GEORGE TELEK & THE MOAB STRINGBAND

MATOGO Cat# SV0587

George often talks about stringband songs being loveletters. That a man will come up to him in the village and ask him to write a song letting the woman of his fancy know that he has feelings for her. Almost like songs for hire. The songs are very village based. This album of stringband tunes details a wide variety of relationship situations of the Moab's poromen (equal men). This album centres around Raluana, close to Kokopo, near Rabual in the Papua New Guinean province of East New Britian. The Moab Strinband is one of the most highly regarded stringbands of PNG. This has much to do with the fact that their lead singer, George Telek, is a very well known performer in his own right. Famed as a rock singer in the band Painim Wok and for his solo records, his international recordings mix traditional world music with rock and stringband styles. The Moab style is much pacier and rockier compared to other more lilting stringband styles. A centrepiece of the Moab style is the bass playing of Wargi Apelis who is held in high regard in both PNG and Australia.

The lyrics to these songs are sung in Kuanuan, the local language (tok ples) of the Tolai people of Rabaul or Tok Pisin, the lingua franca of PNG.

AMETTE Cat# SV0524

Telek is a band, a man and, in some parts of the world, a legend.

Telek the man has been at the forefront of the Pacific music scene for the last 20 years. The new album 'Amette' is Telek's third album and marks eleven years of international recording and touring from this artist. The list of international accomplishments is indeed impressive.

George Telek is a grassroots man. He comes from the village of Raluana, near the volcano-ravaged town of Rabaul in the Papua New Guinean island province of East New Britain. His songs and his hauntingly beautiful yet sometimes menacing voice, traverse many musical styles. Equally comfortable with the unique country/folk that is the PNG string band style, traditional Tolais "Midel" (magic charm) and "Malira" (love magic) songs, Beatle-esque pop/rock or atmospheric Massive Attack style grooves and textures. Few musicians inside or outside PNG straddle the range of styles that Telek both adopts and combines, whilst capturing the spirit of the proud cultural heritage of the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea.

Telek began singing in the late seventies with various string bands before joining rock band, The Kagan Devils. The first breakthrough came with the rock group Painim Wok (it means "looking for work"). 3 singles in the PNG top ten at the one time attest to the phenomenal popularity of the group at its height. Featuring the wild guitar of leather-clad John Warbat and George Telek on lead vocals the hard rocking Painim Wok were PNG's biggest selling act in the 80's, coming out of the thriving Rabaul music scene on the Pacific Gold label. The chance to reach a wider audience occurred in 1986 when David Bridie from the Australian band Not Drowning Waving came to PNG. "I'd bought some of his cassettes and fell in love with his voice and songwriting. When I met George, we talked about working together and I knew I wanted to assist in getting his music heard outside Papua New Guinea", recalls Bridie. He returned two years later with Not Drowning Waving to record an album with George and other Papua New Guinean musicians - including internationally renowned drummer Ben Hakalitz from the Sanguma Band (currently with Yothu Yindi, and has guest performed with Santana, and Los Lobos, amongst others). The album they made together, 'Tabaran', was released in Australasia in 1990 - the first popular collaboration between Australian and Papua New Guinean musicians. David Byrne declared in the US edition of Rolling Stone that this was his favorite album of the year.

Telek was then invited to tour Australia with Not Drowning Waving in support of 'Tabaran'. From this, Telek gained the attention of Peter Gabriel and was invited to appear at Womadelaide in 1992. At this time George forged an alliance with Australian Aboriginal artists such as Archie Roach and Kev Carmody.

In 1995 Bridie offered to produce an album for George. The album was recorded in Melbourne and in Rabaul and featured long time friends and musicians Ben Hakalitz and Glen Low as well as new friends Kev Carmody and Archie Roach. In 1997's 'Telek' was released. The album went on to win an ARIA for 'Best World Music Album' and was labeled 'The Best World Music Release this Year' by Rolling Stone.

