Hadahur The music school established in East Timor by Mary Mckillop East Timor Mission in conjunction with Tekee Media Inc, was formally opened by the President of Timor Leste, His Excellency Dr Jose Ramos Horta,  at a concert in the President’s Palace on Saturday the 18th July.
musicians from Suai (double click on all photos to enlarge)

   children from Bessilau School rehearsing for the concert

Students from Hadahur, Jacob, Mica & Sesca rehearsing aria from Cosi Fan Tutti

Performers were made up of students and staff from the school, Timorese and Internationals.  Performances were given on piano, voice, classical guitar, violin and a variety of ensemble pieces. The students of these instruments commenced studying them via web cam in the past few months, in the case of the classical guitarist only with 2 lessons to date! The long term vision is that these students will be taught and mentored via  skype and they will start to teach students when they feel confident enough to start, with the International teachers backing them up from afar.  The first violin and guitar students of these teachers commenced lessons this July!
  Aurelio Ximenes having a web cam lesson.

This trip a program of music education was introduced to a remote mountain school, Bessilau. Australian music educator is Rachel Scott renowned for introducing similar programs in Australia in remote communities. It was felt that a similar method could be used to introduce music to schools in Timor Leste.  When Rachel approached Hadahur with the idea of training teachers with no musical background to deliver music programs in schools we thought …well why not!  What was started was a huge success beyond any of our expectations,  the staff and students at Bessilau school embraced the program so wholeheartedly and enthusiastically On the day Rachel arrived at Bessilau (after only 3 hours in Timor Leste and a road trip of astonishing beauty, views and daily life so typical in Timor), the whole school had assembled to greet her in true Timorese fashion to walk a corridor between two lines of children singing and a presentation of tais.

By the time she had completed the week the same children and staff were sad to see her go! The principal of the school wholeheartedly embraced the program to the extent that he took part in every class enjoying himself as much as any child!  We are confident that as each stage is introduced to the school over the next few years it will be hugely successful  and become part of the daily curriculum!  This program has been made possible by a grant awarded to Hadahur by the ISME (International Society of Music Education) and Gibson Guitar in their Community music award, which  Hadahur has been awarded  for 2009. (please see Rachel’s report on her week’s work at the end of this blog).
  Bessilau School & Students    typical classroom in the school

The above photos taken on the day the instruments were unpacked at the school.

  some photos from the classes, there were lots of smiles & laughter & noise!!!

Traditional Musicians came from Cova Lima (Suai Loro) and Maubisse and Liquica giving wonderful performances of the traditional music of those districts,  many people in  the audience had not seen traditional music being performed before, certainly not of the calibre presented in this concert. The traditional music co-ordinator, Manuel Pereira performed and organised the musicians of Maubesse, and Liquica, Manuel was the first musician whose music I recorded as part of the Traditional Music Project, a consummate musician and he co-ordinated a spectacular performance. The Dancers from Suai Loro and a guitarist (playing on hand made guitar, somewhat larger than commercially made ones) and  violinist accompanied them.  These performers had an added surprise, as the Director of School Spectacular NSW was present at the concert, and there specifically to see these performers in action  so that he could invite them to School Spectacular…either this November or November 2010.
  Manuel Pereira, Student playing the lakadou.

Dancers from Suai Loro

This concert was the fruition of 15 months since we first commenced lessons.  Teaching of students began last year out of two rooms at the back of the Motael Church  generously lent to the music school by Father Alves. In May this year  Hadahur  had to find other places for lessons, moving equipment to a temporary facility in Lahane,.

Although the school is launched, it is operating in several locations around Dili until much hoped for land is secured, hopefully we can give news of this before too long.  The location for web cam lessons is a room in Centro Juvenile in Taibesse so students can have regular web cam lessons in voice, violin, piano and guitar!  These lessons are given by professional teachers in Australia, some of whom went to Timor this July to work with students (Wendy Dixon – Voice, Ella Bennetts – violin, Ros Dunlop keyboard/clarinet). Four school concerts were given, with the above musicians and Rachel Scott (who was conducting the classroom music program and brought her bright purple cello to Timor….t’was a hit, both the cello and the concerts! A shame there was no time for more! School children, indeed Timorese had not seen the like of such concerts before!  As a team these musicians worked together very well, very hard, a lot of  convivial times were had and personalities were well matched!
Milka Pinheiro having a skype violin lesson

Ella Bennetts (violin teacher), giving a little boy his first lesson.

