Greetings everybody!
Some thoughts on Climate Change and Global Warming in Oceania/Pacific Islands and elsewhere.
Kam bati n rabwa, Tekeraoi, Ti a boo moa.
Oceania And Global Warming (www.janeresture.com)
http://www.janeresture.com/oceania_warming/index.htm
Aspects of Global Warming (www.janeresture.com)
http://www.janeresture.com/oceania_warming1/index.htm
Oceania And Global Warming (www.janesoceania.com)
Causes and Effects:
http://www.janesoceania.com/oceania_global_warming/index.htm
Oceania And Global Warming (1) (www.janesoceania.com)
Unnatural Disasters:
http://www.janesoceania.com/oceania_global_warming1/index.htm
Jane's Oceania Home Page:
http://www.janeresture.com/index.htm
Showing posts with label Federated States of Micronesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Federated States of Micronesia. Show all posts
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
DID THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES DISCOVER AMERICA?
A growing number of archaeological finds suggest the Americas were settled earlier than thought, and by at least two different groups of people. What's startling is that the oldest human remains look like Australian Aborigines.
Who were the first people to set foot in the Americas? For a long time, the answer to this question seemed as sharply defined as the end of the fluted hunting tools known as 'Clovis points' found in scattered sites across North America: humans colonised the Americas rather late in the history of human expansion.
After scampering about in trees for a few million years, anatomically modern humans emerged in Africa and promptly began migrating to the four corners of the world. The earliest ancestors expanded throughout Asia, arriving in Australia at least 50,000 years ago, Europe at least 45,000 years ago and western Melanesia at least 40,000 years ago. There, the eastward expansion came to a halt. The last two habitable continents remained out of reach across the wide open body of water we now call the Pacific Ocean.
Eventually, one group of humans, with distinctive Mongoloid features, around Northern Asia mastered the art of hunting mega fauna. During the last Ice Age, when the world's water was locked up in massive ice sheets and glaciers, the Bering Strait was drained to reveal the continental shelf between Siberia and Alaska. The ancestors of today's Native Americans followed the herds of mammoths, long-horn bison and horses on the final eastward expansion, arriving in the New World by about 11,200 years ago.
According to this traditional view, the big-game hunters of Mongoloid appearance continued their expansion southward, through an interior ice-free path formed by the retreating glaciers. When they reached what is today the western United States, they flourished. Their success is marked by the prolific stone hunting tools first found near the town of Clovis, New Mexico, in the 1930s. In less than 1,000 years, the Clovis people (as they're known) trekked from Alaska to the tip of South America, eventually founding all the indigenous populations of North and South America.
Modern research has suggested as a consequence of other archaeological evidence becoming available from ancient sites that predate the Clovis culture that other races initially settled along the west coast of the Americas. Indeed, later research has indicated that the people who left Africa in the initial mass colonisation event were not altered by the Pacific Ocean.
One example of this earlier settlement has been found from an ancient "Luzia woman" whose skeleton is held in the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil. This skeleton has a very projected space, with her chin sitting out further than her forehead. She has a long, narrow brain case, measured from the eyes to the back of the skull, a low nose and low orbits - the space where the eyes sit. Indeed, Luzia looks very much like an Australian aboriginal.
Luzia, however, was discovered a world away, thirteen metres underground in Central Brazil, in one of the many mine stone rock shelters that make up an extensive system called Lapa Vermelha. In the mid 1990s the bones were analysed and it was concluded that they all belonged to a single female who was named "Luzia" as a homage to a specimen of Australopithicus afarensis dubbed Lucy, one of the early hominids in Africa who walked on two legs instead of four. Exact carbon dating could not be performed on Luzia who died when she was in her early 20s because researchers did not have the protein collagen necessary to date human remains. However, the layers of the rock shelter in which she was found indicate that she lived between 11,000 and 11,500 years ago. Scientists have indicated that Luzia may well be the oldest human skeleton in the Americas.
Certainly Luzia is not alone. Several skeletal remains have since been analysed in seven archaeological sites from the far north as Florida in the USA and as far south as Chile. They all look most similar to sub-Saharan Africans, Australian Aborigines and some of the original populations of the Pacific Islands. What they don't look like is native Americans or East Asians. While Luzia may be the oldest human remains discovered in the Americas, she was not the first to be found.