For his second album ('Serious Tam') George was invited by Peter Gabriel to record at Real World Studios in Bath, UK. The band consisted of long time collaborators Ben Hakalitz on percussion, David Bridie on keyboards, fellow Papua New Guinean Glen Low on bass (from the popular Barike Band), Greg Patten (My Friend The Chocolate Cake) on drums with Phil Wales (Snog, David Bridie) and John Phillips (Not Drowning Waving) contributing guitars. The album was co-produced by Vic Coppersmith Heaven (produced all of The Jam's albums) and Bridie. It was the first album to be released in the Northern Hemisphere by a PNG artist and ensures Telek's rightful place as the foremost Pacific music artist.

A tour of the UK, Europe, the USA and the Pacific followed. The tour included all the Womad Festivls and Telek earned the admiration and respect of fellow artists such as Yousou N'dour and engaged in improvised performances with Yungchen Llamo (Tibet) and Ayub Ogada (Kenya). Highlights of this tour included performances at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, playing to 10,000 on the main stage at Reading, being chosen to lead off the Grande Jam at the closing of Womad Seattle with a solo vocal performance to 20,0000 people, and headlining the festival at the picturesque Jean Marie Tjibaou amphitheatre in Noumea.

'Serious Tam' was greeted with acclaim and sold throughout the world. The album was voted 'Best Pop Album of 2000' in UK's The Times which also wrote "One phenomenal song follows another...Telek's voice on its own is a thing of rare beauty...a magical album".
Worldwide, the reviews were glowing:

"One of the coolest things about world music is that your next big surprise can come from any little corner of the planet. 'Serious Tam' is a perfect example" - Billboard

"A finely wrought synthesis of the world and pop-rock genres" - LA Times

"This indigenous music will stir you with its timeless beauty" - New York Post

"Atmospheric… jungle sounds and pulsating drumbeat…brooding rock" - The Age

"This is a refreshing mix of hip western sounds and the uplifting harmonious voices of a people proud of their culture" - Audiostreet.co.uk

"Whether in sparse semi-acoustic settings, chanting over pounding and complex percussion, or telling stories in fields of ambience, Telek is utterly compelling" - Rolling Stone

"It is a crime that world music fans in Australia have ignored the music of our immediate area. This marvelous record should go a long way to putting Papua New Guinea on the international music map" - Sydney Morning Herald

George has said that Telek the band helps him "paint another kind of picture about PNG compared to the usual view from the outside world which is one of Raskols and corruption". His standing in the Pacific has remained as honored as ever. Awarded an MBE by the PNG government for services to music, Telek this year was asked to play at the celebrations for the one year anniversary of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands. The response from the local population was phenomenal, the band setting attendance records in the Solomons (10-12,000 in Honiara), people walking 100 kilometers through jungle to some concerts, and PNG fans from Bougainville journeying by boat from their homeland to see their compatriot play. The significance of the genuine collaboration between Melanesians and Australians, particularly when developing and expanding traditional material was hugely appreciated and inspiring to the local population.

The story has continued with numerous further tours throughout Australia and the Pacific and the recording of his new album 'Amette' the third album by Telek (released on The Blunt Label through Shock Records) recorded in Australia and PNG. The album 'Amette' was recorded at David Bridie's Enormodome studio in Melbourne in March of 2003 and mixed by Not Drowning Waving's Tim Cole. The album sees a slight departure from his previous two efforts focusing on the more acoustic side of Telek's writing, featuring a mix of string band, Pacific roots pop and traditional Tolais songs. The result is more instant and stripped back but still very Pacific in sound especially three part harmonies, kundu drums and guitar work. Highlights include the rocking string band numbers "Paska", the instantly appealing "Sonny" and "Mama", a lament for PNG's Melanesian neighbors "West Papua", the moodier title track "Amette", and traditional "Lima Ngalie". Two tracks "Abebe" and "Typist" have been lifted off the Moab Stringband's 1986 Pacific Gold recordings, full of energy and documenting the amazing Rabaul sound of that period renown throughout the Pacific.

Telek, the band, was formed from a musical and personal friendship between Telek and Bridie and a continued sense of real and rare collaboration with all the musicians concerned. It is a collaboration that stretches back to the late 1ate 1980's and continues today.