Wendy Dixon meeting some of her voice students after months of lessons on web cam. one of the rare moments of relaxation and fivolity for Ros Dunlop, Rachel Scott & Wendy Dixon,

There were two  soirees  leading up to the concert in the President’s palace and an impromptu concert two days after the Saturday night concert in a bar/restaurant “Motion” who are known more for their rock concerts, we figured maybe a dozen people might come….the place was packed!  The music school, the kind of music making and concerts it gives is timely!  There will be more regular events at Motion given by the students of Hadahur.  At all concerts, audience members were astonished at the standard of the talent and hard work achieved by students who have had so little tuition. Feedback from the concert has followed those of us travelling back to Australia  all the way home!

Singers from the acapella group Ko Le Le Mai, who performed in every concert.

Milka Pinheiro has been learning violin, mostly on skype for a year now, and played confidently and  musically with her teacher Ella Bennetts and the Director of the Music School Antonio de Padua. Milka has just commenced teacher 4 young children violin under the supervision of her teacher Ella Bennetts.
Ella & student in his first lesson
The singers who had all been working with Australian vocalist Wendy Dixon all gave solo performances and with a few others have formed an accapella group, delighting all who attended concerts with arrangements of traditional songs. Mica, Sesca , Milka and Jacob all gave solo performances in various concerts.

Antonio de Padua accompanying the singers, Jacob, Sesca & Mica.

The Dili audiences were amazed and delighted to learn that there is a classical guitarist in town, Aurelio Ximenes who has only ever had two lessons (via web cam), is largely self taught and passionate about playing. Initially very nervous in the first of the mini concerts he became more at ease as he performed,  he proved to be a focused and sensitive performer. Aurelio will commence teaching two young guitarists the classical guitar this week. As his confidence in teaching increases he will teach other students.

Antonio de Padua, the Director of the music school and pianist displayed his love of Chopin in concert, but during these intense days of workshops and face to face lessons, …some conducted from the hall opposite the church in Becora….even for a while the walls of the lovely old Hotel Turismo were bursting with musical activity from a number of rooms, Antonio discovered he loved playing chamber music, so many chamber pieces (for clarinet, violin, purple cello and piano were added to the programs).  We have discovered there are Malae (foreigners) in Dili who also play instruments to a reasonable level who are keen to play ensemble music, so, in the interim periods when there are no international teachers coming to Dili there will still be possibilities for chamber performances.

It is hoped that now that more prescriptive lessons have been planned for the early childhood classes that the Early Childhood teachers will be ready to open the doors for young children for music classes in January 2010.  At present the music school is concentrating its efforts and resources on educating and increasing the level of performance and skill of those Timorese who will be the teachers of the music school Hadahur. We envisage that the school will expand enrolments in 2010.
Early Childhood music class training teachers.

Report from Rachel Scott on the initial setting up of the classroom music program:

……The music programme is Bessilau was a huge success. Of course the children loved every minute – and why wouldn’t they? But there were a few other interesting things that happened at the school as well. The teachers all joined in – and had as good a time as the children. A good example was  the head teacher at the school. In the first lesson, he walked in, told children off, and prowled up the back. Within ten minutes, he was joining in, with a huge smile on his face. On day two, he was actively helping the children who were struggling. By day four, he was up the front, almost co-teaching with me – still with a huge smile on his face. By the teacher training day, he was the one checking that teachers knew what to do, and had driven around the district, picking up teachers who had gone home already. He is now a huge supporter of the programme.

The teachers are incredibly excited – and extremely grateful. They have agreed to teach the children as best as they can, and to also arrange performances for other schools. We have proved that music surpasses all language barriers, and cultural barriers – and I see this programme as simply growing from success to success.

