journeys

            “Heta tangin...saw saw a lang

             Sawta tangin...hei hi a lang”

   - Early Zo poem

Translated, “From here...that can be seen. From there...this can be seen”.

Story of my life.

Some of my earliest memories of Shillong involve wanting to come to New Zealand. I do not know why, as this was in the days before we had a TV, and definitely much much before we had the Internet. I knew little of Maori, and even less about the stunning landscape. One association I made with New Zealand was the tins that Apu had, that used to hold milk powder, but now held sugar, bought monthly in 5 kg bags from the Army rations stores. Turned out that these were from Australia. Over the years, bits and pieces I heard about this land fascinated me, from the news piece about bungy jumping, or watching the Maori haka, even finding out that Sir Ed Hillary was from here. In the years I lived with Apu, he spoke once or twice about wanting to go to New Zealand. Then there was the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, and the subsequent banning of all nuclear armed/powered vessels from New Zealand waters.

Interestingly enough, it was that last one that brought us here. When talk of studying/seeing the world came up, I had suggested Aotearoa New Zealand, but Dee thought it too far from home and family. One day though she saw a documentary on the banning of nuclear armed/powered vessels, and came home and told me we would be moving to Aotearoa New Zealand after all.

And what an adventure of the mind this has been. Scraping a little under the surface of Maori art, I’ve got more insight into my own tribal culture(s) than I’d have thought possible. I’ve been introduced to the whole world of Visual Culture, and think I may have finally found something that can keep me interested long enough to be able to get a degree in it. I’m dreaming of a chance to study the Visual Cultures of North East India in detail, particularly the Zo puan.

The fantastic libraries and the work with the RDA and a Special School have thrown up questions of access I had never thought of before. While I may not be able to contribute brilliantly to the world, surely I can help by helping provide access for people who might? I think back of the chap from Bihar who built a pirate radio station. He was obviously much smarter than the bureaucrats who shut him down. What could better access do to those of us impaired by a disabling society? I dream now of starting, not so much a library, but something that does what a library does- provide access.

The Lord of the Rings connections here are leading me down the trails of Myth and the creation of myths. First there was Tolkien and his Middle-Earth, created on the basis of Old English and Norse myths. Then were the movies based on the Lord of the Rings that have become as famous as the books, if not more. And now is another extension of that mythology being created- movie set tourism. Tourists are not visiting Matamata, they are visiting Hobitton. Not the Rangitata valley (Maori), or even Mount Sunday (European), but Edoras. And I cannot help but wonder: What myths have we lost? What myths are we creating?

And so it is, this far from home, that is what I see clearer. Just as this is what I saw when I was there.

Heta tangin...saw saw a lang

Sawta tanging...hei hi a lang

markets vs. culture

We stopped and watched a street musical performance today, by a chap playing the various Andean pipes in time to recorded music. Dressed in ‘red-indian’ outfits, with the feathers and the beads, one person played the pipes, while the other sold CDs of the same music. The Andean flutes played well are a treat to hear, and a must listen for anyone interested in softer music. There was no doubt, he played well. Among other pieces, he played Chiquitita, the old ABBA classic, and El Condor Pasa, a tune made famous by Simon and Garfunkel.

The performance tore my heart.

On the one hand (and this is going to be a post of many hands) the cultural observer in me laughs at the irony of a ‘native’ peddling music that is an indigenisation of an Americanised pop culture version of indigenous music. El Condor Pasa was popularised by Simon and Garfunkel, but was composed by Peruvian composer Daniel Alomia Robles. The version playing today, however, sounded (the guitar plucking) very much like the S and G song. The cultural observer in me also smirks a little unkindly at the use of the ‘feathers-and-beads’ artifice to attract tourist attention and make sales.

On the other hand, here are two young (?) men making honest money from tourists and ‘westerners’ who can well afford it. While there is artifice, it is not dishonest, and the artifice is no worse than the mildest advertisements we see on TV every day. In the best traditions of movie making, these two men were giving people what they wanted to see, and there is nothing wrong in that, is there? They are also being entrepreneurial, and avoiding dependence on taxpayer funded social security, if there is such where they come from. The artist in me knows how hard it is to make anything like a living from my art, and when I work for a corporation, am I not guilty of the same artifice, if not worse?