As early as 1989, some scientists proposed the existence of a non-mongoloid migration into the Americas that pre-dated the Clovis culture. An examination of 38 skeletons from three sites in Brazil and Colombia dated from 6000 to 12,000 years ago. The research suggested a clear biological affinity between the early South Americans and the South Pacific population. This association suggested the conclusion that the Americas were occupied before the spreading of the classical mongoloid morphology in Asia. This conclusion was further strengthened by the analysis of a further 81 skeletons from Lagoa Santa.
Certainly, the conclusion raises the question of how on earth did a group of people who look like Australian Aborigines get all the way to Brazil at least 12,000 years ago. Research has shown that these people were in China about 20,000 years ago and that the mongoloid population that you see in Asia today is more recent. One possibility is that Luzia's "American Aborigines" shared a last common ancestor with the Australian aborigines in Southeast Asia with one group setting to the great southern land (Australia), arriving around 50,000 years ago. The other group wound their way through Asia and eventually made their way to Siberia, across the Bering Strait to Alaska. They did this thousands of years before the Clovis people.
Research is still being undertaken as to the manner in which these early people crossed the Bering Strait with some archaeologists suggesting that North and South America were colonized by boats. At this time, archaeologists continued to piece together theories based on circumstantial evidence such as remains while geneticists examine population today and look for clues to their paths in mutations in the human DNA build-up in order to pinpoint when these mutations first appeared. Then, using particular mutations as markers, they can then trace the journey of different peoples back in time. In the case of Luzia, and her relative bones, DNA analysis is no easy task because the bones are so old that the DNA is highly degraded and contaminated with other human DNA, bacteria and viruses. While Brazil may have been too hot and wet to provide a good DNA sample, this problem does not exist at the southern tip of the continent.
As a result of the above, researchers are working from samples from the southern region using new sequencing technology that can directly read the ancient pieces of DNA. It is this research that will conclusively prove who reached the New World first. Could it really have been the common ancestor of the Australian Aborigines or even the Australian Aborigines themselves? Did they take the voyage across the vast Pacific in flimsy craft or did they brave the southern ocean to reach the tip of South America? Alternatively, did they perverse the distances up to Siberia and across the Bering Strait and all the way to southernmost Chile?
This Web site:
Australia - Aboriginal - America
http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_america/index1.htm
will be updated further when the results of ongoing research become available.
Domains:
http://www.janeresture.com/index.htm
http://www.janesoceania.com/index.html
http://www.ourpacificocean.com/index.htm
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/index.htm
Who were the first people to set foot in the Americas? For a long time, the answer to this question seemed as sharply defined as the end of the fluted hunting tools known as 'Clovis points' found in scattered sites across North America: humans colonised the Americas rather late in the history of human expansion.
After scampering about in trees for a few million years, anatomically modern humans emerged in Africa and promptly began migrating to the four corners of the world. The earliest ancestors expanded throughout Asia, arriving in Australia at least 50,000 years ago, Europe at least 45,000 years ago and western Melanesia at least 40,000 years ago. There, the eastward expansion came to a halt. The last two habitable continents remained out of reach across the wide open body of water we now call the Pacific Ocean.
Eventually, one group of humans, with distinctive Mongoloid features, around Northern Asia mastered the art of hunting mega fauna. During the last Ice Age, when the world's water was locked up in massive ice sheets and glaciers, the Bering Strait was drained to reveal the continental shelf between Siberia and Alaska. The ancestors of today's Native Americans followed the herds of mammoths, long-horn bison and horses on the final eastward expansion, arriving in the New World by about 11,200 years ago.
According to this traditional view, the big-game hunters of Mongoloid appearance continued their expansion southward, through an interior ice-free path formed by the retreating glaciers. When they reached what is today the western United States, they flourished. Their success is marked by the prolific stone hunting tools first found near the town of Clovis, New Mexico, in the 1930s. In less than 1,000 years, the Clovis people (as they're known) trekked from Alaska to the tip of South America, eventually founding all the indigenous populations of North and South America.
