The most widespread form of music making in East Timor is singing. Songs are sung by the East Timorese for many of the occasions of daily life and often utilized in many of the rituals associated with life and death and as a means of communicating with ancestors. Ancestral worship is the foundation of the indigenous belief system of the East Timorese and integral to it is lulik. Lulik translated into Tetun (the lingua franca of East Timor) simply means, ‘sacred’ or ‘forbidden’. Lulik is a complex concept, with many layers, and the governance of lulik’s sacred rules and regulations shapes most relationships in East Timorese society. This article examines the role of traditional songs in East Timor, and factors which may affect their survival. In particular the consequences of singing them if they are believed to have lulik connotations. Can trajectories be negotiated through the lulik domain by those who wish to continue singing these songs in culturally appropriate ways? The songs selected are those with lulik implications and were recorded by the author in numerous fields trips undertaken over a fourteen-year period from 2003 to 2016.

东帝汶最普遍的音乐制作形式是唱歌。东帝汶人在日常生活的许多场合都会唱歌曲，并经常在与生死相关的许多仪式中使用歌曲，并作为与祖先交流的一种方式。祖先崇拜是东帝汶土著信仰体系的基础，而lulik 是其不可或缺的一部分。Lulik翻译成德顿语（东帝汶的通用语）简单的意思是“神圣的”或“禁止的”。Lulik是一个复杂的概念，有很多层次，而lulik 的治理神圣的规章制度塑造了东帝汶社会的大多数关系。本文探讨了传统歌曲在东帝汶的作用，以及可能影响其生存的因素。特别是如果他们被认为具有lulik内涵，则唱它们的后果。那些希望继续以适合文化的方式演唱这些歌曲的人能否通过lulik领域协商轨迹？所选歌曲是那些具有lulik含义的歌曲，由作者在 2003 年至 2016 年的 14 年期间进行的多次实地考察中录制。