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First Chanted Tales workshop, University of Goroka, February 2004 [Photo: Tim Scott]

In February 2004 a two-day workshop on Chanted Tales was held at the University of Goroka in Papua New Guinea. At this workshop there were several performances by Highlands men as well as presentations and in-depth discussion on chanted tales by researchers from both Papua New Guinea and Australia. The workshop was funded by Cultura Senza Frontiere (a cultural heritage foundation based in Milan, Italy) and supported by the Australian Research Council. For more information on this workshop, please see the

Goroka Workshop Report:

• in PDF format
• in HTML format

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Second Chanted Tales Workshop, Kefamo Conference Centre, June 2006. [Photo: Ray Ronan]

In June 2006 a five-day workshop on Chanted Tales was held at the Kefamo Conference Centre in Goroka, with funding from the Australian Research Council. The workshop was attended by over thirty people, including researchers from around the world and composer/performers of chanted tales from six different language areas across three provinces of highland PNG. With all sessions run bilingually, in English and Tok Pisin, there was extensive, fruitful exchange of knowledge, views and research results on all sides. Like the 2004 workshop, this one was covered live-to-air on Radio's Australia's Pacific Beat Program, and in two of PNG's national newspapers, Wantok and The National. The article in The National is accessible online at http://www.thenational.com.pg/071406/w7.htm