Music from Tuvalu
The music of Tuvalu , an island state in the western Pacific Ocean , has been under the influence of Samoan musical styles and missionaries, who introduced the polyphonic singing of folk and church hymns based on European models from the end of the 19th century . The earlier indigenous chants have been practically forgotten since the second half of the 20th century. Traditional music is mostly considered to be the singing accompaniment of the fatele dance, which has replaced the older dances fakanau and fakaseasea . In addition to songs with Christian texts, songs of praise for deserving personalities are usually performed.
history
The archipelago consisting of nine small atolls was called Ellice Islands during the British colonial period until independence in 1978 . Seven of the nine islands probably had the same musical tradition of the Polynesian people before European influence in the 19th century. Exceptions are the southernmost island Niulakita , which was not settled by residents of Niutao until 1949 , and Nui , an island conquered by the Micronesians of the Gilbert Islands in the 17th or 18th century, on which a Polynesian-Micronesian population now lives. The Tuvaluan language was first mentioned in 1846 by the American philologist Horatio Hale , who visited the archipelago in 1841 as part of the United States Exploring Expedition . Tuvaluan is one of the Polynesian languages that began to diversify around 2000 years ago. Several dialects are distinguished on the islands. The archipelago has probably been permanently inhabited since the 16th century. From the Polynesian islands of Samoa and Tonga further to the east, fishermen driven away by the trade winds and, in disputes over land, simple population groups who had lost their land and who had exiled and brought with them little material culture landed . The collective memory doesn't go back that long. What the music looked like before the arrival of Europeans in the mid-19th century can only be guessed at.
In the 1860s, individual missionaries first began to spread Christianity. The first Polynesian missionary from Manihiki achieved success on Nukulaelae in 1861 . From 1869, two preachers from Samoa were missionary among the 417 inhabitants of Niutao Island so successfully that in 1872 all but 42 islanders professed Christianity. In the same year British missionaries from the London Missionary Society visited the island of Nanumanga , on which a Samoan preacher had been active for ten months, and found the traditional culture to be almost unchanged. The ruler had forbidden his subjects to become Christians and had an oracle consulted on this subject . The gods were conjured with music and dances, who finally proclaimed that foreign gods and missionaries should stay away from the sacred land. A little later, the Australian missionary William Wyatt Gill saw a house on Niutao, on whose central wooden post supporting the roof a statue of a god with offerings and chants was worshiped every day. Gill does not describe the nature of the chants.
At that time there were certain chants ( taanga ) on the island of Funafuti for the evening cult in front of the stone of a family deity, the spirit Foilape. Taanga songs were also sung for the aliki , the island leader appointed by the clan elders. The aliki the islanders brought in a ceremony turtles heads, while a choir sang in front of him and some dancers the tele aufführten. If the turtle head came from a male animal, a man danced when the offering was presented; if it was a female head, a woman danced. Other chants with a magical meaning were the solo songs of the house and boat builders and the shout songs of the fishermen. There were also songs associated with birth and death and songs that were only intended for entertainment.
The missionaries' work had a profound effect on the island culture. Their aim was to suppress all forms of expression that were connected with old beliefs and that did not correspond to their puritanical worldview. In their place, they introduced European dance songs, polyphonic Christian chants and the Samoan pentatonic alternating song in the second half of the 19th century . By 1910 this style had pushed the old recitative style into the background and competed with the purely European melodies. At the beginning of the 20th century, the "old style" was mostly only used by the elderly. In 1870 the first hymns were sung on Niutao, from 1928 a choir sang rehearsed polyphonic songs in the Samoan-European style. In addition to the mission schools, such songs were also practiced in the government schools that had been established on all the islands since 1930.
In 1900 an employee of the Pacific Islands Company from Sydney discovered phosphate deposits on the island of Banaba , from which fertilizers could be made. Banaba became the main emigration destination for Tuvalu residents. 35 young men from Nanumea and Niutao were recruited as phosphate workers in the first year. In 1902 the British took over the entire island world under the protectorate of Gilbert and Ellice Islands in order to secure the company's mining rights. The phosphate mining lasted - under particularly harsh conditions before and during the Second World War - until 1979. On average, 200 workers from Tuvalu were employed. When the men returned to Tuvalu after several years of work, they brought the current European-American musical styles with them.
In the middle of the 20th century the European-influenced entertainment dances siva from Samoa became popular, as well as the "Hawaiian music" with guitar and ukulele , which was widespread throughout Polynesia . In 1960 only a few old people knew remnants of a pre-European tradition. Radio stations with hits from Australia, Samoa, Fiji and Hawaii ensured the internationalization of musical taste.