The children learnt very quickly – and this can only help other areas of their learning – problem solving, memory, gross and fine motor skill development. Another thing this programme has developed is the children’s sense of self-esteem – something that is sadly lacking with these little people, and something I am so pleased to have increased. This alone is invaluable. I cannot truly express how important I believe this programme is – I shall talk about it until I am blue in the face, and would happily relate story after story to any policy maker or funding body. I believe this is some of the most valuable work I have ever done in my life…… Rachel Scott

In April I went to Timor primarily to organise the trip in July when we were to take 4 teachers up and do a concert to launch Hadahur the music school.  Whilst much was done in that trip for that purpose, I was asked spontaneously at the last minute to go to a special thanksgiving festival for the traditional instruments up in Fatubesse. that was amazing, we were in an uma lulic for hours, the smoke from the huge fire cooking inside the house was intense and we had to keep coming out for air, but in spite of nearly gagging several times (even the Timorese with me!) we witnessed a pretty special ceremony with thanks for the lakadou, tohi (big bass drum), babadoks (smaller drums), gongs, and fuis. I witnessed 12 sacrificial chickens and was surprised how silently and quickly they died!  In all a terrific night up in the mountains and I felt very privaleged to be there!

click on the photos below to enlarge them!  babadoks

            Woman playing babadok            gong  lakadou & swords

Manuel Pereira giving thanks for the babadok  Manuel & student playing lakadou

  demonstration of the playing of the Tohi (bass drum)

  a fearsome Tohi warrior!

School presentations are given by Tekee Media every year.  Our bookings are now open for those wanting the presentation in their school.  It is suitable for many subjects in schools, geography, history, music, art, social justice programs to name but a few.  double click on the icon to see the pamflets. Contacts for bookings as for the web site.

scholarship to the national Art School in Sydeny doing a bachelor of Fine Arts),  went to Darwin to give a series of workshops for Children as part of the exhibition the Darwin Museum had running from November to July 2009.  Here are afew photos from that trip,  the kids who went had a great time, particularly with the hands on aspects of the exhibition!

click on photos to enlarge.

cave paintings, Tutuala….we spent afew hours hacking through the jungle to get to these it was dark when we made it.

Alfeo and Mellie were our guides for this trip

Fataluca chant sung to us by these old Tutuala women.

Caves like these house bones of ancestors,  quite afew in the cliffs from Tutuala.  The ground is very hard in this part of Timor, which may account for bones being placed in caves.  Our friend was not so happy scaling the cliff down to the cave!

The rest of that trip was devoted to the music school, teaching students,  hunting down those who might support out quest for funding.  We knew we had a singing teacher in Australia interested in starting skype lessons with singers in Timor, so much was done to organise them for skype lessons. Our location at I net was no longer reliable, I net was having too many problems with viruses, so  a lot of time was spent trying to find another venue.  Eventually Centro Juvenile agreed we could use their facility for skype, which has proven quite good overall.

I went up to Timor in November, primarily to get the music students at the music school hooked up to Skype and comfortable working with the medium of internet music lessons, a mean feat it turned out, downloading anything in Timor on internet takes hours sometimes, skype was no exception. It was frustrating for me as the computers I was working with were PCs and I use apple, and so with all the gliches along the way I was a rank beginner trying to figure out how to get it all working. Luckily there is a terrific internet café in Dili with a man there “Mister Sugar!” I kid you not! Who always managed to put me back on course. Then I had to teach the students. They were quick to learn and grasp the concept of staring and talking to a small screen. On the other end we had my daughter (a violinist) who also had never used skype teaching. Our first student in this process is a lovely bright and eager Timorese girl Milka, and she and Ella from the first five minutes behaved as if they had worked in this medium all their lives. Milka has been having regular lessons ever since, not too many breakdowns. Antonio (Toto) Padua is going to commence piano and theory lessons using the same system. We had to get him a lightweight keyboard he could take to internet cafes (1 – net in Dili has been most accommodating to us!) So when the container gets to Dili in February he shall start lessons too. We are adding students all the time to this program. We are adding vocal lessons in February with a vocal teacher who has offered to teach students in Dili using this method. Of course they will be backed up with face to face lessons as well. But it is a great method for long distance learning, even as precarious as it is to make work in a country like East Timor where the internet can be frustratingly slow.
Milka having her first web lesson! click to enlarge
I also went to the opening of the exhibition “Husi bei ala Timor Sira Nia Liman ~ from the hands of our ancestors”, at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin, on my way up to Timor. They are to be commended for a fine exhibition, well worth a visit if you get a chance to get to Darwin between November and July this year.

