Gillespie, Kirsty, and Bainton, Nicholas A. (2012) Coming out of the stone: dangerous heritage and the death of the Twinhox band. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 44. pp. 71-86.

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Abstract

[Extract] In this article we consider Lihirian reflections surrounding the music recorded by Twinhox on their first and only album and the untimely death of the Wol brothers. We shall examine key songs from this album and other closely related songs, analysing them for their textual content, revealing their origins and context in Lihir cultural life and, in particular, their location within the physical landscape. We show how these songs have been interpreted in multiple ways, mainly due to the oblique nature of the lyrics but also due to the recent social and cultural changes associated with large-scale resource development. In doing so we draw attention to the manner in which meaning may be brought to a song rather than necessarily being inherent in the text, melodic, or rhythmic structure. Our aim is to highlight Lihirian songs as a form of "dangerous heritage" (Kingston 2007), whereby certain types of vocal music which reference the spiritual power and efficacy of the landscape are considered vessels of latent danger. In examining song in terms of "dangerous heritage," we highlight the cultural continuity found in Lihirian ancestral music and the fundamental importance of the landscape in Lihirian notions of cultural heritage. We argue that traditional song texts and references to aspects of ancestral life in contemporary music settings remain powerful and efficacious as a result of the continuing reassertion of relationships with the landscape that are premised upon traditional ontologies.

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