MEDIA RELEASE

The Hon Tony Burke MP
Minister for Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship Minister for the Arts

INAUGURAL AUSTRALIAN ARTS IN ASIA AWARD FOR EAST TIMOR

An Australian musician working in East Timor has taken out one of the new Australian Arts in Asia Awards announced by Arts Minister Tony Burke in Sydney tonight.

Minister Burke presented the award to Tekee Media who took out the Music category for their musical publication Lian Husi Klamar: Musika Tradisional Husi Timor-Leste (Sounds of the Soul: The Traditional Music of East Timor), written by musician Ros Dunlop.

“These awards were created to recognise, celebrate and promote the Australian artists contributing to stronger, deeper and broader cultural links with Asian nations through their work in their countries,” Minister Burke said.

“Our relationship with East Timor is significant, and the contribution of Australian artists is demonstrated by the 2 nominations we received from artists engaging with East Timor.”

“Tonight we are celebrating this artist taking out the award for the Music category, along with the remaining 13 awards shared between Australian artists and arts organisations engaging with their counterparts from China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Mongolia.”

“I congratulate Tekee Media on their creativity and dedication, and thank them for their contribution to our relationship with East Timor through their strong collaborative partnerships with arts organisations in East Timor.”

Lian Husi Klamar: Musika Tradisional Husi Timor-Leste (Sounds of the Soul: The Traditional Music of East Timor) is the culmination of an extensive 10 year project in East Timor. The author recorded the traditional music of East Timor, a deeply hidden culture in danger of extinction, thus preserving it for future generations.

The book is published in two languages, Tetun and English and communicates the rich and diverse culture of Timor’s music making to the world. The book is further enhanced with paintings by Timorese artists, whose works depict various aspects of traditional musical culture.

There are transcriptions of songs in both western and Indonesian notation and also has an accompanying CD and DVD.

Tekee Media is a music-based organisation that is committed to helping the East Timorese revive their indigenous music and put it to practical contemporary use through the East Timorese education system. Their Sounds of the Soul publication is the culmination of a 10 year project to record and preserve the traditional music of East Timor.

The Australian Arts in Asia Awards were created to help promote the Australian Government’s commitment in the national cultural policy Creative Australia to the increasing engagement of artists and arts organisations in cultural exchanges building collaborative partnerships with their international counterparts.

For more information on the awards, visit: http://arts.gov.au/asiaawards

Thursday, 1 August, 2013

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Tony Amaral 2013

Dear Timor/Australian Cultural Exchange Supporters,

“Freedom of Expression” is a painting that powerfully expresses the spirit and soul of Timor (klamar) and, as such, we believe it deserves to be hung in a public place for all Timorese and visitors to view and enjoy. We are inviting individuals and organisations to become involved in this worthy project by joining a consortium to purchase the painting for display in a place of prominence, in a significant museum in East Timor.

This large, imposing, oil on canvas painting, is a worthy testament of Timorese traditional heritage in a contemporary setting. Tony is a Timorese artist who studied at the National Art School in Sydney and now exhibits his work internationally. In July this year, he held an exhibition in Sydney that included this very significant and meaningful painting. An image of the painting along with the artist’s biography and statement on the work can be viewed below.

Donations towards the purchase of the painting can be made online to

Account Name: Tekee Media Inc
National Australia Bank
Account number: 563397005
BSB:082 125

or a cheque can be sent to :

Tekee Media,
17 Callan St
Rozelle NSW 2039

If you donate online, please write Freedom of Expression – or Painting as reference to the deposit and send an email to rosdunlop@tekeemedia.com with the amount you have donated so you can be sent a receipt. Your name will be also be added to list of donors to be displayed with the painting. If you wish your donation to remain anonymous, please advise when you email Ros. The cost of the painting is $7,500 .

Thank you for considering this investment in Timor’s cultural heritage and we will keep you posted on our progress.

Kind regards,

Ros Dunlop
Tekee Media Inc
rosdunlop@tekeemedia.com

About the Artist, Tony Amaral

Tony Amaral is a visual artist. He was born in Timor-Leste in 1984 and grew up in Dili, Timor-Leste during the time of the Indonesian occupation. His first teacher was the Indonesian artist Yahya Lambert who lives in Timor-Leste. Tony joined Arte Moris Free Art School in Dili in 2002 as one of the first students of the school, (founded by Swiss artist Luca Gansser and his wife Gabriella). The art school began as a collective of artists who lived and worked in the grounds of Arte Moris. During this time Tony took part in many projects and exhibitions, nationally and internationally. He travelled with exhibitions to Australia, Indonesia and Switzerland. During the civil unrest in 2006 he took part in the peace campaign of posters and Murals throughout Timor to help restore peace to the troubled country. His work hangs in the Presidential Palace in Dili, East Timor.