I continued on my merry quest to obtain music from districts I still don’t have recordings ( or very little) – principally Liquica and Aileu. We now have a good selection of music from 11 of the 13 districts after 6 years of recording. I had with me the sound editor from the feature film being made about the Balibo Five “Balibo”, Sam Petty, who was up there to do recordings. He was to have a driver Nelson – whom I know well from the music group “Rai Nain” – he is their drummer. We arrived in Dili a week before Independence day celebrations on the 28th November, there groups of young people marching all over the town in spite of the horrific heat, the best group would win a prize on Independence day, so we negotiated our way with difficulty to Hotel Turismo where Sam was staying.

That night we went to a concert of the St Cecilia Choir, in celebration of St Cecilia – t’was St Cecilia day, which Sam recorded, it was a long concert and the hall seemed to have no air at all, it was like being in a sauna, yet the singing was lovely and the show went on. At the end there was a spectacular looking cake and some very warm champagne which was popped, I thought it best to avoid! There was a magnificent feast of traditional Timorese food, Sam loved his introduction to Timor!
Sam Petty, Sr Manalu, Nelson : click to enlarge
The next day we went up to Dare to visit Sr Manalu Lordes, a vivacious nun who has done so much to help her people and is much loved and admired in East Timor, her reputation outside Timor for her work and commitment to the Timorese people goes far. She is like the Scarlet Pimpernel – never at home (she has many orphanages and a TB clinic she runs) so I had no expectations she would be there this time, but, to our delight she was! We spent all day with her, recording songs she and her young people sang, listening to her stories, she has some 300 resistance songs she wrote during Indonesian occupation, and has offered to record these for me some time. Every time she would get outraged with scenes she had witnessed or the latest crime to ripple through Timor, she would write a song!

Sister Manalu & Ros : click to enlarge
I was giving long lessons on piano to Antonio in between recording trips, and helping those students of singing – at least a clarinet player (me) can help with the breathing part of it all. There is one beautiful tenor voice Jacob who I later discovered only had one working lung. I also managed to see the Minister of Education and the President to give them copies of the proposal for the Music School, they are keen to see what develops, so we are hopeful of support from them. The Internally Displaced People are gradually being moved out of the Motael Church compound, so with luck the facilities for the Music school location which we are hoping will be the location for the music school, might be available this year. Meanwhile the music school is itinerant working from the two rooms behind the Motael Church, to the internet café and Balides Church!

As always there are the negotiations for arranging for traditional music recordings. This trip I was determined to get more from Balibo and Liquica. Sam needed to go to Balibo, so we stayed with my friend Mong (from Arte Moris art school), at his family home in Balibo. On the way we stopped near Liquica to do some recording organised through a lively Timorese woman Mana Kassian who is the driving force behind a community house which provides support for women and child minding.
children who danced Tebe Dai in Balibo
In Balibo we recorded children dancing Tebe Dai from the local school, and stayed the next morning for the Independence Celebrations in the morning. We drove back to Dili to the Independence Celebrations in front of the Parliament, whoever was the organiser of the display choreographed it very well! The rest of the week was devoted to giving lessons and making sure the skype was working and that the students could do it on their own. Success, the day after I returned to Sydney, Milka and Antonio called and had their first lesson, unassisted by anyone to make it happen!

Timorese girls in traditional dress going to Independence day celebrations: click to enlarge

On the 26th December 2008 the children’s choir “Coro Lorosae”, formed in Portugal in 1975 (when the Timorese fled from the invading Indonesians) had a reunion concert and other activities in Sydney. The highlight was a concert in Liverpool. It was a stirring occasion and the concert a memorable one. This photo is of most of the choir members, some of whom had not seen each other for 30 years, they came together from all over Australia, Timor and Portugal. They are planning another concert and reunion in 2010 in Dili!

click to enlarge

Ros has been in Darwin from the 12th to the 16th January doing presentations about East Timor as part of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory’s summer holliday program. There is an exhibtion running at from November to July at MAGNT “HUSI BEI ALA TIMOR SIRA NIA LIMAN ~ FROM THE HANDS OF OUR ANCESTORS” . If you are in Darwin it is a wonderful exhibition and well worth the visit. I have been to East Timor many times and I learnt a lot from this exhibition!

