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Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I reflect on the processes involved in producing the forthcoming research video documentary on traditional Teduray music in which women are clearly mimetically represented.

Paper long abstract:

This project began with questioning why Teduray celebratory hand-held gong music is played mostly by them and how this might be related to their work in small scale but intensive agriculture.

More than men, they make their own baskets made of materials from the environment and these remain important means for transporting farm products to the markets and for containing ordinary things in their day to day existence as well as objects in ritual performances. Women play vital roles in the preparation of these extraordinary events, especially in the harvest of first grains, music making and in celebratory dances during weddings. It is not surprising therefore that music mimetically represents them, a number of pieces of which depict the enduring bonds between parents and their children. Women's gait, actions in the social world, even emotions, are also musically imitated.