Indigenous perspectives focusing on archival practices and the importance of creating ways to connect and reconnect with heritage materials. The panel members include Chair Dr Amanda Harris, Dr Lauren Booker, Evelyn Quispe, Johnny Obed and Steven Gagau.
PARADISEC undertook a Library exhibition co-curated by Dr Jodie Kell and Steven Gagau at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from August to November 2025. It showcased some of the equipment, audio techniques and innovative solutions used to safeguard valuable audiovisual materials for the future. It also demonstrated the importance of opening the archive highlighting the value of providing access for Indigenous community members to engage with the archive through its outreach projects. Episode 18 underpins the same outreach from the exhibition, panel discussions on 8th October 2025 and this podcast about First Nations and Indigenous perspectives focusing on archival practices and the importance of creating ways to connect and reconnect with heritage materials. The panel members include Chair Dr Amanda Harris, Dr Lauren Booker, Evelyn Quispe, Johnny Obed and Steven Gagau.
Starr Abelardo and Lolita Emmanuel join Toksave: Culture Talks as guest producers with a special episode looking at the SA1 collection and featuring Talaandig Lumad culture-bearer Rodelio “Waway” Saway and Filipino-Aboriginal Australian musician Rhyan “DOBBY” Clapham. Rooted in Indigenous advocacy—Waway’s bamboo innovations, soil art, and songs about mountain forests, and DOBBY’s songs uplifting First Nations voices on the rivers of Brewarrina Country—they explore how language, land, and lineage weave resilient, sustainable music. Hear song snippets in the episode and stream full tracks on Spotify: Waway and DOBBY. Guest produced by Starr Aberlardo with audio engineer Michael Manzini. Starr’s research recordings can be accessed in the SA1 collection.
Following on from Episode 15, this episode features the music and culture of Malaita from the IF01 collection of Ian Frazer in his fieldwork with people of To’abaita and neighbouring Baeggu, Baelelea and Lau. This episode covers a range of musical styles and their connection to the history of Malaita through conversations with Ian Frazer and Malaitan diaspora community member Mary Sattin. The episode presents the customary traditions and practices of Animae, the use of traditional bamboo instruments of panpipes and flutes and the Maasina Rule protest songs that contributed to the end of British colonial rule and the move towards Independence.
This is the first of two episodes featuring the music and culture of North Malaita, Solomon Islands from the IF01 collection of Ian Frazer in his fieldwork with people of To’abaita and neigbouring Baegu, Baelelea and Lau. In this episode, we feature the cultural practice and music surrounding the ngali nuts which are harvested from a canarium almond tree. Through conversations with Ian Frazer and Mary Sattin, a Malaitan woman, we are transported back to the 1970s during the ngali nut season where communities working customs and traditions were inspired through music in the cracking of ngali nuts, the retrieval of the kernel for pounding to "kata" pudding with roasted and mashed taro. Ngali nuts was an important and significant food source as a delicacy meal for families, for celebrations in community ceremonies and trading and bartering. Link: IF01 collection https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/IF01
Following on from Episode 13, we continue our exploration of music of the Central Province, Papua New Guinea featuring the PNG Peroveta Singers of Canberra. This is a special episode where the group responds to the PARADISEC collections of IC1 and MG1 with a Sene performance of traditional songs whose meanings are explained by group members Deveni Temu and Tommy Dietz. Sit back and enjoy the journey through the beautiful songs of the region which are also available with transcriptions in the PC2 collection or on our youtube channel.
This is the first of two episodes featuring the PNG Peroveta Singers of Canberra, a group of diaspora community members who share and perform the music of Central Province, Papua New Guinea. They respond to the PARADISEC collections MG1 and IC1 with song and dance performances recorded in the ACT in 2023. This episode focuses on Peroveta (Prophet Songs) and includes an interview with group leader Deveni Temu and performances by the group in various languages from Hiri Motu to Hula, Keapara and Mailu from the southeastern Papuan coast and over to Rarotongan from the Cook Islands.