Tony Amaral, the TImorese artist living with our family in Sydney, came up to work with children with art and craft in the discovery centre which is designed for children. Tony has just successfully completed first year Bachelor of Fine Arts at the National Art School in Sydney.

Below are some photos from the presentations, we had children dressing up in the traditional costumes, it was a very hands on show!

Charisma’s last concert for 2008 is on

October 26th October
3pm.
Recital Hall West

Conservatorium of Music

Guest artist Valmai coggins – viola.

Complimentary drinks at the conclusion of the concert and nibbles.

Tickets $30 adults, $20 concesson, $10 students, children with a paying adult are free.

Included in our concert to celebrate Oktoberfest are a combination of works by German Composers and Australian composers.

Two of the G’day Africa chamber works by Moya Henderson for clarinet,/bass clarinet, viola, cello and piano, the first G’day Africa has influences of several African styles of rhythm and music, the second G’day Africa is a lyrical peaceful work dedicated to Kevin Volans.

The Minature trio by Alfred Hill originally written for violin, cello and piano, with a part Alfred Hill later wrote for Clarinet in lieu of the violin part, in a new addition by Stiles Publications, the sole publisher of Alfred Hill’s music.

Chiffre IV by Wolfgang Rihm for bass clarinet, cello and piano is a sparsely textured work written in 1983.

Wilhelm Berger Trio for clarinet, cello and piano is from earlier times in contrast to the rest of the programme.

Charisma is an ensemble which continues to explore the repertoire for clarinet, cello and piano, and has a reputation for presenting concerts which display an eclectic variety of styles and repertoire. Australian Composers are featured in each program and they have commissioned and premiered many pieces in their years of concert giving.

We hope you can come and join us for a glass of champagne or wine ….or a german beer to celebrate the end of our 2008 season!
click on image to enlarge

Somehow we made to Timor, though it was doubtful we would! At 6pm the night before we left my passport was not where it ought to have been! I literally stripped the studio in search of it, 3 hours later found it ! So the relief of all we set off at 4.30am next morning. Our plane from Darwin to Dili was turned back to Darwin after 45 minutes in the air because of mechanical problems (no mechanical repairer for the air line in Dili!) so we arrived in Dili 3 hours later than we should have!

Our first trek out of Dili too us to the central region of Timor for Max Stahl’s wedding on top of the highest mountain Ramelau (2,900 metres) and had a few days in the cold, Hatobiliko and Maubisse - very beautiful country. Believe it or not there is an attempt to fix the roads now, and they are vastly improved, not so many chunks of road disappearing into holes in the mountainside! One still has to drive slowly on the road to Hatobiliko though! My children, Harry Ella and I played at the wedding hard work so high up a mountain! There was also traditional music up the top and a lulic ceremony as this a sacred place to the Timorese. It is also the only time I have seen half a bottle of Moet being exploded into space – a Timorese guy who must have seen a few too many Hollywood movies shook up the bottle so the cork would pop really well and most of this expensive champagne was split on the table WHAT A WASTE.

We all made our way to the Poussade in Maubisse for the party at night. It was freezing everyone was tired from the climb up the mountain, but the dancing and partying went on most of the night, we got to bed and slept the sleep of the dead until Harry woke up screaming that there was someone in the room! I told him to stop being ridiculous (But, I hadn’t locked the door!) and got into bed with him to settle him down, his heart was racing. We nearly got to sleep and he screamed out again! So….I turned all the lights on, checked the bathroom , cupboards etc, locked the door and we went back to sleep again. The next morning we heard there had been an intruder in 3 other rooms and a lot more disturbance! .I Harry got around all day with a :”see I told you so expression on his face.

