It started in November 2009 when the then St Mary’s Catholic parish priest, Fr John Ryan, went to Kefamo and saw Sr Angie, a Filipino nun, playing the flute.

Fr Ryan asked her if she would like to teach music to some local Papua New Guinean children and Sr Angie was delighted to accept.

She told him to get some recorders. SVS was selling them in Goroka and in Lae and so Fr Ryan bought a few hundred.

The band started towards the end of November 2009, and had soon assembled about 30 children.

Unfortunately, the following January, rascals broke into the house where the Filipino nun was residing near the University of Goroka.

They bound her and a colleague, terrorised them and stole everything from the house. Within 48 hours, the two nuns had left PNG in a terrible state of shock.

That left the kids on their own and for two years they continued to practice on their own – first on guitars and recorders then moving on to flutes and clarinets.

All of this has been done using CDs and DVDs and without teachers, they’ve even taught themselves to read music.

It takes about six months for them to get proficient enough on the recorder to advance to either a clarinet or flute.

The second-hand instruments came from Australia after Fr Ryan sent out an appeal to two Catholic newspapers for second hand flutes and clarinets in working condition. The response was good and, when the story featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, 15 instruments were donated while new ones were brought in by missionaries coming to PNG from Australia.

Former Goroka parliamentarian Thompson Haroquave also provided help and without him and the people in Australia, the group would not have reached the stage where it is now.

Band leader Emmanuel Herman Ararua said most members of the band are primary school students while some are in secondary school.

“When interested youths come, we teach them how to read music with the first book which is the recorder book,” Emmanuel told me.

“After that we give them tests to see if they pass then they proceed to reading music with flute books and clarinet books.”

Basic Music Ministry lit up again late last year when they played in front of Papindo Supermarket for the four Saturdays leading to Christmas.

It was also invited to Bihute Prison before Christmas to play for male and female prisoners. The band also gave a present to each one and some members have since taught the recorder to prisoners.

They’ve also gone around every ward at Goroka Provincial Hospital playing for patients and staff, which was a great experience.

The band played at the swearing in of Governor Julie Soso MP at the National Sports Institute, at the Bird of Paradise Hotel, at Ukarumpa, a few kilometres out of Goroka, at functions like World AIDS Day, at Easter and at the University of Goroka.

Fr John Ryan said the band has given the youths better prospects in life. He believes every child in PNG is gifted musically and, if given the chance, music could really develop in PNG.

He urged all schools in PNG to teach the recorder because if you play music you will have it for life.

“Music is a new way of life and nothing is impossible if you have the will and a way,” he said.

Basic Music Ministry is now inviting interested people who would like to learn to read music, or play the flute, recorder or clarinet to be part of this great new wave of evangelisation.