Episode 12: Buried in the Sand: Digging deep into Gudjal language and culture William Santo is a Gudjal elder, author and musician. Opening with William’s song, ‘Buried in the Sand’, this episode discusses William’s long-term aspiration to uncover Gudjal language resources held in archives and utilise them to rediscover Gudjal history and culture and revitalise the Gudjal language. He is joined by colleagues in this project: linguist Peter Sutton, music researcher Myfany Turpin and linguistic student Alex Anderson. Included in the episode are excerpts from recordings made by Peter in the 1970’s with Gudjal elders and excerpts of the language learning podcast created by William and Alex. The Sutton recordings are made available courtesy of AIATSIS, Sutton Collection, item 1913A. AIATSIS has the largest recording of Indigenous Australian ethnographic recordings. You can search their catalogue here: https://iats.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/external
Following on from episode 10, we continue discussions about early recordings made by Charles Gabriel Seligmann during the Daniels Ethnographical Expedition to British New Guinea in 1904. Deveni Temu brings his perspective to the history and context of the recordings. He is a Hula speaker who was born and raised in Kapari and Viriolo villages and who worked as the Pacific Librarian in the Menzies Library of ANU, Canberra. We hear back from Roge and Gulea Kila who share musical responses to the 1904 recordings; a re-enactment of a Leku Leku song, and a stunning Ate Ate song of lament. All three guests express the value of archival recordings for descendants, connecting the past with contemporary relevance and contributing to cultural continuity.
Excerpts from and a discussion of 1904 wax cylinder recordings from the Hula village in the Rigo District of Papua New Guinea, with Hula speakers Roge and Gulea Kila. Produced in partnership with the British Library, Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies as part of the True Echoes project.
Johnny Obed and Kirk Huffman join Jodie and Steven discussing the cultural significance of sharks in Vanuatu and across Melanesia from the SD1 collection by Simon Devylder. The recordings inspired Johnny from Simon's research on shark spirits, shark attacks and the art of sand drawings. Through Kirk's association with Simon on such recordings and research work, it motivated him to share his long experience in Vanuatu, across Melanesia and the Pacific supporting the maintenance of traditional cultures in a fast-changing world.
Eileen Bobone and Mae Carroll join Jodie and Steven to talk about the 2020 Field Methods Lingusitics course conducted at the Australian National University in Canberra with a focus of the Sinaugoro language of the Rigo District of Central Province, PNG. The personal and cultural connections of Eileen as a Sinaugoro speaker working with Mae in the course led to conversations about the recordings in the AC1, MR1 and TD1 collections. From a linguistics context to storytelling of the Sinaugoro region, the conversations with Eileen brought about interesting cultural and gender-based perspectives.
Rak Mak Mak Marranunggu women Payi Linda Ford and Emily Tyaemaen Ford discuss the private archival collection LPF and the research journey through archival materials that lead to the creation of this repository of Murrunungu culture, language and history.
Prash Krishnan joins Jodie and Steven to talk about the JS2 Collection deposited by researcher and Professor Jeff Siegel of the University of New England, NSW. Conversations with Jeff have helped Prash to better understand his journey to re-connect his linguistic and cultural history of Fiji Hindi developed as a plantation language and his identity as an Indo Fijian of the Girmitiya heritage.
Following on from the previous episode, this podcast is a kind of blindfold test as we listen to a range of musical examples Steven has chosen from the MW6 collection, recordings Michael has not heard for 25 years. The ensuing conversation highlights the diversity and creative breadth of Tolai musical practices and their connection to the history and identity of the Tolai people.
When Sydney Conservatorium Associate Professor Michael Webb met Steven Gagau, they quickly realised they had Tolai connections and Tok Pisin language in common. It turns out that Michael did his PhD research in the Rabaul region where Steven is originally from. As PARADISEC digitised and archived MW6, Michael's collection of tapes and videos, Steven found himself wearing different hats as archivist and community member. Listen in to the conversation between the researcher and the Tolai.
Tom Johnny Obed is a Paamese man living in Sydney. He is an associate of Steven Gagau through the Wantok Association of Sydney, a representative body for Melanesian people living here. Johnny, as he likes to be known, met linguist Terry Crowley during his fieldwork on Paama Island, when Johnny was teaching high school in Vanuatu. Our conversation touches on language, education and music as we discuss Terry's recordings and writings, taking a moment to reflect on the gift he gave Johnny's people.
We are transported to the Western Desert of Central Australia as Pintupi-Luritja woman Linda Tjungkata Anderson listens to her father Nosepeg Tjupurrula singing songs from the Wanji Wanji public song set recorded by musicologist Professor Richard Moyle in 1976. These legacy recordings, held at AIATSIS in Canberra, were taken back to the community in 2018 by Dr Myfany Turpin. Linda's interview is archived in MMT1, a PARADISEC collection of interviews Myfany has made with descendants of such legacy recordings and the sound of her father's voice and his songs evoke Linda's memories of a time when corroborees were part of everyday life.
Grace Hull joins Jodie and Steven to talk about the RL1 collection recorded by Ralph Lawton in the Trobriand Islands, off the east coast of Papua New Guinea. Grace may live far from the village where she grew up, but she carries the village in her heart and this is very apparent as she shares her knowledge of Trobriand music and culture and comments on the value of these recordings.
