Island style

music is not the only Indonesian sound,’ said Andy Ayamiseba, manager of the Black Brothers ‘Papuan rock’ band. Mr Ayamiseba was in Sydney on his way to Papua New Guinea to arrange a Black Brothers concert in Port Moresby. All members of the Black Brothers, including Mr Ayamiseba, come from Indonesia’s most easterly prov ince, Irian Jaya, and while they

regularly play Indonesian and

English popular rock songs,

they also write numbers embodying words, melodies and legend from their own

people. The only thing which

stays the same, says Mr Ayamiseba, is the beat. ‘You could call it Papuan rock.’

Sesame Street

Island style

A Sydney film producer is touring Pacific Islands to find the ingredients for a television

film which would both enter tain and educate Island young sters. At the same time he is checking on education depart ments throughout the region to assess their enthusiasm for such

a project.

Don Bennetts, senior pro ducer for R. P. Birch and As sociates, left Australia in April with Port Moresby, Honiara, Nauru, Vila, Tarawa, Funafuti, Suva, Tongatapu, Apia, Pago Pago and Rarotonga on his itinerary.

The company’s managing

director, Ric Birch, said that if the project was viable a film would be produced in video cassette form for distribution to Island schools. Mr Birch says the Australian Film Com mission has expressed interest and has contributed to the cost of the survey. ‘lf discussions prove favourable,’ he said, ‘it is

hoped production will start

early in 1980 using Island chil dren and presenters’. It seems we might be about to witness ‘Sesame Street Island

style’.

Hercules makes

it look easy

By road it would have taken weeks to get the 40 sections of the bailey bridge from Mendi to Tari in Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands Province.

Always ready to lend a hand, the Royal Australian Air Force in the form of 36 Squadron, Richmond, NSW, and its new ‘H’ model Hercules transport dropped in to Mendi, the

provincial capital at 1700

metres above sea level. In two trips to Tari, 20-minutes flying time from Mendi, the first with

10 500 kg of bailey bridge

aboard, the second with 12 700 kg, the job was done.

The bridge is now being as sembled over the Tari River.

Games hopefuls

chasing funds

It’s less than three months to the South Pacific Games in Suva from August 27 to Sep tember 8 and work is going well on Buckhurst Park, venue for the major events. But the going has not been so smooth for some sporting bodies in

Fiji. Despite solid fund-raising

efforts, they are still short of the money required to field their teams. In April, the Fiji Amateur Athletics Federation

was reported by the Fiji Times

to be in ‘such strife that it has yet to pay $lBO to enter the games’. But the show is sure to go on, some associations facing the prospect of fund-raising after the event, living on a little credit for a while.

The cost of producing medals for the games $6OOO

has been met by the Fiji Sugar Corporation. On the face of the medal is the games sym bol, on the reverse is Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu, with the lo cation of Suva shown along with a coastal scene.

Auckland makes

their hair fall out

Baldness seems to be another

price Pacific Island migrants

have to pay for big city living.

The manager of an Auckland hair clinic, Henry Harrison, says about one in 10 men to come to him for hair advice is an Islander.

They come with no history of hereditary baldness, he says.

Tn the Islands they probably rubbed a bit of coconut oil into their hair every now and again.

They had no worries,’ says Mr Harrison. ‘Then they come to Auckland, change their diet, experience the stress and wor ries of the city and use sham poos which are almost detergents.’ Much of the prob lem of falling hair could be put down to worry, he says. Mr Harrison says men also appear

to be seeking help for falling

hair earlier than in the past.

T’ve had 15 and 16-year-olds in here,’ he says. ‘One or two 18year-olds have lost so much hair I had to recommend hair

pieces.’

Black Brothers’ David Rumagesan ... vocalist, sax ophonist, arranger, writer