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Musical Instruments

 Traditional Tolai Musical Instruments and Dance Performance. Ismael K. Isikel  February 2024 Introduction  The vocabulary and brief explanations of musical instruments made and used by the Tolai people are presented in this article. Their names and variants are provided. These musical instruments are used during dance performances and other activities. One or two of these instruments are no longer in use or seen anywhere amongst the Tolai. Pangolo is one of them. In fact the word Pangolo had almost disappeared completely from Kuanua vocabulary.  They have faded away due to lack of practice and the influence of modern music and instruments.  Dance arrangement and performance - choreography - are also presented. The Tolai people occupy parts of the Eastern side of New Britain Island located on the Bismarck Archipelago in the Eastern Pacific. They speak Kuanua Language with some variations in dialect. Musical Instruments  Kundu is made from wood and bamboo: Kundu 1. Made from wood, holl
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Counting

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In Kuanua the word reading is used in two different ways. Firstly, it is used to mean count   (counting items) and secondly, it is used to mean read, as in reading a book or article . The word  for counting is niluluk and for count is luk . Here the main numbers and general counting method is written  for you to count in Kuanua.The letter a  is usually added at the begining of most nouns. The number 1 is tikai  but is one of those numbers you do not need to add the letter a in the beginning to change tikai into atikai. No, never! 1 is tikai, but 2 is urua to aurua and 3 is utul to autul and so forth. Counting 1 to 10 is tikai (1), aurua (2), autul (3), iwat/aiwat (4), ilima/ ailima (5), laptikai/alapitaka(6), lavurua/aluvurua (7), lavutul/alavutul (8), lavuvat/alavuvat (9), winun/awinun (10). A counting guide is presented below for counting and using higher numerals.  Counting in Kuanua 10 - 1000 10  winun 20 ura winun 30 utula winun 40  iwat na winun
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Enquiry (Tinitir)

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  Edited 30/10/2017 Ismael K. Isikel  Inquiry terms and examples.                                                                 Aumana pakana tinata ure ra tinitir. Itale da watangia bula ba "Aumana mangana tinitir". Aivia ure ra en?         What?          Awa? Aha?/Asah? (Boawa dialect) What is that?     Awa nam? What do you want?    Awa u mainge? What is the reason?    Awa ra vuna? When?        Wingaia? When are you going?     Wingaia una vana? Where?       Awe?/Akave?/Akava?/Mamawe? Where is To Limut?     To Limut akave? Show me where is it.    We taria. Where are you going?     Una wana uwe?     Also commonly shortened to Uwe? From where?      Mamawe? Where is it?      Akave? Which?        /Duwe?/Dowe?/Guwe? Which of these two?     Duwe tago dir? Who?          Toia?/Ia? Sia?  (Boawa dialect) Toi?  (Pronounced toee, is used in other dialects including Kuanua speakers from Matalau and Nodup villages) Who is that?  Toia nam? Wh
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Shooting Stars and Folklore

Shooting star. (Tulungen na virua) About a week ago I observed a fast streaking light that only lasted a few seconds travelling south above the sky. The name for shooting star in my language suddenly appeared in my thoughts. In Kuanua (Kabakada dialect) it is "tulungen na virua" and translated to English as "spirit of the dead". The phrase translated word by word to English: tulungen = spirit; na = of the; virua = dead. Tolai folklore on shooting star varies slightly or differently from one area to another but what is common is that a shooting star is the spririt of the dead travelling to its resting place. The name may also vary according to dialect. Soon after my observation of the shooting star i posted on it on Facebook and received two comments, from two Tolai Facebook friends. The first from Gideon Kakabin and the second from Doreen Samm Howes and here are their comments. 1. Also known as a gaugau na tup . If a shooting star appeared aft
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Possesive Nouns in Kuanua

Edited 12/9/2017 Ismael K. Isikel Unlike the English possessive nouns, Kuanua has two sets of possessive nouns. One set is used for food items and another set is used for non-food items. In this post plural possessive nouns are indicated with plr and singular are indicated with s. var is used to indicate variation in word which is influenced by dialect. In everyday conversations plural possessive nouns are indicated clearly from two to three persons and more than three persons are referred to as plural in general. Note also that the letter a in the beginning of each word indicates possessive noun of food item. The letter k  in the beginning of each word indicates possessive noun of non-food item. Below is a list of possessive nouns of Food Items and Non-Food Items with examples.  Food Items adat  plr For us. More than three persons Tubugu ipare ra pa adat. My granny roasted taro for us. adatal plr For us. For the three of us. Nam ra en adatal, That fish is
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A Kapono

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kapeo   The word kapeo means single, one , or solo . Example usage: A bul kapeo. An only child.There is a variation to the word and that is kapono .It means only one . Another meaning of kapono is old person, usually old male. Example usage: Ra kapono. The old man. An old female is tubuan. A tubuan. An old woman. The word kapeo is used by many as name for both males and females. For the female it is Ia Kapeo and for the male it is To Kapeo. This fellow standing with his bicycle is To Kapeo. He was named after his great grandfather Ruruaur To Kapeo who was one of the last "blackbirds" at Mackay sugarcane farm, Queensland. 
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Midi

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Midi is one of the Kuanua words that had almost disappeared from the Kuanua vocabulary and was on the brink of extinction. The closest phrase that has some relationship to midi is nuk midimidi or nuk midamida . Nuk midimidi means feast in remembrance and honor of dead relatives. Midi itself is a necklace made from a type of sea shell. From historical photographs it strongly appears that it is worn by males. Pur  is the term that is still in use as the name for the necklace worn by people during ceremonies, including dances. Pur is made from tagete leaves and other natural fibres, while midi is made entirely from one type of sea shell except for the rope that is used to string the shells together. The general name for necklace is kurkurua. This cultural piece (midi) is just beginning to be revived through study and research for a master’s thesis by Lisa Hilli. While doing her study she communicated with me and Gidoen Kakabin (New Guinea Island Historical Society) r
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