Music and dance styles
Musical instruments
The ancient music of Tuvalu consisted of various forms of singing with sparing rhythmic accompaniment. There were hardly any musical instruments, as in general western Polynesia is traditionally an area poor in material culture. On the Tuvalu Islands, suitable wood for the art of carving was always scarce. Because of the barren soil, the flora is poor in species. The paper mulberry tree found on other Polynesian islands for the production of bast materials is completely absent here. Snail trumpets (in Niutao: pu ) and slit drums used to serve mainly as signaling instruments, bamboo flutes or mouth bows were unknown. It is only likely that the log drum godfather was once used at dances and festivals, at the end of the 19th century the believers were called to church with it. A pate (on Niutau and Funafuti) was 55 centimeters long and a little over ten centimeters wide and high; it was beaten with two wooden sticks ( kauta ) about 30 centimeters long . On Nanumanga , a nafa measured 126 centimeters in length and 18 × 26 centimeters in width and height. In the past there should have been much larger slotted drums as signal instruments. With a coconut palm leaf fan ( ili ) in their right hand, each singer hit the palm of their left hand, creating an imprecise rhythm. In the past, men also beat the rhythm with the flat of their hands on their seat mats, from the 1960s they began to drum on louder wooden boxes.
Songs
The entertaining traditional song lyrics deal with fishing and subsistence farming, both of which still play a major economic role today. Large schools of fish, sowing and harvesting, bird hunting, the land crabs ( paikea ) mostly caught by women or dug out of their holes , past famines, mythical figures, mat lichen, other everyday occurrences and songs of praise for deserving men are sung about . Songs about death are hardly represented in a worldly attitude. The melodies and lyrics were mostly composed by men in addition to their daily work. They enjoyed a particularly high reputation for this in the community. Most of the songs recorded by Gerd Koch in 1960/61 come from men who were born shortly before or after 1900.
The songs can be categorized into the group of dance songs and into play songs (Niutao, Nukufetau: mako tafao), which are sung by men, women and children to counting or catching games. In chant songs (Niutao: tangi, Nukufetau: fakalangilangi) fishermen try to lure fish and sing at night against their tiredness; they used to call on the sea gods. The earlier work songs have practically disappeared; Around 1960 a work song could still be recorded that was sung while the coconut fiber cord was turned. In award songs (Niutao, Nanumanga: viki, viiki; Nukufetau: taungafatu ), respected men who have made a contribution to the community are sung with European melodies, and dances are occasionally performed. Sunday services include European church choirs (Niutao: pese fatu; Nanumanga: pehe lotu ). A special song of praise for a deceased that was accompanied by a cry of lament was called kupu . At the kupu , the gods were asked to graciously accept the deceased.
The stylistic division begins with the old recitative , a spoken chant that is performed chorally in a fixed meter and is occasionally supplemented rhythmically by clapping hands or a slit drum. The pitch is sometimes constant, usually it runs regularly downwards in a straight or undulating movement. Often times 6/8 or 2/4 are used, the tempo of which is gradually increased.
A second, smaller group of old melodies, consisting of three-note steps, is performed in a two-part choir. The melody phrases are strophic and correspond to the lines of text. These songs are assigned to the old dances.
With the missionary work and influences from Samoa, the pentatonic alternating chant spread, the range of which is over a fifth (usually a major sixth ) and which is characterized by melismatically stretched syllables. Each line of verse contains an average of 16 syllables, the length of the verse can be 14 to 20 syllables. Each line corresponds to a melodic phrase made up of four bars. The texts must be subordinate to the strict four-bar form. The type of polyphony results from the alternation between the solo upper part and the lower part of the choir. As a rule, the lead singer begins with a melody phrase that descends from the upper sixth to the root, followed by a sequence of notes close to the root. The chorus already answers within this second half of the phrase by approaching the root note from the lower fourth. In contrast to the upper part, the choir does not use melisms. The end usually occurs abruptly when the upper part stops after a repetition of the last line of text and the choir breaks off on the root note in the middle of this line. The rhythm follows both voices equally, just dispensing with the fine melisms of the upper part, accents are often set by syncopation . Songs sung in church must be performed discreetly. If the same songs are sung in competitions elsewhere, the choir and audience are often exuberantly happy.
Pop music comes from the radio, as it can be heard uniformly on all Polynesian islands up to the music of New Guinea . A corresponding music group on the main island of Funafuti is led by the singer and guitarist Aselu Apelu.
