Artist Statement: 'The Maramba people, for thousands of years have been using the Garamut (slit-gong) as the only medium and means of communication. The Garamut has been part of the everyday life-style of the people and it is of immense value. It has also played a very significant role in the social, spiritual, ritual, cultural and also the political life of the Maramba society.

Every adult has an individual signal or message. This signal has three main sections: an introduction, a main section, and a conclusion. It begins with (A) - the rubbing of the inside of a slit in the log, (B) - a series of equidistant beats, probably demanding attention and (C) - one (for male) or two (for female) blows indicating sex of the person summoned, then a slow version (D) of the forthcoming main section is beaten, and this is followed by repetition of (C). Next the main section (E) is beaten and repeated once or several times, and finally there is a repetition of B, C, D and A.

The Garamut (slit-drum) is also used for ritual purposes and it has ritual signals associated to it. It has totemic representations of each clan, the seven clans of the Maramba Society. These totems symbolically represent an animal, a lake, a sacred site, a bird or a snake of each clan. Fourthly, the Garamut has been used as an appropriation signal during the colonial system or the Kiap System and as such it was highly regarded as appropriate means of communication.

The information presented here is from my own indigenous knowledge about the uses of the Garamut as the traditional medium of communication'

Paul Yamngarpise Norman,Department of Anthropology & Sociology University of Papua New Guinea for the 1997 Waigani Seminar

$5,500.00 CDN

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