On yet another hand, it hurts me, as a tribal myself, that we are reduced to peddling our culture on the streets to make ends meet. While I understand very well the attraction of feathers and skulls (having a decent collection myself), I find their use in promoting some sort of ‘tribal’ exotica pathetic, if not downright offensive. Are cultures something to be so easily peddled on the street? I feel quite the same when I see young boys dressed as Krishna-avatar begging on the streets of Bengaluru. Interestingly, though the Zo are a very musical group, the khuang (drum) of tradition is still only used in church, maintaining, somehow its sacred quality, and is yet to be used in the production of commercial music.

Then again (that’s the fourth hand in case you’re counting) is it very different when the North East Indian tribes put on our costumes and ‘perform’ our dances on stage for fat-ass dignitaries to gawk at? However, as an urbanite who has grown up away from my tribal homeland, I would hardly even be aware of these aspects of my culture if it were not for these performances I am deigning to scorn! Aren't such performances keeping elements of our cultures alive?

I’ll stop at five hands- you probably get the idea by now. While I understand and promote the idea that culture is not static, it does concern me that the marketplace is increasingly imposing on cultural expression, and may one day soon completely take over. Aren’t there some things that should be kept sacred?

Maybe there is hope, though. On the way home, we saw another irony- three scruffy teenagers practicing their skateboard skills in the office building of a large insurance corporation. Hopefully, as the markets take over our cultures, we will continue to find points of resistance, and develop new cultural expressions that challenge their dominance!

What do you think?

christmas pigs, or the perils of inviting a poem-writer to lunch

what is it about

christmas and food?

the pig in the pot

of the

wild hills of home,

or the pig on a spit

of the

kiribati islands?

here we are civilised settled, though

and call it ham.

but with good friends

and laughter

(and potatoes on the side)

it is a feast;

and more,

it is christmas.

[thank you menaka, bruce and ashan for a feast fit for a north-easterner!]

christmas smells

this christmas has a different smell.

none of the pine quickened

charcoal fires

of a biting winter night

or the pork-and-mustard-leaf happiness

the stench of tribal feasting.

this christmas is lush

fed by a swollen river

and shaded by the broad leafed trees

of tane's mighty garden.

and try as i might

i cannot smell a feast.

note: tane is pronounced to rhyme with the 'ne' of the english word 'net'. tane is the maori god of the forests.

a bullet point history of recent maori art

This 'history' of recent Maori art is based on Damian Skinner's introduction to his PhD thesis, submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in 2005. While it is a pity to reduce a well researched piece to bullet points, this seems the best way to draw out the content as well as to illustrate the inadequacy of any summary. Much of the material in this thesis (and more) is available in 'the Carver and the Artist' by the same author.

Damian has divided the thesis into four chapters, each chapter covering a phase of Maori art.

MAORITANGA: Ta Apirana Ngata (1920s to 1940s)

CONTEXT
- massive land loss and rapid social and economic changes for the Maori tribes (Iwi/Hapu)
- in Ta Apirana's words:
a) emphasis on the continuing individuality of the Maori people
b) maintenance of such Maori characteristics and such features of Maori culture as present day circumstances permit
c) inculcation of pride in Maori history and traditions
d) retention so far as possible of old-time ceremonial
e) the continuous attempt to interpret the Maori point of view to the pakeha in power.

