Ninalik Arirak

The very existence of the Lani Singers, the husband-and-wife team of Benny and Maria Wenda, is a small miracle. They hail from the central highlands region of West Papua – the separated western half of New Guinea island that was under Dutch colonial control up until 1961, but after a brief moment of independence was invaded by neighbouring Indonesia. Under brutal occupation ever since, the clandestine resistance continues. Benny’s political activism for his people brought attention from the Indonesian authorities, who arrested him in 2001. Facing a 25-year sentence, he managed to escape from prison in 2002, was smuggled across the jungle border into Papua New Guinea, and was reunited there with Maria and their young daughter. They were granted political asylum in the UK in 2004, and currently reside in Oxford.

Their 2008 debut album, Ninalik Ndawi [reviewed in #59], highlighted the plight of their beleaguered homeland and this new release is quite similar. But with basic string-band accompaniment and only average voices, the couple’s emotional laments and independence anthems become rather repetitive. And while most of the original lyrics are in their traditional language, the few sung in English reveal a cliched songwriting approach. Deserving support more for political reasons than musical ones, this album is unfortunately a disappointment.