Dances
There was no special dance floor, dances for every occasion were performed in front of the apartment buildings or in the meeting house. On Niutao and Nukufetau, the sitting dance fakanau was popular, in which mostly only men took part. They sat in a circle around an old man in the middle who acted as a clock. A common variation on the seated dance is generally performed on the knees or standing, with the dancers making the same movements with the torso and arms without moving away from the spot. A woman's dance, in which men occasionally participated, was called onga . Just like the fakatapatapa , the onga was a dance for happy occasions. The fakanu , on the other hand, was performed at every festival, even on sad occasions: at a funeral, for returning fishermen or for the birth of a son.
The slower mako fakaseasea (Niutao and Nukufetau) were danced by slightly more women than men. Of the 40 to 50 people present, only a few moved their arms and upper bodies in a standing dance, while the rest formed the choir and beat the beat. A synchronous acting is not necessary with this dance. The dances mako fakatangitangi (Niutao and Nukufetau), mako fakalangilangi (Nanumanga) and mako saka (Nukufetau) were probably similar . On the island of Nanumanga, the short dance song putu tanga was sung at the end of another dance . The tradition of standing dances fakanau and fakaseasea is only maintained by a few elders today.
Another old dance style was called fatele ( faatele , Niutao and Nanumanga). Five or six women sat or kneeled and moved arms and hands, several men and women in the vicinity formed the choir. A modern form of the fatele that emerged at the end of the 19th century is the most famous dance today. Tuvalu is considered the origin of the fatele , even if it occurs on the islands of Tokelau , Kiribati , Rotuma , Wallis and Futuna . His melodies are influenced by Europe, the lyrics have a Christian content. Unmarried girls in bamboo skirts stand in two or more rows. In front of it, the young men sit on the floor, sing in a choir and clap or beat the rhythm on mats with their hands. They are essentially standing dances in which hands and arms are moved in a wave-like manner and as synchronously as possible over a long period (several hours). The rhythm can also be created more intrusive by drumming on a wooden box.
In addition, the Samoan siva (generally "dance" in Samoa, Nanumanga: hiva ) has established itself . This movement dance for girls and boys, corresponding to the South Sea cliché, includes a siva song sung in several voices , often with a Samoan text.
See also
Discography
- Tuvalu. A Polynesian Atoll Society. Produced by Ad Linkels. (Anthology of Pacific Music - 5) Ethnic Series, PAN Records, 1994 (PAN 2055)
literature
- Dieter Christensen, Gerd Koch : The music of the Ellice Islands. (New part, 5th section, South Seas II.) Museum of Ethnology, Berlin 1964.
- Marc Beaulieu: Tuvaluan Faatele: A Performative and Historico-geographic Context. In Context , Volume 34, 2009, pp. 49-64
- Gerd Koch: The material culture of the Ellice Islands. (New episode 3rd section South Seas I.) Museum of Ethnology, Berlin 1961.
- Gerd Koch: Songs of Tuvalu. University of South Pacific, Suva (Fiji) 2000 (translation by Christensen / Koch 1964)
Web links
- Jane Resture: Tuvalu. Singing and Dancing.
Individual evidence
- ^ Niko Besnier: Tuvaluan: a Polynesian language of the Central Pacific. Routledge Chapman & Hall, New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-02456-0 , p. XIX.
- ^ A Brief History of Tuvalu. tuvaluislands.com
- ^ Sabine Ehrhart: The South Seas. Island worlds in the South Pacific. (= DuMont culture and landscape guide). DuMont, Cologne 1993, pp. 256, 259.
- ^ William Wyatt Gill : Jottings from the Pacific. The Religious Tract Society, London 1865, pp. 15f. ( online at Open Library )
- ↑ D. Christensen, G. Koch: The music of the Ellice Islands. 1964, pp. 183-186.
- ↑ D. Christensen, G. Koch: The music of the Ellice Islands. 1964, pp. 188-190.
- ↑ Simati Faaniu, Hugh Laracy: Tuvalu. A history. Institute of Pacific Studies, Suva (Fiji) 1983, pp. 122f.
- ↑ Gerd Koch: The material culture of the Ellice Islands. 1961.
- ↑ D. Christensen, G. Koch: The music of the Ellice Islands. 1964, pp. 17-19.
- ↑ Jane Resture: Tuvalu. Singing and Dancing.
- ↑ D. Christensen, G. Koch: The music of the Ellice Islands. 1964, pp. 161-178.
- ↑ Tuvalu song - CUZZIES ** Tilitili ake Funafuti **. Youtube video
- ↑ D. Christensen, G. Koch: The music of the Ellice Islands. 1964, p. 16
- ↑ Marc Beaulieu: Tuvaluan Faatele . 2009, p. 51
- ↑ Fatele Funafuti-'Talofa te mamalu ote fale'. Youtube video
- ↑ Tuvalu - Fatele from Funafuti 6. Youtube Video
- ↑ Siva Tuvalu'Talofa ite aso Tenei '. Youtube video