POV: Songgeri String Band Welcoming Party in Ambai, Papua

You're on a speedboat, the only way to get to Kawipi, a village built on stilts above the blue waters of Cenderawasih Bay in Papua. You've come looking for songgeri, a tradition of string band gospel found only in this area. Luckily, you've come at the invitation of the Oropas, a dynasty of Pentecostal church figureheads and village leaders who've kept the songgeri tradition alive in their village church for decades.

Still, nothing could prepare you for what comes next: as your boat nears Kawipi, another boat sails closer, all decked out in palm leaves like a carnival float. As it draws nearer, you hear the sound of strings, of voices singing in harmony. It is, it dawns on you, the greatest welcoming party of all time: songgeri on a boat.

The Oropas motion for you to board the songgeri boat, so you climb onboard and watch through the leaves of a tree they've strung up in the middle (you don't ask why) as the band stands and plays their homemade lutes and sings their hearts out. There's even a stembas, a massive double bass, planted firmly beside you, with a kid plucking away.

The songgeri boat draws nearer to Kawipi, and soon you hear voices from a pier above the water. It's ANOTHER songgeri band, the whole village it seems, all waiting for you on the pier, clapping their hands, singing some of the most beautiful, joyous music in the world. You pull up to the pier and are beckoned up a ladder to a waiting crowd.

This is Peak Aural Archipelago.

Hear and learn more about songgeri at the new Aural Archipelago post at:
https://www.auralarchipelago.com/aura...