It is rather disturbing to read that thirteen years after the world rallied to curb overfishing, most nations are failing to abide by the United Nation's "code of conduct" for managing fisheries. Australia, Norway, the United States, Canada, Iceland and Namibia were the only nations that scored above a 60 per cent compliance rate, the equivalent of a barely passing "D" grade, according to a marine scientist's research.
The global fisheries standards were developed in 1995 by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome. Though voluntary, the 12-part code is based on rules of international law and some of it has been made into legally binding agreements. It was crafted to include all aspects of the fishing business, including processing and trade in fish products, aquaculture, marine research and coastal management, reducing pollution and harmful fishing practices. The code also has been translated into 100 languages to try to encourage people to follow it.
Sadly, a survey published in the journal 'Nature' raises troubling questions about how the world's marine fisheries can continue to supply the main source of protein for many on the Planet with the oceans being severely overfished.
A spokesman for the United Nation Environment Program said that overfishing shows nations' failure to address "fundamental links" between ecology and the daily needs of tens of millions of people. The spokesman went on to say that "It's absolutely clear that one of the great market failures of modern times is the management of the world's fisheries, and there are examples from almost every fishery across the globe where the fishing effort exceeds the available catch".
Indeed, it was two years ago, that a team of ecologists and economists warned in the journal 'Science' that just about all seafood sources face collapse by 2048 if current trends of overfishing and pollution continue.
There is no doubt that these findings present a serious problem for people worldwide and, in particular, for our Pacific Island people for whom fish stocks are an essential and only source of protein. Certainly, declining fish stocks may well make it impossible for our traditional island way of life to survive for much longer.
For further information, please check out the following four Domains:
www.janeresture.com
www.janesoceania.com
www.ourpacificocean.com
www.pacificislandsradio.com
Showing posts with label Oceania Fishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oceania Fishing. Show all posts
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Oceania - The Hawaiian Music And Dance
Welcome Everybody!
It will be my great pleasure to be able to spend
a little time discussing the relationship between
the traditional music and dance forms of Oceania
with particular reference to the beautiful
Hawaiian hula.
In this respect there is often some confusion
as to which comes first, the music or the dance.
In a general sense it is fair to say that the
music, in the absence of any written language,
was one of the primary means by which much of
the cultural heritage of island people was
passed from one generation to the next.
Indeed the origins of traditional music are
generally quite obscure with the music having
been handed down by older folk 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
his/her predecessors had passed on to him/her
to produce a song that is regarded as being
magically blessed.
In addition to traditional forms of music, 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 Polynesians are natural musicians and the
Samoans are no exception. They love to hear and
sing good music. Robert Louis Stevenson once said
that the Samoans composed a song for every trivial
occasion. . . Song is almost endless. The boatman
sings at the oar, the family at evening worship,
and the workman at his toil. No occasion is too
small for the poets and the musicians; a death, a
visit, the day's news and pleasantries will be set
to rhyme and harmony.
In this context, the dance forms resulting from the
music becomes an exciting visual and artistic
interpretation of this cultural heritage, including
love songs, conveyed by the music. Older style dancing
motions are slow, swaying and interpretive. Chants
and old poems are sung and recited on special
occasions. They are often referred to in speeches
and debates. They are also used to figure the time
of past historical events. The faataupati (clapping
in syncopation dance) is accompanied by ancient
war songs and drums.
Ancient and modern Samoan dances do not
use songs in three-four tempo. Most of the
songs composed for single or group dancers
are in four-four and two-four tempos. Drums
have often been used to accompany the
ancient dancers.
The early Tuvaluans, untouched by western
influences and aspirations, highly valued their
traditional singing and dancing. Apart from
simply providing entertainment, the fakanau
and fakaseasea, which were formerly very
popular form for dance, were composed to
commemorate the reign of an aliki or toa,
or to praise certain outstanding figures for
their skills in canoe building, fishing, house
building or for their wealth or bravery within
the community.
The fakanau which has a tune that is
between speech and singing was performed
while dancers are standing on their feet.
The rhythm of the fakanau is much quicker
than those of the fakaseasea and the present
day fatele. With the arrival of the
missionaries, because of the wide swaying
movements and actions required in the fakanau
were considered to be sexually stimulating,
efforts were made to put an end to this
kind of dancing. At first it was difficult,
but as more and more people came to accept
the new religious beliefs the pastors
became powerful and influential figures
who ultimately dominated the rights of the
aliki. Because of this the fakanau, which
the pastors regarded as evil dancing,
gradually declined until it disappeared
completely.
