This article examines 34 sound documents recorded by Gerd and Sigrid Koch in March 1964 in Buariki village, Onotoa, Kiribati. At its center are three related song series: a coherent cycle, a sequence reconstructed from tape recordings, and sessions with an elderly female singer. These materials are read alongside a published prose version of the myth of Tabwakea and Bakoariki. The sources do not simply duplicate one another but follow partly separate trajectories, each condensing or elaborating shared motifs in distinct ways. Drawing on new transcriptions and English translations, the article offers a comparative analysis of convergences and divergences between variants. It situates these materials within the circumstances of their documentation while exploring processes of remembering and intra-familial negotiation. The study argues that “Tabwakea and Bakoariki” is less a single authoritative text than a dynamic ensemble of interrelated variants, with implications for debates on textual authority and sonic heritage in Oceania.
Reference
Wolfgang Kempf (2025): Song, Narrative, and Lines of Transmission: The “Tabwakea and Bakoariki” Recordings from the Koch Tape Collection (Kiribati 1963/64). Working Paper, Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Göttingen. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47952/gro-publ-363.