In 2008 he was awarded a scholarship to study art at The National Art School in Sydney, Australia. He was the first Timorese artist to graduate from the National Art School. He attained a Bachelor of Fine Art in 2011. He was also awarded the Chroma Prize for Painting in his final year.

After graduation he returned to East Timor as Artist in Residence at Arte Moris Art School, he is now the artistic director of Arte Moris. In this capacity he has curated a number of exhibitions, served as an inspiration and mentor for artists and students in his homeland. He gave his first solo show in Dili in October 2011 called Dame ba rai nebe’e maka iha problema – Peace to this troubled land. It was the first solo exhibition by a Timorese artist in Timor. The exhibition used mixed media abstract collages with a focus on local newspaper cuttings and bold colours and stencils to tell a story of a nation that is continuing to experience a crisis of faith in development and governance, which in turn is having an impact on people’s sense of harmony. This exhibition was received with critical acclaim.

In 2012 he gave his first solo exhibition in Sydney At The Vanishing Point gallery in Newtown. He was also invited to participate in the 15th Asian Biennale in Bangladesh, and was the first Timorese artist to participate in this Biennale.

Growing up in a country under occupation has had a profound influence on Tony, expressed through his art.

Freedom of Expression, 2013, oil on canvas, 260cm x 140cm , Photograph by John Lee

Artist Statement

The relationship between me and my art is not far from my lulik. A lot of the ideas in my new work are about the traditional belief system of the Timorese, which is called lulik. Lulik is at the soul of the traditional animist religion of the Timorese. Symbols of this religion can be found in my work, for example; rocks, trees, the cosmos and the ancestors. When I was little, my family would do things together. At night time my father would point to the stars and tell me that all the stars were avo (grand parents), he also showed me which ones were abo fulan (the moon), abo fitun (the stars) and abo tasi (the sea).

When I moved to Arte Moris with my fellow art students and the founder, Luca Gansser in 2003 we found more than 50 rocks, old rocks which described a family, a mother holding a child, the father and the family, these were lulik rocks. This was an old sculpture which had been part of the Indonesian Museum.

I paint my tradition, the ancestors, the spirits, but I never have seen them, these things are from the old lulik. I like to paint about something that I am scared of, and something that I never imagined. I paint from the stories I am told; for example, when I was little grownups might say ‘be careful with the dark’, and then mention someone who has died, or an ancestor with one eye, or a certain name. Then they would say, you might dream or see this ancestor and Timorese revere their ancestors.

I have never seen my old lulik because of the new religion, (Catholic). Timorese have two ways of believing, Catholic and animism and the two often get mixed up. In the districts the people might do old lulik before the mass starts. Some traditional symbols of animist religion often decorate the outside of the Catholic churches in Timor.

I have never seen my old lulik but as an artist I do have my own lulik which I have expressed in my recent artworks.

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This grandmother is the wife of Senor Joao, the Lia na’in in Ainaro

We had surprisingly good weather for the wet season. The roads seemed to be as rough as they were on my first trips to Timor in 2002. There was an absence of traffic along our journey, and villages en route were very quiet now that the UN and other foreign peace keeping forces had left Timor.  I hardly saw any other malae(foreigners) on my travels through the districts during the following fortnight. Not much has changed for many of these villages since my first trip.  Still many of them have no electricity or intermittently, infrastructure is minimal, the roads as terrible in remote villages as they ever were, and many Timorese still walk long distances for their daily water. For those Timorese with businesses which serviced the needs of the malae, faces were long as they ponder what seems to them to be an economic slowdown. As I gave out the books, and watched Timorese of all ages turn the pages of the book, I wondered how many of them had ever held a book before, let alone one they could keep.

These children are from a family who I had stayed with during research in Camanasa I had just given them a copy of the book.

It was wonderful seeing so many of the musicians who I had recorded years before, and be able to personally give them a tangible product of their performances. They were amazed that I was back there with a book to give them – and particularly delighted when they saw themselves in photos in the book or the DVD.