The fakaseasea is said to be as old as the
fakanau. This type of dancing is still
performed nowadays by elders. Unlike the
fakanau, the fakaseasea is sung much slower
to a lovely tune and has one or two
performers dancing on their feet. Normally
the fakaseasea requires no uniformity of
actions but the performers are free to make
actions which express the meanings of the
words. The survival of the fakaseasea up to
the present time is due to the fact that the
first pastors, fascinated by the lovely tune
and the gentle slow actions of the fakaseasea,
did not do anything to stop people from
performing it. However, in the early days the
unique fakanau did not only play an important
part in social entertainment but also in
worshipping. The faleaitu (house for gods) in
which the people worshipped their gods is
where one could hear different rituals and
fakanau. There were specially composed
fakanau which could convey to the gods the
worshippers' gratitude together with pleas for
mercy. During communal work such as digging
of pulaka pits the women sang and danced on
the banks while the men were busy digging.
In this way singing and dancing encouraged the
men and stopped them from getting tired easily.
Robert Louis Stevenson also wrote of Kiribati
Mwaie (Ruoia) that was performed on Butaritari:
"Of all they call dance in the Pacific, the
performance I saw on Butaritari was easily the
best...Gilbertese dance appeals to the soul: it
makes one thrill with emotion, it uplifts one, it
conquers one: it has the essence of all great art:
an immediate and far from exhausted appeal".
In Hawaii, traditional chants fall into two broad
categories referred to as mele oli and mele hula.
Before the arrival of Europeans in Hawai'i, the
term mele was used to mean "poetic language;"
it has since evolved to mean song. In early
Hawai'i, there was no melodic singing. Special
bards, or haku mele, spent years learning to
compose, recite and teach others to perform
the ancient chants, beginning their training
while still children.
Mele oli are chants unaccompanied by any
instrument that are generally performed by
one individual; while mele hula are chants
accompanied by dance or by dance and
musical instruments. Mele hula are often
performed by more than one person. Indeed,
there are dozens of kinds of chants, formal
and informal for specific occasions: mele pule
or prayer chants; mele inoa, an individual's
name chant; mele koihonua, which recounts
a person's genealogy; mele he'e nalu, a surfing
chant. There were chants of angst, chants to
grumble or praise, chants of affection, chants
to make a request of someone.
The power (mana) of a chant, lies in its
hidden meanings, or kaona. Hidden meanings,
such as rain as a metaphor for love, could
make a chant both a recounting of an actual
event within a family's history, or it could
tell of the love and passion that one person
might feel for another, depending on who
heard and understood the chant.
As the missionary influence became stronger
in the islands and the use of the Hawaiian
language was forbidden in public schools
in 1896, the art of chanting diminished and
indeed, many of the old chants have sadly
been lost forever. Fortunately, in the last
decade, a renaissance of pride in the
Hawaiian culture and the rebirth of the
Hawaiian language through immersion
classes for youngsters have brought
about a revival of chanting.
Unfortunately, in Hawaii, as in much of the
Pacific, the missionaries also did their best
to destroy the native dance forms, and, in
particular, the "lewd and lascivious Hawaii
hula". But they wrote detailed accounts of
the dances in their diaries, and these,
ironically, have provided a basis for the
current revival of the ancient and beautiful
hula.
In this context it is certainly pleasing to
see that Kulia i ka Punawai--Kumu Hula
Association of Southern California (a
non-profit organization of kumu hula--master
hula instructors--dedicated to perpetuation
of hula) has produced a new and exciting CD .
Titled "Kalakaua," the CD presents
contemporary settings of historical poetic
repertoire that honours Hawai'i's King David
Kalakaua. The centrepiece is a set of 15 mele
composed for Kalakaua's Birthday Jubilee in
1886, and published in the Hawaiian-language
newspapers. The CD contains the work of
some twelve award-winning kumu hula who
live and teach throughout Southern California.
Every one of the 15 mele is by a different
kumu hula, and the finale of the set, as well
as one other track on the CD, are mass numbers
in which all kumu hula participated. All texts
and translations are included with the CD, as
well as a historical essay. The CD should be
available through Amazon.com and also even
iTunes. In the mean time you are invited to
visit Punawai's temporary website at
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/punawai
It is certainly worth mentioning that this project
represents unprecedented collaborative effort
of hula practice and scholarly research. The
scale of historical reconstruction exceeds
anything undertaken to date. The results are
indeed a remarkable testament to the strength
and depth of the tradition of the magnificent
Hawaii hula in the 21st century.
That's all for now. I wish you all a wonderful
and prosperous day.
