Tala Mena Siwa
Sae Ena (CD)

MWCD5001

Tala Mena Siwa means literally 'a breakthrough' and their first album Sae ena(the First One) is definitely a first, being the first ever worldwiderelease of music that has remained virtually unknown, until now. Thesongs on this album are knows as kapata and legoe. Kapatas are poemsand legoes are epics. They are sung in the bahasa tanah dialect, thelanguage of the original inhabitants of the Moluccan islands, currentlya part of Indonesia. This dialect died out long ago, being preservedonly through the kapata and legoe songs.

The members of Tala Mena Siwa are second and third generation Moluccansmaking up part of the 40,000 strong Moluccan community which firstsettled in the Netherlands in the early 1950's. Outside this ratherlarge community in Holland, a small minority of Moluccan emigrantssettled in California (USA). The culture of the Moluccan people, aculture very different to that of the rest of Indonesia, has beengreatly affected by hundreds of years of uninterrupted colonisation byforeign powers. The spice traders introduced Islam and Christianity.The language, dance and music of the islands have also been influenced.

Nevertheless, traditional beliefs have been preserved and passed downthrough the generations, playing a very important role in Moluccansociety, even today. The Moluccans hope one day to gain theirindependance from Indonesia and many of those living outside theMoluccan islands consider their current living situation to be onlytemporary. For this reason, the preservation of traditional beliefs isvery important to the Moluccan community.
TALA MENA SIWA is:

Astrid Hertog-Usmany - vocals
Lenny Latukolan-Ritawaemahu - vocals
Nonna Manuputty-Hutuely - vocals
Lydia Ritawaemahu-Latukolan - vocals
Anna Sabandar - vocals
Ebe Usmany-Sinay - vocals
Pede Manuputty - vocals, tifa
Freddy Ritawaemahu - vocals, tifa
Benjamin Souhuwat - vocals, tifa
Giovanni Usmany - vocals, tifa
guest: Zeth Mustamu - tifa
Rudy Tuhusula - tifa, totobuang

Published: 1996

Genre: Various & World
Label: Music Words