Our next adventure took us to Balido via liquica, (we stopped on the way for a swim at a stunning beach there, Tony and Alfeo (Arte Moris artists) played soccer with some local kids), and a little village an hour out of Balido Manaloon close to the Indonesian border. I had music to record there, so when we finally go to Balibo the first part of our journey (which my timorese helpers assured me was 2 hours from Dili (more than double that distance!!) we got there at 10pm at night and went to bed basically after only eating a salad made with vegies I had bought at the markets before we left. Next day we went to Manaloon, we drove the car to a nearby village and walked an hour for the last bit. It was a little hamlet on a hill really charming traditional village. There was a welcome ceremony for us, they expected us to take part in the beetle nut ceremony, I’ve had it before and really don’t like it, but, Lillie being adventurous stuffed it all in her mouth so I had to follow suit or loose face! You should have seen the kids mouths when they realised how bitter it was!!

There was a lot of fake coughing going on and wads of wet mushy beetle leaves and nuts in palms of hands! Then I suggested we were thirsty and could we have some coconuts (to wash the taste of the beetle nut away!) then the long long wait while the secus decided if they would play for us!! This waiting around is normal for recordings, but I reckon this one was some kind of record, 6 hours later (I regretted not having a book with me! Rule number one when doing this recording, take a good book for the inevitable waits!) we started recordings. By the time we got outside the traditional meeting house to record dances there was a howling gale! But after some tua (local plonk) I persuaded them to sing some worksongs with actions – they slashed a whole field and sung some great stuff, it made all the waiting around worth it! After that they offered to sing the local death song which was wonderful. As I had been told that Rob Connelly was interested in the music I was recording and especially this place I thought well this final song might be really appropriate since the feature film he is doing is about the Balibo Five!

We bade our goodbyes and headed back to the village where the car was content that a good days work was done. It was dusk when we got back and we were looking forward to finally having a decent meal in Balibo but, the car wouldn’t start! Sounded like a fuel blockage since the fuel used in Timor is often dirty this was not an unreasonable diagnosis! Well try as I might we couldn’t get it started, no road maintenance in Timor!!! Inn fact where we were, no phone range, no electricity no other traffic – the road in had been like driving along a dry creek bed! So, we asked if anyone had a motorbike in the village, they didn’t! But someone in a nearby village did, so one of us (Tony volunteered to walk there), around the corner at that moment came the guy with the bike –( this sort of thing happens a lot in Timor!) so Tony went with him to Balibo for help and we waited. Not for long, the chief of the village said that we had probably done bad lulic in Manaloon and that he would do a chant around the car to chase away the bad spirits and then we would be on our way – if I only had his faith! Before knew it, he was going around and round the car carrying a beetle nut container and sprinkling lime powder at the car – our Irish companion Niemh couldn’t believe that he could possibly be doing this for something mechanical, I said if it worked I’d believe anything! After 10 minutes of chanting he told me to start the car and he was crest fallen when it didn’t work!!! (I felt like I was in the midst of the set the gods must be crazy!) The kids were invited into a house to sleep (it was 8pm by now!) and then our chief said…I am not as powerful I will get the chief from the village you were at!! I said please don’t go to any trouble! He insisted, a couple of hours later and he was back saying the big chief said it was a mechanical problem – sanity at the highest level!!!! Shortly after Tony was back with a truck and two mechanics, try as they might it wouldn’t start and we decided to tow it back. A Pajero being towed by a truck with a lot less guts and bald tyres up some dicky slopes and roads! The tow wire snapped lots of times and we all got out to push up hills, etc and eventually on one bad one we abandoned the idea and went back to Balibo (kids and girls and the Timorese guys decided they would keep trying). They got in at 3am and were back there at 8pm next morning, Eventually we got the truck back to Balibo and got a new fuel filter and set off for Dili!

Next day (Thursday) was running around getting organised to catch the boat to Oecussi. The kids were reluctant to get on the road again, especially as they had memories of the boat from before, me too and it was a rocky long trip (old trip was 16 hours). We were in for a pleasant surprise, the trip was smooth 11 hours, and a new boat, the Germans had donated it. We arrived, still unable to contact Richard Dashbach the priest in Kutet to warn him we were coming! We started walking to Caritas HQ to beg a ride up the mountain, I forgot what a hike it was, we had a lot of gear – sleeping bags, mats, presents, instruments! An American working for the UN picked us up and took us to Topu Honis in Mahata and they gave us breakfast and then we set off for caritas to see if we could get a ride. Kutet is a four hour walk up the mountain or an hour and half drive. Our friends in Caritas remembered us from last time and were pleased to take us up. We said could we please get a ride back on the following Tuesday, they smiled and said no worries!) We went up the mountain through Baki and the market on the river and arrived in Kutet in time for lunch to the astonishment of all at Topu Honis – orphanage in Kutet. The priest Richard Dashbach was amazed that I carried out my promise to come back in July with the kids, he was also truly delighted to see us! He told us we arrived on a perfect day, they had just killed 2 pigs and a cow for 3 weddings about to take place in Kutet and everybody on the mountain was coming. 2 brides and 1 groom were ex orphans from Topu Honis.

