Cities And Memory

I joined the project late and so this was one of the only remaining sounds - The Bwiadogan Kadede from Goodenough Island chose me, recorded by anthropologist Diamond Jenness. I was delighted because this randomness fits with my experimental approach to creating music. But I became increasingly concerned with the disconnect between this project and the people who live in the place the sound was collected from. Could I, a complete outsider, a person with no knowledge of Goodenough Island, its people, land or culture, use this sound in a way that wouldn’t reproduce Jenness’s racism and hubris?I did some digging in Jenness’s writing, particularly The Northern D’Entrecasteaux and Language, Mythology and Songs of Bwaidoga, to try and get a better understanding of the song’s lyrics and meaning, but all I really know about it is that it’s a dance song where singers are arranged in parallel rows. I joined a Goodenough Islanders Facebook group to ask if anyone knew about the song and to express my gratitude for having