In much of the highlands of Papua, the pikon mouth harp has long been the primary musical instrument: men of the wider Baliem valley region consider their instruments so important as to carry them around with them as accessories, their pikon tucked in their pierced ears, noses, or worn as necklaces. Despite their ubiquity, they’re often overlooked and underappreciated.

Outsiders rarely appreciate the sweetness and complexity of the sound and music of pikon. One ethnographic account I found states that “there are no complicated tunes played on [the pikon], just a simple alternation of high and low tones produced by changing the size of the mouth.” Even the Indonesian-language Wikipedia article for pikon (quoting an Indonesian government website) condescendingly states “suara yang dihasilkan cenderung tidak merdu karena hanya seperti suara kicau burung tanpa nada.” - “the resulting sound [of the pikon] tends not to be tuneful, as it’s just like the tuneless call of a bird.”

In reality, any mouth harpist could tell you that the technique and style of pikon is highly sophisticated, with skilled use of the tongue, lips and breath achieving complex layering of multiple lines of purely articulated overtones. The sound is unlike any other mouth harp playing in the world, and it deserves more respect.

Presented here are two pieces played by Pak Pospan of Tangma, Yahukimo: the first is based on vocal music performed to celebrate victory after tribal warfare; the second is based on the sound of a sung lullaby, nyaneo.

Hear and learn more at the new Aural Archipelago post here:

https://www.auralarchipelago.com/aura...

If you like the content on this channel, please support us on Patreon at:

  / auralarchipelago  

(Video shot in a hotel room in Waena, Jayapura by Palmer Keen and Harun Rumbarar.)