Songs, Places, and Pathways of Change: Themes from the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

歌謠、地方、及變遷：來自巴布亞新幾內亞高地的曲調

安德魯．思崔森(Andrew Strathern) ； 潘蜜垃．史都華(Pamela J. Stewart)

《台灣舞蹈研究》 3期 (2007/06) Pp. 1-26

https://doi.org/10.6303/TDRJ.200706_(3).0001

摘要

歌謠與舞蹈對表演者及其參與的觀眾而言是個身份認同的標誌。在哈根山地區那些操著西內陸省Melpa語言的人中，歌謠的意象往往反映或表達一種與當地風景的親密關係。此外，一如那些1950年代以來隨著政府闢路的發展與交通工具的進步而到Melpa的人，歌謠既是當地歷史沿革的鏡子也是其變遷的創造者。本文探討的是歌謠、地景與歷史之間的暗示，透析系列的照片影像與Melpa宇宙觀之間如何象徵性地相互契合。我們的討論將依據影像順序連結歌謠中的主調。首先，我們分析樹木、山坡、河水和雲朵。一顆高大的林木可能代表一個領袖，它的傾倒也表示領袖的死亡。山坡、雨點及雲朵被看作是歌者與其求愛伴侶之間的阻礙。求愛在過去是發生在夜晚時分，也就是在財富移轉成所謂的「moka」場合中的儀式舞蹈之後。在「moka」場合中的舞者經常透過親族的逝世而哀嘆失落，以引起觀者的同情與哀傷；同時，他們對自己財富的展示與身體的裝飾也頗為自鳴得意。許多歌謠的時代思潮包含了這種強烈的悲愴成份（Melpa語稱之為「kond」或「kaemb」）。葬禮歌謠及輓歌在表達這點最直接，可是同樣的成份卻也出現在求愛的歌謠之中。最後，我們將之與台灣南島語族的歌舞作比較，在地方與國家歷史變遷的脈絡中，歌舞逐漸變成了他們文化復興及身份認同的標誌。

關鍵字

巴布亞新幾內亞 ； 意象 ； 悲愴 ； 歌謠

並列摘要

Songs and dances often function as markers of identity for both their performers and those who attend the performances. In the Mount Hagen area among speakers of the Melpa language in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea the imagery of songs often reflects or expresses an intimate relationship with the landscape. In addition songs mirror and create notions of historical change, such as those which came to the Melpa area with the development of government roads and the advent of vehicles from the 1950s onwards. In this paper, we explore the implications of the relationship between songs, landscape, and history by focusing our attention on a set of photographic images and on how these intermesh symbolically with the Melpa cosmos. Our presentation follows sequentially these images and their linkages with prevailing themes in songs. First, we deal with trees, hills, water, and clouds. A tall forest tree may stand for a leader, and its fall for his death. Hills, rain, and clouds are seen as impediments standing between a singer and a courting partner. Courting parties took place in the past in the night-time, after ceremonial dances for occasions of wealth transfer known as ”moka.” The dancers at these ”moka” occasions often lamented the loss through death of kinsfolk, evoking sympathy and grief on the part of the spectators; while at the same time they expressed pride in their displays of wealth and bodily decorations. The ethos of many songs contains a strong element of pathos (”kond” or ”kaemb” in the Melpa language). Funeral songs and laments for the dead express this most openly; but the same sentiment finds its way also into courting songs. We make a brief comparison at the end of our paper with songs and dances from the repertoires of the indigenous Austronesian peoples of Taiwan, among whom songs and dances have become markers of cultural revival and of their recovery of identity in the context of local and national-level historical changes.

並列關鍵字

Melpa ； Papua New Guinea ； Images ； Pathos ； Songs