Modern research has suggested as a consequence of other archaeological evidence becoming available from ancient sites that predate the Clovis culture that other races initially settled along the west coast of the Americas. Indeed, later research has indicated that the people who left Africa in the initial mass colonisation event were not altered by the Pacific Ocean.
One example of this earlier settlement has been found from an ancient "Luzia woman" whose skeleton is held in the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil. This skeleton has a very projected space, with her chin sitting out further than her forehead. She has a long, narrow brain case, measured from the eyes to the back of the skull, a low nose and low orbits - the space where the eyes sit. Indeed, Luzia looks very much like an Australian aboriginal.
Luzia, however, was discovered a world away, thirteen metres underground in Central Brazil, in one of the many mine stone rock shelters that make up an extensive system called Lapa Vermelha. In the mid 1990s the bones were analysed and it was concluded that they all belonged to a single female who was named "Luzia" as a homage to a specimen of Australopithicus afarensis dubbed Lucy, one of the early hominids in Africa who walked on two legs instead of four. Exact carbon dating could not be performed on Luzia who died when she was in her early 20s because researchers did not have the protein collagen necessary to date human remains. However, the layers of the rock shelter in which she was found indicate that she lived between 11,000 and 11,500 years ago. Scientists have indicated that Luzia may well be the oldest human skeleton in the Americas.
Certainly Luzia is not alone. Several skeletal remains have since been analysed in seven archaeological sites from the far north as Florida in the USA and as far south as Chile. They all look most similar to sub-Saharan Africans, Australian Aborigines and some of the original populations of the Pacific Islands. What they don't look like is native Americans or East Asians. While Luzia may be the oldest human remains discovered in the Americas, she was not the first to be found.
As early as 1989, some scientists proposed the existence of a non-mongoloid migration into the Americas that pre-dated the Clovis culture. An examination of 38 skeletons from three sites in Brazil and Colombia dated from 6000 to 12,000 years ago. The research suggested a clear biological affinity between the early South Americans and the South Pacific population. This association suggested the conclusion that the Americas were occupied before the spreading of the classical mongoloid morphology in Asia. This conclusion was further strengthened by the analysis of a further 81 skeletons from Lagoa Santa.
Certainly, the conclusion raises the question of how on earth did a group of people who look like Australian Aborigines get all the way to Brazil at least 12,000 years ago. Research has shown that these people were in China about 20,000 years ago and that the mongoloid population that you see in Asia today is more recent. One possibility is that Luzia's "American Aborigines" shared a last common ancestor with the Australian aborigines in Southeast Asia with one group setting to the great southern land (Australia), arriving around 50,000 years ago. The other group wound their way through Asia and eventually made their way to Siberia, across the Bering Strait to Alaska. They did this thousands of years before the Clovis people.
Research is still being undertaken as to the manner in which these early people crossed the Bering Strait with some archaeologists suggesting that North and South America were colonized by boats. At this time, archaeologists continued to piece together theories based on circumstantial evidence such as remains while geneticists examine population today and look for clues to their paths in mutations in the human DNA build-up in order to pinpoint when these mutations first appeared. Then, using particular mutations as markers, they can then trace the journey of different peoples back in time. In the case of Luzia, and her relative bones, DNA analysis is no easy task because the bones are so old that the DNA is highly degraded and contaminated with other human DNA, bacteria and viruses. While Brazil may have been too hot and wet to provide a good DNA sample, this problem does not exist at the southern tip of the continent.
As a result of the above, researchers are working from samples from the southern region using new sequencing technology that can directly read the ancient pieces of DNA. It is this research that will conclusively prove who reached the New World first. Could it really have been the common ancestor of the Australian Aborigines or even the Australian Aborigines themselves? Did they take the voyage across the vast Pacific in flimsy craft or did they brave the southern ocean to reach the tip of South America? Alternatively, did they perverse the distances up to Siberia and across the Bering Strait and all the way to southernmost Chile?
This Web site:
Australia - Aboriginal - America
http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_america/index1.htm
will be updated further when the results of ongoing research become available.