Ros giving books to the Baros family in Suai Loro, this family sung the song “in beluk” published in the book

When we were driving further east down the mountains into Hatudu our brakes failed. Luckily the toyota we were driving was a manual and four wheel drive! I nursed it down that first mountain in first gear low range, gripping the wheel and hoping that we really wouldn’t see another vehicle (we didn’t!).  When we got to the bottom we asked some Timorese in a truck if there was a mechanic in Hatudu who could help us, they said they didn’t know anyone and advised us to keep driving to Same for help – I was not happy about that!  A teenage boy overheard us and said his uncle was a mechanic and took us to him. Like so many Timorese in the remote villages I have encountered, they are generous and helpful to a fault. This mechanic turned out to be fantastic and a hell of an improvisor. With hardly a tool, he worked on our toyota for hours and managed to find some glue to do a temporary fix so we could get back to Dili. He apologised for not having any proper tools to do the job. He told us he had worked for 12 years for the UN as a mechanic and that he was sure if we took our time and kept topping up the brake fluid we would make it back to Dili. Three litres of brake fluid and a day and half later we limped into Dili, we might have broken a record for the slowest journey from Hatudu to Dili,(the distance is not much more than 160 kms). The final mountain down to Dili took us 3 hours to negotiate. Our nerves had taken a beating on this journey, but we had managed to distribute more than 300 books to that part of the country in spite of the obstacles.

Fernanda da Costa, the Director of Gruppu Lafaek (who recorded the Makikit dance in Suai Loro and images of this group can be found in the book)

Two days later with the brakes fixed and after meetings to organise book distribution to some places I would not get to, due to time constraints, we reloaded our toyota with hundreds more books and set off along the north coast to the east.

Senor Salvatore da Costa Pereira, a Lia na’in who shared his knowledge of the traditional music, he is also pictured in the front cover of the book “Sounds of the Soul”

I had been assured by a friend of mine that the lia na’in (cultural custodian) from Fatulia near Venilale, Salvatore Pereira was still alive. He had shared so much of his knowledge of the musical culture in his area with me over the years, and now he was very old and frail. I so much wanted to give him a copy of the book myself, and now it seemed I could. This meeting was the personal highlight of this trip. When I arrived to Senor Salvatore Pereira’s house and emerged from the toyota with a copy of the book, he saw me coming and struggled out of his chair and held one hand out while he steadied himself with the other, when I gave him the book he hugged it to his chest with tears in his eyes. In our first meeting he told me that the traditional music would die with with his generation I promised him that I was going to write a book documenting the music,  I think he hoped rather than believed it would happen. He said to me with a big smile on his face, “Thank you, now our music won’t die after all, I am so happy”!

Ros with Senor Salvatore da Costa Pereira after giving him a copy of the book, “Lian Husi Klamar”

We continued our journey down to the south coast through the Vikeke district, negotiated potholes and stony roads, and to top it off  bogged for half a day on the mountain in the village of Babulo situated near the south side of Mt Matebean and in spite all our efforts remaining bogged. A group of farmers came along and hooked a rope up to our toyota and as they heaved on the rope they sang a tebe (traditional dance) they leant back on the rope and pulled then simulating the movements of the tebe stamped their legs and pulled harder as the song progressed. I forgot I was supposed to start the engine, I was spellbound by their song and actions, here was the traditional music in its practical usage – to help ease the workload! However, their singing was in vain the truck didn’t budge! While we pondered how we were going to escape the muddy bog I decided to take copies of the book up to the Xefe (village chief) who had six months earlier been such a wonderful host to us when we were gathering information for the book. He was in Dili, so I left copies for the schools in Babulo and also got his contact details. When I went back to the toyota my friends and the local villagers told me that we needed to contact the Xefe who could organise help (the local roadside assistance service!)  but no-one knew the Xefe’s number, I laughed and told everyone I had just got it!, So we phoned the Xefe in Dili, and he phoned a trucking company down the bottom of the mountain and called us back to say help was on the way. Half an hour later with reggae music pumping loudly from inside the cabin a huge yellow truck appeared, hooked us up with a cable and plucked us out of the mud as fast as a cork being pulled out of a bottle! We headed for Iliomar after that, two hours along the road we were stopped by a huge tree that had fallen over the road, we tried to build a stone bridge over the tree so we could drive over it! Needless to say due to our poor bridge engineering skills we had to admit defeat and retrace our steps back to Baukau, which added another ten hours to our trip. We arrived in Baukau after midnight and camped on a friend’s verandah. We resumed our journey east the next day on the north coast road this time – truly the best road in Timor! Near Los Palos I called in to see Justino Vallentim who had helped so much with the fataluku songs and culture, and was about to start the fataluku translation of the book. He he grabbed me by both my shoulders and said “the book is wonderful, just wonderful!” I grinned back and said – “this was a community project my friend!” One of the final drop offs was to a musician and director of a music group in Los Palos. He was astonished to see me, he smiled broadly and said “you came back! malae never come back, they take what they want of our culture, make money from it,  but they don’t give anything back,” to which I replied, “ I was always coming back and I will always keep coming back”!

Senor Abilio dos Santos with Ros after receiving the book, delighted that so many copies were being given to the Timorese

Copies of the book are now in the libraries, many of the schools, lia na’in, Xefe suku and with the many musicians throughout Timor who gave their knowledge, time and performances for recordings.  The response of the Timorese to the book has been gratifying and overwhelming, I am proud to have been able to be of service to the Timorese people in the writing of this first book on the traditional music of Timor.