For further information, please check my four Domains:
www.janeresture.com
www.janesoceania.com
www.ourpacificocean.com
www.pacificislandsradio.com
It will be my great pleasure to be able to spend
a little time discussing the relationship between
the traditional music and dance forms of Oceania
with particular reference to the beautiful
Hawaiian hula.
In this respect there is often some confusion
as to which comes first, the music or the dance.
In a general sense it is fair to say that the
music, in the absence of any written language,
was one of the primary means by which much of
the cultural heritage of island people was
passed from one generation to the next.
Indeed the origins of traditional music are
generally quite obscure with the music having
been handed down by older folk 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
his/her predecessors had passed on to him/her
to produce a song that is regarded as being
magically blessed.
In addition to traditional forms of music, 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 Polynesians are natural musicians and the
Samoans are no exception. They love to hear and
sing good music. Robert Louis Stevenson once said
that the Samoans composed a song for every trivial
occasion. . . Song is almost endless. The boatman
sings at the oar, the family at evening worship,
and the workman at his toil. No occasion is too
small for the poets and the musicians; a death, a
visit, the day's news and pleasantries will be set
to rhyme and harmony.
In this context, the dance forms resulting from the
music becomes an exciting visual and artistic
interpretation of this cultural heritage, including
love songs, conveyed by the music. Older style dancing
motions are slow, swaying and interpretive. Chants
and old poems are sung and recited on special
occasions. They are often referred to in speeches
and debates. They are also used to figure the time
of past historical events. The faataupati (clapping
in syncopation dance) is accompanied by ancient
war songs and drums.
Ancient and modern Samoan dances do not
use songs in three-four tempo. Most of the
songs composed for single or group dancers
are in four-four and two-four tempos. Drums
have often been used to accompany the
ancient dancers.
The early Tuvaluans, untouched by western
influences and aspirations, highly valued their
traditional singing and dancing. Apart from
simply providing entertainment, the fakanau
and fakaseasea, which were formerly very
popular form for dance, were composed to
commemorate the reign of an aliki or toa,
or to praise certain outstanding figures for
their skills in canoe building, fishing, house
building or for their wealth or bravery within
the community.
The fakanau which has a tune that is
between speech and singing was performed
while dancers are standing on their feet.
The rhythm of the fakanau is much quicker
than those of the fakaseasea and the present
day fatele. With the arrival of the
missionaries, because of the wide swaying
movements and actions required in the fakanau
were considered to be sexually stimulating,
efforts were made to put an end to this
kind of dancing. At first it was difficult,
but as more and more people came to accept
the new religious beliefs the pastors
became powerful and influential figures
who ultimately dominated the rights of the
aliki. Because of this the fakanau, which
the pastors regarded as evil dancing,
gradually declined until it disappeared
completely.
The fakaseasea is said to be as old as the
fakanau. This type of dancing is still
performed nowadays by elders. Unlike the
fakanau, the fakaseasea is sung much slower
to a lovely tune and has one or two
performers dancing on their feet. Normally
the fakaseasea requires no uniformity of
actions but the performers are free to make
actions which express the meanings of the
words. The survival of the fakaseasea up to
the present time is due to the fact that the
first pastors, fascinated by the lovely tune
and the gentle slow actions of the fakaseasea,
did not do anything to stop people from
performing it. However, in the early days the
unique fakanau did not only play an important
part in social entertainment but also in
worshipping. The faleaitu (house for gods) in
which the people worshipped their gods is
where one could hear different rituals and
fakanau. There were specially composed
fakanau which could convey to the gods the
worshippers' gratitude together with pleas for
mercy. During communal work such as digging
of pulaka pits the women sang and danced on
the banks while the men were busy digging.
In this way singing and dancing encouraged the
men and stopped them from getting tired easily.
Robert Louis Stevenson also wrote of Kiribati
Mwaie (Ruoia) that was performed on Butaritari:
"Of all they call dance in the Pacific, the
performance I saw on Butaritari was easily the
best...Gilbertese dance appeals to the soul: it
makes one thrill with emotion, it uplifts one, it
conquers one: it has the essence of all great art:
an immediate and far from exhausted appeal".
In Hawaii, traditional chants fall into two broad
categories referred to as mele oli and mele hula.
Before the arrival of Europeans in Hawai'i, the
term mele was used to mean "poetic language;"
it has since evolved to mean song. In early
Hawai'i, there was no melodic singing. Special
bards, or haku mele, spent years learning to
compose, recite and teach others to perform
the ancient chants, beginning their training
while still children.