Domains:
http://www.janeresture.com/index.htm
http://www.janesoceania.com/index.html
http://www.ourpacificocean.com/index.htm
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/index.htm
Sunday, October 10, 2010
200 New Species Discovered In Remote Papua New Guinea
200 New Species Discovered
In Remote Papua New Guinea
A spectacular array of more than 200 new species has been discovered in the Pacific Islands of Papua New Guinea, including a white-tailed mouse and a tiny, long-snouted frog.
The survey of remote New Britain Island and the Southern Highlands ranges, accessible only by a combination of small plane, dinghy, helicopter and foot, found an exciting range of new mammals, amphibians, insects and plants.
People have heard of birds of paradise and tree-climbing kangaroos, but when you look even closer at the small things you just realise that there's a staggering diversity out there that we really know nothing about.
Papua New Guinea's jungles are one of just three wild rainforest areas, along with the Amazon and the Congo basin, left in the world, and as such comprise a vast "storehouse" of biodiversity, with scores of new species.
Scientists have indicated that only half of the things documented actually have names.
The rugged, mountainous and largely inaccessible terrain meant biologists had not even been able to enter some regions and there were large areas of New Guinea that are pretty much unexplored biologically.
Genetic testing used to prove new species such as the mouse which confirmed that it was not related to any known creature.
There is little doubt that these kinds of discoveries are certainly good news story amongst all the gloom, particularly when one considers the creeping extinction of other creatures.
In Remote Papua New Guinea
A spectacular array of more than 200 new species has been discovered in the Pacific Islands of Papua New Guinea, including a white-tailed mouse and a tiny, long-snouted frog.
The survey of remote New Britain Island and the Southern Highlands ranges, accessible only by a combination of small plane, dinghy, helicopter and foot, found an exciting range of new mammals, amphibians, insects and plants.
People have heard of birds of paradise and tree-climbing kangaroos, but when you look even closer at the small things you just realise that there's a staggering diversity out there that we really know nothing about.
Papua New Guinea's jungles are one of just three wild rainforest areas, along with the Amazon and the Congo basin, left in the world, and as such comprise a vast "storehouse" of biodiversity, with scores of new species.
Scientists have indicated that only half of the things documented actually have names.
The rugged, mountainous and largely inaccessible terrain meant biologists had not even been able to enter some regions and there were large areas of New Guinea that are pretty much unexplored biologically.
Genetic testing used to prove new species such as the mouse which confirmed that it was not related to any known creature.
There is little doubt that these kinds of discoveries are certainly good news story amongst all the gloom, particularly when one considers the creeping extinction of other creatures.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Pacific Islands Radio - The Beautiful Music Of Micronesia
Welcome Everybody!
This is a listening guide to the many
listeners of our Internet Pacific Islands
Radio Stations.
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/index.htm
I will focus on issues relating to Pacific
Island music and to embrace some of the
exciting changes taking place in the Internet
Radio Revolution, as well as updated information
on our Pacific Island Artists, Programming and
Playlists.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Welcome to beautiful Micronesia!
http://www.janeresture.com/michome/index.htm
As mentioned previously, and after our
recent trip to spectacular and exotic
Melanesia, it is now my great pleasure to
be able to share with you a brief outline
of the traditional and contemporary music
(and dance) of fantastic Micronesia!
The people of Micronesia were the last
ethnic group to migrate into the Pacific
region, being preceded by many thousands
of years by the Melanesians and, some
thousands of years earlier, by the people of
Polynesia. Indeed, there is a growing amount
of evidence to suggest that the many islands
and atolls of Micronesia have been inhabited
for at least 3000 years, and that the ancient
origin of the migrants was Southeast
Asia/Indonesia.
Much of the evidence to support this is
based on the study of the languages of the
Micronesian people. The Gilbertese
(Kiribati) language, for example, belongs to
the very large Austronesian language family
which evolved in Southeast Asia and began
to spread into the Pacific about 5000 years
ago. With the exception of some societies
in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea,
all languages in the Pacific, including the
Gilbertese language, belong to this family.
Also, of course, the study of plants in the
Pacific in recent years has revealed some
important evidence about the migrations
of people. With few exceptions, all useful
food and fibre plants found today in the
Pacific islands originated outside the Pacific.
