Oceania

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Oceania The Power of the Voice

• Music 1100
• By Dr. Made Mantle Hood

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Oceania The Power of the Voice

• The voice and sung text found throughout Oceania
  are the crucial musical determinants of cultural
  identity. From traditional chants, to church
  hymns and popular music, the voice is paramount.
• - Hawaii and traditional chant
• - Micronesia and popular music
• - Polynesia and choral music

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Brief Historical Background

• - 25,000 islands from tiny specks of coral to the
  Australian continent
• - only 1,500 are inhabited totaling around 30
  million people
• - hundreds of dialects and languages
• - 4 geographic groups
• 1. Australia southern land
• 2. Melanesia black islands
• 3. Micronesia small islands
• 4. Polynesia many islands

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Brief Historical Background

• Colonies in Common
• European colonialism from countries such as
  Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the
  Netherlands abolished indigenous chiefdoms and
  local social structures
• As a result the performing arts, music and dance
  are an amalgamation of Christian hymns, popular
  tunes and an pan-Oceanic expression of Voice.
• One of the most famous islands is HAWAII

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Hawaii brief history
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Hawaii Background

• Hawaii brief history
• 8 islands, hundreds of atolls
• 650 A.D. migrants inhabit from Polynesia
• 1778 first western contact from British
• 1820 christian missionaries arrive, 5 years later
  complete conversion
• 1898 American businessmen overthrow Hawaiian
  monarchy
• 1959 becomes USAs 50th state

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Hawaii Demystified

• Fantasies and Stereotypes
• V.S.
• Knowledge and Understanding
• HULA pretty girl, grass skirt VS. poetry in
  movement
• ALOHA bye-bye VS. admiration/love
• BIG KAHUNA the Boss VS. ritual priest
• TABOO no-no VS. social regulation

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Three layers of Traditional Society

• 1. chiefs/priests
• 2. commoners
• 3. slaves
• Social order maintained through
• Power and Prohibition
• Power (mana) sacred power in animate and
  inanimate objects.
• volcano, ocean,
• trees, flowers,
• music, dance
• priests and cheifs.

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• Prohibition (kapu) rituals and prohibitions
  designed to uphold island social order to avoid
  exhausted communal and natural resources. Example
  Rapa Nui
• Power of the Voice
• Hula performance is strongly connected to
• prayers to gods
• genealogy and fertility chants
• welcoming and songs of admiration

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• Mele
• Poetic texts as the basis of ALL music and dance
  performance
• Mele oli sung chant alone (unmetered)
• Mele hula sung chant with dance (metered)

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• 5 types of mele from sacred to secular
• 1. Prayers dedicated to gods ex. Pele god of
  volcano
• 2. genealogical chants for chiefs and priests to
  strengthen the positions
• 3. name songs chants that name and honor and
  individual ex. King Kalakau
• 4. love making chants symbolism and poetic
  metaphor ex. Flowers, rainfall
• 5. informal chants welcoming of guests,
  spontaneously composed

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• VIDEO Example
• Holo Mai Pele a Hawaiian creation myth with
  chant and hula
• Scene 1 Dance class where teacher shows
  movements of canoe
• Scene 2 Pele, goddess of volcano destroys and
  creates the land
• Scene 3 Performance with chanters playing
  gourds in the background and 20 dancers

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• Summary Hawaii
• After cultural genocide, Christian missionaries,
  and international tourist trade, Hawaii is
  experiencing an on-going Cultural Renaissance
• The Voice and sung chant are leading the way.

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Micronesia and Popular Music

• All islands have forms of pop music
• Guitar, keyboard, and brass abound

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Brief Historical Background

• 1668 Spain conquers Guam and Mariana islands
• 1800 North American Protestant missionaries
  introduce church hymns
• International Whalers bring western instruments
  such as guitars, ukuleles, mandolins and banjos

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• 1900s German and Japanese occupation of all of
  Micronesia
• Germans bring harmonicas and button accordions
• Japanese songs and language are integrated into
  local music
• 1945 Post-war Micronesian Music
• - administered by U.S. government
• - U.S. military radio, Bob Hope shows and
  touring military bands all influence local music
• - enterprising islanders make bands, entertain
  troops

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• 1950s Urban v.s. Rural
• Mariana Islands and Guam
• - the Charfauros Brothers, Candido and Johnny
  Sablan
• - growing toursit market, hotels and nightclubs
• - singing in English
• Chuuk, Palau and Yap islands
• - 1 radio station, limited instruments
• - singing in local language and dialects

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• 1970s Tourism, Reggae and Rap
• Japanese tourists create demand for popular music
  
• Groups like the Sunshine Kids, Mike Di Amore Jazz
  Quartet have commercial success
• The I Dont Know Band develops Jamoan, a blend
  of Samoan and Jamaican reggae
• Listening example Rapa Nui Rap

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Choral Music the Samoan Example

• Samoan Choral Songs - secular
• Poetry, descriptive and narrative that express
  opinions and feelings for certain occassions
• A volcano eruption
• Military rebellion
• Dedication of a church
• Reverence of nature
• The death of a loved one

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• Samoan Hymnal Music - sacred
• religious service strictly performed within the
  confines of the church
• 4 part harmonies
• Soprano, alto, tenor, bass
• English and American hymns translated to local
  samoan dialects
• Accompaniment by organ or piano

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• Summary
• Throughout Oceania it is the power of the voice
  in all its forms from mele chant, to church hymns
  and popular music
• that unites the peoples of Micro, Mela,
  Polynesia.