Mele oli are chants unaccompanied by any
instrument that are generally performed by
one individual; while mele hula are chants
accompanied by dance or by dance and
musical instruments. Mele hula are often
performed by more than one person. Indeed,
there are dozens of kinds of chants, formal
and informal for specific occasions: mele pule
or prayer chants; mele inoa, an individual's
name chant; mele koihonua, which recounts
a person's genealogy; mele he'e nalu, a surfing
chant. There were chants of angst, chants to
grumble or praise, chants of affection, chants
to make a request of someone.
The power (mana) of a chant, lies in its
hidden meanings, or kaona. Hidden meanings,
such as rain as a metaphor for love, could
make a chant both a recounting of an actual
event within a family's history, or it could
tell of the love and passion that one person
might feel for another, depending on who
heard and understood the chant.
As the missionary influence became stronger
in the islands and the use of the Hawaiian
language was forbidden in public schools
in 1896, the art of chanting diminished and
indeed, many of the old chants have sadly
been lost forever. Fortunately, in the last
decade, a renaissance of pride in the
Hawaiian culture and the rebirth of the
Hawaiian language through immersion
classes for youngsters have brought
about a revival of chanting.
Unfortunately, in Hawaii, as in much of the
Pacific, the missionaries also did their best
to destroy the native dance forms, and, in
particular, the "lewd and lascivious Hawaii
hula". But they wrote detailed accounts of
the dances in their diaries, and these,
ironically, have provided a basis for the
current revival of the ancient and beautiful
hula.
In this context it is certainly pleasing to
see that Kulia i ka Punawai--Kumu Hula
Association of Southern California (a
non-profit organization of kumu hula--master
hula instructors--dedicated to perpetuation
of hula) has produced a new and exciting CD .
Titled "Kalakaua," the CD presents
contemporary settings of historical poetic
repertoire that honours Hawai'i's King David
Kalakaua. The centrepiece is a set of 15 mele
composed for Kalakaua's Birthday Jubilee in
1886, and published in the Hawaiian-language
newspapers. The CD contains the work of
some twelve award-winning kumu hula who
live and teach throughout Southern California.
Every one of the 15 mele is by a different
kumu hula, and the finale of the set, as well
as one other track on the CD, are mass numbers
in which all kumu hula participated. All texts
and translations are included with the CD, as
well as a historical essay. The CD should be
available through Amazon.com and also even
iTunes. In the mean time you are invited to
visit Punawai's temporary website at
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/punawai
It is certainly worth mentioning that this project
represents unprecedented collaborative effort
of hula practice and scholarly research. The
scale of historical reconstruction exceeds
anything undertaken to date. The results are
indeed a remarkable testament to the strength
and depth of the tradition of the magnificent
Hawaii hula in the 21st century.
That's all for now. I wish you all a wonderful
and prosperous day.
For further information, please check my four Domains:
www.janeresture.com
www.janesoceania.com
www.ourpacificocean.com
www.pacificislandsradio.com
The Music Of The New Zealand Maori
Welcome Everybody!
I would like to talk a little about the
music and, in particular, the traditional
music of the New Zealand Maori.
Certainly, the music of the New Zealand
Maori, ranging from diva Dame Kiri Te
Kanawa to traditional choirs and popular
music stars, have gained an appreciative
worldwide audience.
The New Zealand Maori are, of course,
Polynesian, and have lived in New
Zealand ever since approximately the
eleventh century A.D. They refer to their
homeland as Aotearoa, The Land of the
Long White Cloud. In terms of the origins
of the Maori, modern evidence, including
DNA analysis, confirms the opinion that
modern man, in the form of Homo sapiens,
first came out of Africa as early as 160,000
years ago. Of the pioneers who moved
across Asia, one group moved south-east
down through the Indo-Malaysian archipelago,
crossing over into Australia during a brief
window of opportunity 65,000 years ago
when water levels dropped. They also
reached Papua, also possibly as early as
65,000 years ago, eventually moving from
there across the Pacific.
Archaeologists believe that Polynesian people
came from a small central group that spoke the
Austronesian language on the island of Taiwan.
Genetic studies have also now indicated that
the ancestors of this group were the sailors
of the great canoes who started out on their
journey further back along the trail in eastern
Indonesia.
Researchers in New Zealand have also recently
concluded that the male and female ancestors
of Maori people came from different places.
The team, from Victoria University in Wellington,
New Zealand, have found that Maori women
have genetic markers that suggest their ancestors
came from mainland South-east Asia, probably
about 6,000 years ago. As they travelled south
from island to island, it appears that Melanesian
men joined the men and women on the boat,
with a small group of people eventually arriving
in New Zealand via the Polynesian triangle,
about 1,000 years ago.
