First of all,If you don't know the story of the "Bougainville crisis" and the unrest Kanai Pineri is singing about,
then I suggest you watch the 2009 Hollywood movie"AVATAR"directed by James Cameron....
During the Bougainville crisis Rabaul was the care centre for Bougainvilleans.Mothers,women and children seek refuge there away from the tumoil on Bougainville island..this motivated Kanai to record songs about peace on his solo albums and also with Barike...
Here's what promted the recording of this song..
Late February 1997, a package(cargo) was off-loaded at Jacksons airport in Port Moresby(PNG) and was left there for two weeks.No one knew what it was except Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan and his government.
Before the chaos in Port Moresby took place,words reached Kanai Pineri, who was finalising his Solo album with Pacific Gold Studios that time, that the mystery cargo belonged to the Sandline mercenaries and was gonna be used on the island of Bougainville .
Kanai immediately began recording another song,protesting against the PNG Government, the PNG defense force and Sandline.Midway through the recording of this song,words got in that the PNG Defence Force was actually "against" the government and Sandline,not the other way around..
so Kanai had to rearrange the lyrics of this song to what it is now.
The album of course was released in the middle of the political chaos branded"Opareisen Rausim Kwik" that swept Port Moresby and parts of PNG for weeks. Radio stations across the country continually played the song which motivated Street kids,mothers,students and every ordinary citizen onto the streets to protest against the government and sandline.
They all wanted sandline out and let ever lasting peace prevail on Bougainville.They succeeded in stopping sandline and brought the PNG government to its knees.
As a result of the Sandline crisis Sixteen government ministers in the Chan government, including Prime Minister Julius Chan himself, lost their seats in Parliament in the June 1997 general elections.Grassroots let their votes do the damage.The Government realised then that the ordinary people of PNG simply sympathised with the people of Bougainville...and wanted peace-ever lasting peace-Enough was enough!!
17 дек 2011