The evening was a great wedding feast, music and dancing, the traditional Bsoot, and Portuguese dance music. Late at night they persuaded me to dance the traditional Bsoot so the brass bells were tied to my feet, they were heavy several kilos each! So I and danced the bsoot with the locals it was great fun, I even drank the local brew , tua….normally I don’t like palm wine, but Kutet Tua is amazingly good, kutet also boasts beautiful spring water it is one of the few places in Timor where you can drink the water out of the taps. They should really bottle it and sell it as the local spring water! We had 4 lovely restful days at Topu Honis.

Richard (the priest) gave some great accounts of their times during 1999 and a tour of some of their hiding holes and places they staged battles). Kutet staged an the only armed resistance to the Indonesians in 1999, they are so isolated they hadn’t heard that the Timorese were told not to bear arms against the militia and Indonesians, and they were determined not to be slaughtered as defenceless civilians. They did a battle largely of bluff, fake but noisey bamboo canons, machetes tied to poles bows and arrows, word went down the mountain that there was a priest with an army on top of the mountain and they were armed and dangerous! Hardly any civilians were killed as a consequence in Kutet. On our second last night in Kutet, we presented a slide show of photos we had taken of them in 2006 and then this trip, lots of laughs!

Then we showed photos of Australia, New Zealand and Harry and I did an impromptu concert of gypsy music! On the morning we were to leave it was decided that I would walk to the bottom with Richard and a couple of other Timorese and caritas truck would as planned get Harry and Lillie and the gear. Topu Honis is buzzing from 4.00am and I was up having breakfast, the kids were up – all very excited and any barriers that had existed at the beginning of our stay were completely gone now! It was just breaking dawn when we set off down the mountain. The ground was gravely, not great soil, very dry and hard to walk on without slipping. Some precipices I was impressed the Timorese were both barefoot, their feet must be so tough! We malae were in good footwear and still struggling not to loose our grip on the ground! About an hour into the walk there appeared suddenly a fast flowing stream, from no-where, apparently under the mountain is a spring and the water is incredibly pure, everyone drinks it on the mountain and it certainly didn’t make us sick. They really ought to tap it! Lots of beetle nut palms lovely rainforest, the mountain is full of little microclimates.

By the time we made it to the bottom the stream was completely gone into the ground and the vegetation was dry again! People stopped us all the way down to chat to the priest, not just because he is the priest,rather they see him as a hero who saved them from being obliterated by the Indonesian army!

At the bottom we went to Caritas HQ to make sure they had gone to Kutet to get the kids, they didn’t even remember us asking them!! Normal stuff in Timor! All vehicles were out in villages except those with mechanical problems, I panicked! The boat only goes to Dili twice a week! I met Chris Walsh the CEO for Caritas who had just got back to Oecussi from Bali that morning and he arranged for someone to go back up the mountain with me with a truck! By the time we got up the top the kids had basically given up on us! We were hours later than the truck had promised and starving! A large number of Topu Honis kids waved goodbye and several other piled into the truck for the trip back down!

We went straight to the boat got tickets and assumed we would leave pretty soon afterwards the tide was up, (Oecussi has a shallow landing for the boat so they only come in High Tide), but the boat took its time coming in, so by the time it came in the tide was so high that many of the vehicles and motor bikes could not be driven on to the boat. UN police, Boat people, other police all deliberated with what to do for another hour (10 of the Topu Honis kids were coming with us on the Boat to Dili and we were all part of a crush waiting to get on the boat). After an hour I had had enough, we had goats lying down on our feet, chickens crowing and pooing all over the place, every animal – and human making a far old din,a total circus! Timorese are not great with water more than 6 inches deep! I decided to just wade across, several others had the same ideas, and all the kids followed suit. Nothing the officials did could stop us! I was soaking wet, deposited gear and kids (none of the Topu Honis kids had tickets for the boat and we got them all on board soaking wet.