CHARACTERISTICS
- conservative renovation of customary culture
- drawing on Maori cultural traditions, while using modern functions and construction materials
- centered around the marae and the whare whakairo (carved meeting house)
- concentration on craftsmanship and preservation of traditional skills and techniques

Maoritanga: Hone Taiapa (1950s to 1960s)

CONTEXT
- continuation of Ta Apirana's philosophy

CHARACTERISTICS
- whakairo (carving) becomes an internalised template, and operates without reference to originality and innovation
- new economic formations (e.g the tourist market) and new patrons (e.g the Mormon church)
- artist (head carver) as supervisor, and art piece (carving) as team/communal work

KEY FIGURES*
- Hone Taiapa, Pine Taiapa, Henare Toka, Piri Poutapu

Maori Modernism (1950s to 1960s)

CONTEXT
- Maori artists emerging from Pakeha art schools
- Art educator Gordon Tovey's (National Supervisor Art and Culture) encouragement of experimentation in Maori Art
- Department of Education's patronage of Maori Modernists

CHARACTERISTICS
- Artistic practice that was "individual, innovative and original"
- intentional positioning as different from the art of Maoritanga
- oriented away from 'customary culture' audience, and towards a Pakeha/International discourse

KEY FIGURES*
Pratene Matchitt, Arnold Wilson, Buck Nin, Cliff Whiting, Katerina Mataira

Contemporary Maori Art (1970s to 1980s)

CONTEXT
- massive urbanisation of Maori in 50s and 60s
- Maori activist movements and increasing political consciousness among Maori

CHARACTERISTICS
- attempts to bridge the critical distance (with Maoritanga) that Maori Modernism sought to establish
- a return to the marae as cultural centre
- an appeal to continuity with cultural forms older than Maoritanga
- articulation of Maori art as a tradition of change

Part of my interest in Maori art stems from a need to understand my own practice as a 'tribal' from North East India, with all the questions each of those terms beg to ask. In that context, here are some of the ideas that stood out.

a) 'Tradition' is as fluid an idea as 'contemporary'. On the one hand, much of 'traditional' Maori art today goes back to the 1930s and Ta Apirana Ngata's Maoritanga. On the other hand, Katerina Mataira's 1984 essay appeals to a 'tradition of change' in Maori culture when speaking for the legitimacy of Contemporary Maori art. Question to self: Which of the many available traditions am I interested in? Does it matter?

b) While there are varying perspectives on tradition, there does seem to be a visual continuity in the motifs and images used, especially in sculpture. While I cannot substantiate this without detailed study, and the work of the Maori Modernist period may well have been influenced by western Primitivism, motifs such as the 'koru' and the three fingered image seem to hold 20th century maori art together. Question to self: Are there common motifs in North East India I can use? Should I?

c) There are different ways to negotiate conflict and change. Ta Apirana chose to standardise some aspects of tradition, while allowing modernity in others. The Modernists defined themselves in their break from Ta Apirana's Maoritanga, and the Contemporary artists seem to be trying to make peace with Maoritanga and Modernism. Each of these negotiations have elements of separation and assimilation from/with dominant Pakeha/European/International culture. Question to self: What do I want to separate from, and what do I want to assimilate with?

More questions than answers, really. Ah well, story of my life!


*This is NOT a comprehensive list of names associated with this period/movement.

I sometimes think the tragedy of north east India is not so much that we are under developed, or that India cynically exploits/ignores us, or that we are caught in the crossfire between Indian armies and the rebels- it is that our own leaders are so willing to sell us out. This has been a consistent trend across party lines, with sucessive governments, it just doesn’t change. Just when one was getting used to the horror that the government of Manipur and Ibobi Singh (with complicity from the ‘opposition’) is inflicting on the sate, now comes the news that the Meghalaya government led my D.D. Lapang is pushing for the UCIL to mine uranium in the West Khasi Hills.

And it’s not as if the resistance has any real solutions either. When the Khasi Students Union, currently the only group really fighting this, got timber felling banned, they had no alternatives to offer for people who eked a living out of the industry. A similar story here- people are selling their land to the UCIL (happily the government cannot grab it) because at least they get ‘something’ from it. So there are your choices- you live and die in extreme poverty or live and die with uranium mining. There, that’s democracy. And while the KSU stand makes sense, they have no alternatives to offer. The same story played out across- In Assam, Hiteshwar Saikia’s ‘Surrendered ULFA’ cause(d) as much terror (more?) as the ULFA, only they have government backing. Ex rebels Zoramthanga and the MNF have done little for Mizoram, and were routed in the last elections.

One can hardly ignore these things even- while it is sordid politics (as Cabir put it), real people are suffering. And how does one ignore that?