For example, all the important plants used
by Gilbertese (I-Kiribati or Kiribati people),
the coconut, breadfruit, babai or taro, as
well as pandanus, are native to the Southeast
Asia/Indonesia area. Researchers can only
conclude that they must have been brought
to the islands by the early settlers.
The music and associated dance forms in
Micronesia are distinctive, yet, they are closely
related in many ways to that of their Polynesian
counterpart. With the exception of Truk (Chuuk)
in the central Caroline Group, which displays
traits of Melanesian and possibly Indonesian
influence, the music structure of all parts of
Micronesia is predominantly word-determined,
as is that of Polynesia. The origins of traditional
Micronesian music, however, are generally quite
obscure with the music having been handed
down by older folks to the younger children.
Composing traditional music involves a
considerable amount of ritualism and magic.
The composer does not compose the music
himself, but rather the song or songs are given
to the composers in a mythical setting - possibly
in a dream or a trance. The task of the composer
is then to follow the secret methodology that their
predecessors had passed on to them to produce
a song that is regarded as being magically blessed.
The second method of composing songs is one
which involves no magic and results from somebody
wishing to have a song made for him. In this case,
the person tells the story to be told to the composer
who listens intently and full of concentration. At a
later time, the composer may ask for further
information and the person requesting the song must
provide all the needed details.The most commonly
composed songs of this nature are love songs.These
are often about love for someone you will never
see again or a place that you have left behind. The
most popular ones, however, are about love between
a boy and a girl, a man and a woman or a husband
and a wife. The same process is also used for wedding
songs, competition songs, religious songs, war songs,
dance music and children's songs. The composer has
to know what song you want and he must be provided
with all the information to do it.
The third manner in which a song may be composed
is when, occasionally, a composer may wish to
compose an original song. In this case the composer
first works on firstly developing the tune by humming
it. When this is completed he will then think about
the words to go with the music until a very original
composition results.
Micronesian songs and chants have been composed
to cover many of the diverse and varied aspects
of life in Micronesia. These can include toddy
cutting songs, love songs, presentation of food,
songs for sick people, launching a canoe or putting
a small baby to sleep. In many cases the songs or
chants call on the spirits for assistance in some
situation or an endeavour about to be undertaken.
The following is one of the songs, reproduced below
without alteration, composed on Tamana Island, in
the Republic of Kiribati, for the people about to
be resettled in the Phoenix Group, Republic of
Kiribati:
"We are about to sail to Orona,
Goodbye O people of our homeland;
We have got our lands,
In the new Group of Islands.
We shall step ashore at Orona,
We shall dig our wells;
We shall build our dwelling houses,
So that we may live well.
Stand up, O people of the Gilberts,
Grasp your working tools;
We shall stand up and clear
the undergrowth and plant coconut trees.
We are happy, for we shall now live.
Do not forget us, O people of our homeland."
The interpretation of Micronesian music in
the form of dance movements results in a dance
form which is exciting, emotive and totally
absorbing. The dance forms emphasise the use
of mainly hands and arms to interpret the literal
meaning of the music. Traditional and authentic
dances on the main islands include stick dancing
integral to Pohnpei, Chuuk, Kosrae and Yap -
Federated States of Micronesia.
http://www.janeresture.com/fedmic/index.htm
Standing and sitting dances are featured
throughout much of Micronesia, including the
Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of
Kiribati, Palau, Saipan, Guam, Kosrae, Chuuk
and Yap.The Yapese are particularly well known
for their wonderful skills in stick dancing which
is performed by men, women and children together,
while some other dance forms are performed
either by women or men and boys, although never
both together.
In some islands, such as Yap and the Republic
of Kiribati, there is also a concern for rank in
the placement of dancers, as well as the emphasis
on rehearsed execution of songs and movements.