Some three hours later we set sail for Dili! As with the trip across we slept outside under the stars, all the Topu Honis kids with us, it was a real adventure for us all especially all the kids! We arrived in Dili at 5am and went to our friend Marie Clare who has a house in front of the president’s. A real first world home in third world Dili!

The next day I went to the cultural ministry to record the rare instrument the “Ailos” from Suai Loro originally and now almost extinct! I learnt it is played as a set of 4 different pitches with a player on each part – like a marimba with one person per note! There are two male dancers to accompany the musicians.

The last few days were spent teaching those wanting lessons, trying to organise the on-going needs of the music school and attempt another trip to Liquica to record. In the process of all this I managed to get rather sick with a cold, so I was half hearted about going to Liquica again, and was ambivalent as to whether a recording happened or not. On the Saturday afternoon I met Max Stahl and his family at the beach for a bit of down time and swim, not really up to my usual energy levels, was nice to watch the fading sun over the bay. Our beach space was invaded by a troop of westerners looking rather out of place for the beach! After a bit we got talking to them, they were the film crew for the feature film “Balibo Five” that had just started its shoot. I was introduced to Robert Connelly the director, who said “Ros Dunlop, I have been told about you and your music, I have been intending to contact you with regard to the music you have that could be suitable for the film….I mentioned our recent trip to Balibo….such is the way things work in Timor.

I got a phone call that night to say Liquica would be on next morning be up early! So, feeling rather lousy I drove to Liquica with a couple of “scouts” from the Audiovisual archive. We waited around for a good hour for the musicians and I fell asleep precariously balanced on a small ledge on a meeting house, I was feeling worse each minute all I could think of was getting back to bed! Eventually the musicians straggled up to the meeting house, guitars, violins, I was too sick to be disappointed that we had made the effort for portugese style music. But with them was an instrument and player “Au” a long bamboo instrument rather like a digerido. The combination was actually terrific! So it was worth the effort. I had never seen or heard this instrument before. Afterwards I kept probing to see if there were any local songs or other instruments. Eventually an old man said I play fuis but they are in my home, we volunteered to drive him home, hoping to loose some of the crowd and also the noise (the onlookers to all recordings always make it difficult to get good clear recordings!!) We went up a track that seemed to vanish into scrub, there was no more road going up this mountain. He told us we were at his house, but I couldn’t even see a house! We got out of the car and who should greet us but Manuel Pereira the lakado player who is now our head of traditional music!!I had been trying to make contact with him for 3 weeks! I couldn’t believe it! Amazingly I had the phone, and a sim card and charge for him and hadn’t taken it out of the car, so we spent the afternoon teaching him to use the phone! We also recorded a lovely bass fui. Manuel promised to take charge of the music of Liquica for the next time I visited. He said he would be in Dili a couple of days later, I asked how he travelled there, he said by bicycle! It is about 1 ½ hours by Car! No wonder he looks so fit, he is a grandfather! I am looking forward to something truly unique musically speaking in the next trip! We had lunch at a local restaurant and made our way back to Dili.

That night I took 50 people (mostly Timorese) out for dinner, Arte Moris students, Tony’s family (Tony is our art student living with us in Sydney) and other good friends. We had a cheap but great meal on the beach for just a few dollars a head! Somehow we made it back on the plane next day with no misadventures and set down in Sydney to a nippy 8º and all wished we were back in Timor again!

Abbottsleigh had an Asia Day for their year 8 students. Tekee Media was asked to give workshops to girls through out the day, giving them a background on the culture of East Timor and then teaching them a traditional dance and song. The dances picked were from Suai, in the Cova Lima district of Timor. A unique dance is done in this district called the Likurai, a beautiful dance which requires quite a skill with arm and hand movements as well as very good balance. The girls learnt quickly and were able to present the dances in concert at the end of the Asia Day. Below are two likurai from Cova Lima Districts: the first dancers from Camanasa, the second dancers from Suai Loro.