The Lani Singers hail from the remote central highland region of West Papua in the south-west Pacific. Deeply emotive and compelling, their songs are rooted in the sacred rituals of the Lani tribe – a tribe whose way of living has remained largely unchanged since the Stone Age.
But their music has also come to embody a powerful modern day message - the struggle that their fellow people endure under a brutal and illegal Indonesian occupation. Since Indonesia invaded West Papua in 1963, over 400,000 native West Papuans have been murdered by Indonesian military and countless others have ‘disappeared’ in one of the world’s worst ongoing yet largely unreported cases of ethnic cleansing.
The Lani Singers are husband and wife, Benny and Maria Wenda. Leader of the Koteka Tribal Assembly, Benny Wenda was imprisoned by the Indonesian authorities on a 25 year term for raising the banned 'Morning Star' flag of West Papua, and for being an independence figurehead within West Papua. In 2003 he miraculously managed to escape from prison and was smuggled by freedom fighters through the jungle to neighbouring Papua New Guinea, where his wife Maria and their young child were by now living in a refugee camp by the border. Once reunited, they were brought to the UK by an NGO group, where they are now re-settled and run the Free West Papua Campaign, spreading awareness about the plight of their people, and campaigning for West Papua’s independence.
A mixture of traditional songs passed down through the generations by elders, as well some of their own compositions reflective of their plight, these songs are ones of hope, love, joy and pain.
The Lani Singers debut album Ninalik Ndawi was released in November 2008 ( click here to purchase a copy ), and they also feature on a recent compilation CD release called Merdeka (freedom), raising vital funds for the Free West Papua Campaign. To listen to samples and purchase a copy of the album click here
To find out more information about the ongoing situation in West Papua and to get involved in campaigning, please check these websites www.freewestpapua.org and www.infopapua.org