The men participate in various dancing competitions,
which are segregated by caste or rank; the lower
castes have some distinct dances, such as a woman's
standing dance, but can only dance when authorized
by a person of a higher caste. Chuuk shares many
similar dance styles with Yap due to their similar
cultural heritage. Chuuk's most mysterious and
rarest dance is called the "Moonlight Dance". This
is one of the few times when both men and women
dance together. This particular dance can only
happen during a full moon with permission of the
village chief. Traditionally speaking, this was a way
for young males and females to get together. This
form of social engagement is also a feature of the
Trobriand islands (Melanesia) at the time of the
yam festival. In this respect, we can say that there
are certain similarities between many aspects of
the music and dance of the different ethnic groups
throughout the Pacific region while they still
remain distinctively Micronesian, Melanesian and
Polynesian.
The musical instruments of Micronesia are few,
mainly due to the lack of material on the coral
atolls of Micronesia to produce the magnificent
wooden drums used throughout Melanesia and
Polynesia.The shell trumpet and nose flute are
the most common, though standard flutes and
jews harps are also found. A common idiophone
in Micronesia is a stick that is carried by men in
certain dances. The performers strike each
other's sticks in the course of the choreography.
Membranophones are not very common, though
the hourglass single-headed drum, like those
played in Papua New Guinea, is found as far
north as the Marshall Islands. In keeping with
the ecology of atoll life, the skins of these
drums are made from a shark's belly or parts
of the sting ray. Indeed, many atolls of the
Micronesian Pacific are without any indigenous
musical instruments whatsoever and, often
utilise many hands beating on mostly a wooden
box to accompany the music and dance.
The above brief outline comprises our first
discussion on the beautiful music and dance
of wonderful Micronesia. In our next edition,
it would be my great pleasure to discuss further
aspects of Micronesian music (and dance), as
well as examining, in broad detail, the beautiful
relationships between the music of Melanesia,
Micronesia and Polynesia. Pacific Island music
is something that is forever fascinating. Among
many other things, it is vibrant, melodious,
exciting, soothing, absorbing and constantly
evolving, while at the same time, remaining
authentic to its diverse and complex origins.
These are some of the issues I would like to
discuss and share with you a little further
in my next blog.
FEATURE ARTISTS
THE LAMO SERAI BOYZ
The Lamo Serai Boyz have recorded a
truly amazing collection of wonderful
electronic melodies based on traditional
and popular Micronesian songs from their
home island, Lamotrek, Yap, Federated
States of Micronesia, as well as other
islands in the Caroline archipelago. Their
music is available through Triton Films.
All the musical recordings were created
with state of the art Yamaha DSR 1000
keyboards and professionaly mixed with
vocals in the Lamotrekese language at
C-Star Studio in Yap, with post-production
at Triton Films.
No accoustic guitars were used. Such
artistry and talent, from a group of
island boys, growing up in a small
community, numbering no more than 300
persons, and more than 600 miles from
the nearest 120 volt outlet in Yap,
must be heard to be believed!
Anyone who has visited the restaurants
and bars of Micronesia will be instantly
transported back to the islands when
they hear the music of the Lamo Serai
Boyz. Their music encapsulates memories
of balmy nights and spectral lights
floating on a tropical pulse of swaying
bodies and lively conversation ... all
enveloped by wonderful melodies, both
lyrical and energetic. This CD is
certainly worth listening to for those
who enjoy that special authentic and
enchanting Micronesian music.
* * * * * * * * * *
Thank you all. For further information,
please check out the following four
Domains:
www.janeresture.com
www.janesoceania.com
www.ourpacificocean.com
www.pacificislandsradio.com
I wish you all the very best. Have a great day!
This is a listening guide to the many
listeners of our Internet Pacific Islands
Radio Stations.
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/index.htm
I will focus on issues relating to Pacific
Island music and to embrace some of the
exciting changes taking place in the Internet
Radio Revolution, as well as updated information
on our Pacific Island Artists, Programming and
Playlists.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Welcome to beautiful Micronesia!
http://www.janeresture.com/michome/index.htm
As mentioned previously, and after our
recent trip to spectacular and exotic
Melanesia, it is now my great pleasure to
be able to share with you a brief outline
of the traditional and contemporary music
(and dance) of fantastic Micronesia!