Joao Baros, Raraun Player receiving a book

The book was launched in Dili, East Timor (September 2012), Sydney Australia (October 2012)  Blue Mountains, Newcastle, Bathurst, Canberra. In Darwin, Melbourne and Ballarat in 2013.

Ros Dunlop speaking at the launch of the book at the US Embassy in Dili September 2012

Gruppu Rebentu dancers at the launch of the book at the US Embassy in Dili October 2012

Jose Ramos Horta, Ros Dunlop and Laurian from Berkelow Books, at the Book Launch, Berkelow Books Newtown October 2012

Abel Guterres with Ros Dunlop at the launch of Lian Husi Klamar in Sydney

The book continues to be ordered world wide. The Timorese now have access to the books as a result of the distribution drive in January. Plans a foot for  a mass printing of the children’s book Lafaek has a party so that children throughout Timor can have copies of this book. The Teacher’s college in Baukau is already creating teaching programs using the material in the book.   Translation of the book into fataluku and Baikeno is in the pipeline, as Timorese from these ethnic groups don’t really speak tetun.   Thanks to the U.S Ambassador’s fund for its support enabling the publication of the first book about the traditional music of East Timor Lian Husi Klamar Sounds of the Soul.

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Author and musician Ros Dunlop made her first trip to Timor-Leste in April 2002 with Timor activist brothers Robert and Martin Wesley-Smith. Ros and Martin gave concerts of Martin’s audiovisual pieces about East Timor. They were enchanted by Timor-Leste’s land, people and culture – especially it’s traditional music. Wanting to give something in return, Ros began visiting Timor-Leste regularly to record this special music. To do this, she needed the help of many Timorese citizens. The skilled musicians who were acutely aware of the importance of recording their music for posterity and the translators and assistants who helped to organise the recording sessions. These artists from Arte Moris Art School and the young Timorese from the audiovisual archive, Centro Archivo Max Stahl Timor-Leste understood the importance of a permanent record being made. Without their help this project would not have happened.

To order multiple copies contact rosdunlop@tekeemedia.com.

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fotos.sapo.pt/saponoticiastl/albuns/?aid=212

www.facebook.com/ArteMorisTimorLeste

If interested to buy art works, email admin@artemoris.org by the 8th October and shipping can be organised via Australia.

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Tony Amaral is a Timorese Artist who is a recent graduate from the National Art School, Sydney, Australia. He is currently artist in residence at Arte Moris. His first solo exhibition opened at Arte Moris Gallery, Arte Moris Comoro, Dili, East Timor on September 24th. It will run for 2 weeks. Tony is an consummate artist, the exhibition is powerful, and deserving of international recognition. Tony says” We all know that the function of the news media in a democratic nation is an important one. For instance, the role of journalists is to help build a national conscience and affect social transformation. In part, the job of artists is the same.” In his first solo exhibition Tony has used mixed media collages with a focus on newspaper clippings to create a retrospective on the past half – year.  He has used Timor’s local papers along with bold colours and stencils to tell a story of a nation that, to his mind, is continuing to experience a crisis of faith in development and governance, which in turn is impacting people’s sense of harmony. Below is an image of the painting at the centre of the exhibition. The work is for sale, please do contact Tekee Media via email or artemoris through facebook www.facebook.com/ArteMorisTimorLeste for a link to full images please go to : or if you are a facebook friend of Ros Dunlop go to facebook for the album of full size images. There are still paintings for sale from this wonderful exhibition with prices ranging from $200 to $900 US. click on the thumbnails to enlarge. Better quality images on above sites.

IMAGES OF ART WORKS BY TONY AMARAL

[Show as slideshow]

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Milka having her first web lesson! click to enlarge

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

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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!

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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!

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I am off to East Timor and Darwin tomorrow, to establish partnerships and hopefully commitment for a secure lockable place for the Music School in Dili we are helping to establish “Hadahur”. This is the first such music school for Dili, combining traditional music as well as western as the disciplines to be taught in the school. I hope to be able to post some photos shortly.

It is vital to the school that good support be developed in Darwin, through Charles Darwin University and Northern Territory Music Schools. We are hoping to secure financial support from companies involved in Timor, to help defray the costs of sending teachers on a regular basis from Darwin to Dili (teaching violin and guitar initially). This is a small start in what hopes to be a successful music school.

More Soon. If you have instruments, funds to donate, please go the the page on the site for Donations.

thanks

ros

The post Visit to East Timor – April for the purpose of establishing partnerships, etc for the music school Hadahur appeared first on Tekee Media Inc..