The Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea

Young Girl from the Trobriand Islands during milamala time
I was rather pleasantly surprised to read an article about the exotic Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea yesterday with some superb photographs. 

It brought back so many wonderful even joyful memories of the many months I spent exploring the beautiful and peaceful Islands Provinces of the Papua New Guinea in order to write my book entitled:

Beyond the Coral Sea: Travels in the Old Empires of the South-West Pacific (HarperCollins London 2003)

The great Polish ethnologist Bronislaw Malinowski studied these islanders and inspired me with his superbly written book The Sexual life of Savages. He is one of the great geniuses of modern times and scarcely mentioned these days. 




If you are interested in further reading on the Trobriand Islands my book covers this fascinating region in great cultural detail. 

The island provinces are a true paradise, seldom visited owing to the unfortunate prejudice against visiting the country which has come about by sensationalist reports of violence in Port Moresby and the Highlands.

Michael Moran, onKar Kar Island, Papua New Guinea



I am pleased to say my book is still in print after 11 years and has become the classic literary travel book for the region known as the Bismarck Archipelago. 

 The book was short-listed for the 25th Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. 

The book attracted many excellent reviews of which I am really proud as it was a truly challenging expedition

‘If you’ve room for only one book in your baggage this year, take this one. Elegantly and powerfully written, evoking steaming jungle gorges, enervating heat, idyllic coral beaches, wrecked ships, deserted towns and people caught in limbo between the savage past and hopeless future, it is the work of a true traveller…….a meditation on the nature of humanity itself.’ Celia Brayfield, The Times

More reviews at:


Available from Amazon at:




The newspaper article and photographs:


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2627148/Inside-worlds-original-free-love-community-Trobriand-Islanders-change-spouses-want-dedicated-love-huts-settle-differences-game-cricket.html
For my Polish readers the book has been translated into Polish with the title Za Morzem Koralowym (PIW) and is available at the Bookshop of the Muzeum Azji i Pacyficu in Warsaw, Allegro and direct from me if you email me.

 http://www.piw.pl/fragmenty/zamorzem.htm

http://allegro.pl/za-morzem-koralowym-moran-michael-i4124637752.html






Popular posts from this blog

Elisey Mysin recital - XVII International Piano Forum - Bieszczady Without Borders - Sanok, Poland

Image
Astounding musical experiences a lways happen i n Poland! Has been happening to me for as I long as I began visiting the country to work in 1992. The astonishing recital by the child prodigy  Elisey Mysin   I watched online last night prompted me to write this review immediately. It was broadcast from the International Piano Forum, a Polish musical event now in its seventeenth year. The Forum (lectures and concerts) is held in the town of Sanok (the 'capital' of the remote Bieszczady Region). I knew or know nothing about this remarkable Forum until last night.  The concert was  'In Memoriam Tatiana Shebanova',  that magnificent Russian pianist who died so tragically of leukemia in 2011 whilst at her pianistic peak. The concert was organized by her husband, the Chairman of the Piano Forum Council, Prof.  Jaros ław  Drzewiecki.    Tatiana Shebanova was one of the first pianists I heard play works by Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) in concert in Poland in 1992. It was an over
Read more

73rd. International Chopin Piano Festival 3-11 August 2018, Duszniki Zdroj, Poland

Image
The Chopin Bench in Havana, Cuba The  Dworek Chopina  where the piano recitals take place Full English details of the programmes, biographies of Artists and Professors as well as Masterclasses are available using this link: http://festival.pl/wp-content/uploads/73-MFCh_2018_EN.pdf From the Reviewer's Notebook  SATURDAY, AUGUST 11 CHOPIN'S MANOR 8.00 PM Piano Recital SERGEI BABAYAN This distinguished musician and pianist requires little introduction. He has appeared at the most famous international music festivals with all the great orchestras of the world under the most renowned conductors, at the finest music venues as well as having been awarded most of the glittering prizes. For me his most outstanding claim to fame is his close relationship with the composer and pianist Daniil Trifonov as teacher, guide, philosopher and friend. I was unfortunately unable to attend this recital and recordings of it are unavailable. SATURD
Read more

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995) and his Ferraris - not only an immortal Chopinist

Image
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995)   There is little need for me to introduce Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, one of the greatest pianists and musicians of all time.  I have been listening to a remarkable live recording of a concert he gave in Warsaw in 1955. His Bach/Busoni Chaconne from the Partita in D minor No.2 BWV 1004 is surely one of the greatest ever recorded.   Michelangeli's    knowledge and command of the piano as an instrument was unequaled, permitting his soul and ours to take unhindered flight. His total identification with the music, his majestic 'Olympian' and 'Apollonian' playing has often been described as 'unearthly' even to the point of bordering on the cold classicism of a perfect Athenian statue. I once heard him play Debussy and Beethoven many years ago  in the Royal Festival Hall in London, performing  on two distinct Steinway concert grand pianos, one for each composer, individually tuned and prepared by himself. His hearing w
Read more