The people of Micronesia were the last
ethnic group to migrate into the Pacific
region, being preceded by many thousands
of years by the Melanesians and, some
thousands of years earlier, by the people of
Polynesia. Indeed, there is a growing amount
of evidence to suggest that the many islands
and atolls of Micronesia have been inhabited
for at least 3000 years, and that the ancient
origin of the migrants was Southeast
Asia/Indonesia.
Much of the evidence to support this is
based on the study of the languages of the
Micronesian people. The Gilbertese
(Kiribati) language, for example, belongs to
the very large Austronesian language family
which evolved in Southeast Asia and began
to spread into the Pacific about 5000 years
ago. With the exception of some societies
in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea,
all languages in the Pacific, including the
Gilbertese language, belong to this family.
Also, of course, the study of plants in the
Pacific in recent years has revealed some
important evidence about the migrations
of people. With few exceptions, all useful
food and fibre plants found today in the
Pacific islands originated outside the Pacific.
For example, all the important plants used
by Gilbertese (I-Kiribati or Kiribati people),
the coconut, breadfruit, babai or taro, as
well as pandanus, are native to the Southeast
Asia/Indonesia area. Researchers can only
conclude that they must have been brought
to the islands by the early settlers.
The music and associated dance forms in
Micronesia are distinctive, yet, they are closely
related in many ways to that of their Polynesian
counterpart. With the exception of Truk (Chuuk)
in the central Caroline Group, which displays
traits of Melanesian and possibly Indonesian
influence, the music structure of all parts of
Micronesia is predominantly word-determined,
as is that of Polynesia. The origins of traditional
Micronesian music, however, are generally quite
obscure with the music having been handed
down by older folks to the younger children.
Composing traditional music involves a
considerable amount of ritualism and magic.
The composer does not compose the music
himself, but rather the song or songs are given
to the composers in a mythical setting - possibly
in a dream or a trance. The task of the composer
is then to follow the secret methodology that their
predecessors had passed on to them to produce
a song that is regarded as being magically blessed.
The second method of composing songs is one
which involves no magic and results from somebody
wishing to have a song made for him. In this case,
the person tells the story to be told to the composer
who listens intently and full of concentration. At a
later time, the composer may ask for further
information and the person requesting the song must
provide all the needed details.The most commonly
composed songs of this nature are love songs.These
are often about love for someone you will never
see again or a place that you have left behind. The
most popular ones, however, are about love between
a boy and a girl, a man and a woman or a husband
and a wife. The same process is also used for wedding
songs, competition songs, religious songs, war songs,
dance music and children's songs. The composer has
to know what song you want and he must be provided
with all the information to do it.
The third manner in which a song may be composed
is when, occasionally, a composer may wish to
compose an original song. In this case the composer
first works on firstly developing the tune by humming
it. When this is completed he will then think about
the words to go with the music until a very original
composition results.
Micronesian songs and chants have been composed
to cover many of the diverse and varied aspects
of life in Micronesia. These can include toddy
cutting songs, love songs, presentation of food,
songs for sick people, launching a canoe or putting
a small baby to sleep. In many cases the songs or
chants call on the spirits for assistance in some
situation or an endeavour about to be undertaken.
The following is one of the songs, reproduced below
without alteration, composed on Tamana Island, in
the Republic of Kiribati, for the people about to
be resettled in the Phoenix Group, Republic of
Kiribati:
"We are about to sail to Orona,
Goodbye O people of our homeland;
We have got our lands,
In the new Group of Islands.
We shall step ashore at Orona,
We shall dig our wells;
We shall build our dwelling houses,
So that we may live well.
Stand up, O people of the Gilberts,
Grasp your working tools;
We shall stand up and clear
the undergrowth and plant coconut trees.
We are happy, for we shall now live.
Do not forget us, O people of our homeland."
The interpretation of Micronesian music in
the form of dance movements results in a dance
form which is exciting, emotive and totally
absorbing. The dance forms emphasise the use
of mainly hands and arms to interpret the literal
meaning of the music. Traditional and authentic
dances on the main islands include stick dancing
integral to Pohnpei, Chuuk, Kosrae and Yap -
Federated States of Micronesia.
http://www.janeresture.com/fedmic/index.htm
Standing and sitting dances are featured
throughout much of Micronesia, including the
Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of
Kiribati, Palau, Saipan, Guam, Kosrae, Chuuk
and Yap.The Yapese are particularly well known
for their wonderful skills in stick dancing which
is performed by men, women and children together,
while some other dance forms are performed
either by women or men and boys, although never
both together.
In some islands, such as Yap and the Republic
of Kiribati, there is also a concern for rank in
the placement of dancers, as well as the emphasis
on rehearsed execution of songs and movements.
The men participate in various dancing competitions,
which are segregated by caste or rank; the lower
castes have some distinct dances, such as a woman's
standing dance, but can only dance when authorized
by a person of a higher caste. Chuuk shares many
similar dance styles with Yap due to their similar
cultural heritage. Chuuk's most mysterious and
rarest dance is called the "Moonlight Dance". This
is one of the few times when both men and women
dance together. This particular dance can only
happen during a full moon with permission of the
village chief. Traditionally speaking, this was a way
for young males and females to get together. This
form of social engagement is also a feature of the
Trobriand islands (Melanesia) at the time of the
yam festival. In this respect, we can say that there
are certain similarities between many aspects of
the music and dance of the different ethnic groups
throughout the Pacific region while they still
remain distinctively Micronesian, Melanesian and
Polynesian.
The musical instruments of Micronesia are few,
mainly due to the lack of material on the coral
atolls of Micronesia to produce the magnificent
wooden drums used throughout Melanesia and
Polynesia.The shell trumpet and nose flute are
the most common, though standard flutes and
jews harps are also found. A common idiophone
in Micronesia is a stick that is carried by men in
certain dances. The performers strike each
other's sticks in the course of the choreography.
Membranophones are not very common, though
the hourglass single-headed drum, like those
played in Papua New Guinea, is found as far
north as the Marshall Islands. In keeping with
the ecology of atoll life, the skins of these
drums are made from a shark's belly or parts
of the sting ray. Indeed, many atolls of the
Micronesian Pacific are without any indigenous
musical instruments whatsoever and, often
utilise many hands beating on mostly a wooden
box to accompany the music and dance.
The above brief outline comprises our first
discussion on the beautiful music and dance
of wonderful Micronesia. In our next edition,
it would be my great pleasure to discuss further
aspects of Micronesian music (and dance), as
well as examining, in broad detail, the beautiful
relationships between the music of Melanesia,
Micronesia and Polynesia. Pacific Island music
is something that is forever fascinating. Among
many other things, it is vibrant, melodious,
exciting, soothing, absorbing and constantly
evolving, while at the same time, remaining
authentic to its diverse and complex origins.
These are some of the issues I would like to
discuss and share with you a little further
in my next blog.
FEATURE ARTISTS
THE LAMO SERAI BOYZ
The Lamo Serai Boyz have recorded a
truly amazing collection of wonderful
electronic melodies based on traditional
and popular Micronesian songs from their
home island, Lamotrek, Yap, Federated
States of Micronesia, as well as other
islands in the Caroline archipelago. Their
music is available through Triton Films.
All the musical recordings were created
with state of the art Yamaha DSR 1000
keyboards and professionaly mixed with
vocals in the Lamotrekese language at
C-Star Studio in Yap, with post-production
at Triton Films.
No accoustic guitars were used. Such
artistry and talent, from a group of
island boys, growing up in a small
community, numbering no more than 300
persons, and more than 600 miles from
the nearest 120 volt outlet in Yap,
must be heard to be believed!
Anyone who has visited the restaurants
and bars of Micronesia will be instantly
transported back to the islands when
they hear the music of the Lamo Serai
Boyz. Their music encapsulates memories
of balmy nights and spectral lights
floating on a tropical pulse of swaying
bodies and lively conversation ... all
enveloped by wonderful melodies, both
lyrical and energetic. This CD is
certainly worth listening to for those
who enjoy that special authentic and
enchanting Micronesian music.
* * * * * * * * * *
Thank you all. For further information,
please check out the following four
Domains:
www.janeresture.com
www.janesoceania.com
www.ourpacificocean.com
www.pacificislandsradio.com
I wish you all the very best. Have a great day!
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