Indeed, the word Polynesia, which means many
islands, comes from the Greek words 'poly'
which means 'many' and 'nesos' which means
'island'. Polynesia stretches in a huge triangle
from New Zealand in the southwest to Easter
Island, 8,000 kilometres away in the southeast
and up to Hawaii at its northern point. The
Polynesian people are lighter skinned and are
generally taller than the Melanesian and
Micronesian people.
The Maori view of creation in which all nature
was seen as a great kinship tracing its origins
back to a single pair, the Sky Father and the
Earth Mother, was a conception which they
brought with them when they came from
Central Polynesia about 1,000 A.D.
Furthermore, this belief in a primal pair, as
well as the metaphysical idea of an original
Void or Darkness, seems to be part of the
stock of ideas which the ancestors of the
Polynesians brought with them from the
west, from the Asian mainland, and which
they carried with them as they dispersed
into marginal Polynesia. The resultant shift
in names and attributes, and the elaboration
of themes which occurred throughout the
area certainly cannot obscure this underlying
unity of ideas.
The name 'Maori' is derived from Ma-Uri,
which means 'Children of Heaven'. Their
nickname is 'Vikings of the Sunrise', because
they are fierce warriors. Originally, they were
hunters, but soon became peasants, living off
agriculture. Today, approximately 300.000
Maori are mainly living in the cities, but they
remain closely connected to their tribes. Their
tribal groupings are derived from the people
of each canoe, settling New Zealand in the
early times.
Traditional Maori villages are fortified with
an open space in the centre, called the 'marae',
on which the meeting house or 'whare hui' is
located. This building represents the symbolic
body of the ancestor. Around the fort sites,
a palisade with watch tower is built. In these
watch towers are suspended alarm gongs
comprising huge wooden plates referred to
as 'pahu'.
The Maori religion is closely related to nature
and to the ancestors. Nature itself is considered
a living being and thus the interaction between
man and nature is bound by prescripts and
rituals. The notion 'tapu' (sacred), from which
the word 'tabu' is deduced, is still a central
notion in contemporary Maori society.
Tiki are anthropomorphic ornaments representing
spiritual beings. Many times they have some kind
of deformation, like only 3 fingers and they can
be both positive and negative towards mankind.
Much of the Maori religion remains intact and many
rituals associated with traditional visual arts and
traditional music are still carried out with strong
ties between songs and magic still remaining.
Traditional Maori music, in the main, only used
aerophones and idiophones to support the vocals.
Aerophones were mainly of the following types.
Koauau, which can be made out of different
materials: wood or even a human bone. It is a
straight blown flute, blown under an angle, 12 to
15 cm long and with a bore of 1 to 2 cm. When
the instrument isn't played, it's worn around the
neck. It has 3 finger holes.
Porutu is a flute similar to the koauau but
longer: it measures between 30 and 40 cm.
There is doubt about wether it is an original
Maori instrument or an imitation of the western
flute. Nguru is a small instrument (8 to 10 cm).
It is curved at one end, because originally this
flute was made out of a whale tooth. It can also
be made out of wood, stone, clay. It has one
open end like the koauau and one small
opening at the curved end. It has 2 to 4 finger
holes.
Whio is a bone flute made out of an albatross
bone. The instrument is 15 cm long, has a
diameter of 1.5 cm and 4 finger holes. The
instrument was played by men in order to
attract the attention of women they longed for.
Puukaaea is a wooden war trumpet, made out
of two pieces of wood cut lengthwise and
hollowed out. Both pieces are again assembled
and kept in place by fibres or ropes. The length
varies between 1m and 2,5 meter. At one side
there is a sculptured wooden mouthpiece and
the other side of the instrument is broader
and resembles an open mouth. Inside tohu are
sculptures, representing the human tonsils and
uvula. The puukaaea could be used during the
war as a megaphone or as an alarm instrument.
Puutoorino, which is often referred to as a
bugle-flute instead of trumpet, because the
instrument could also be used as a flute, but
originally it was a trumpet. It is about 30 to
60 cm long and is made as the puukaaea out
of two pieces of wood, but here widest in the
middle and more narrow at both end sides.
In the middle are sound holes, mostly in the
shape of an eight, are made as the open
mouth of a sculptured face. Near the
mouthpiece, another face is carved, or a
tiki (men/spirit) or a manaia (men/bird). The
player placed his hand over the sound hole
in order to change the tones of the instrument.
Originally, this instrument was mainly used to
announce the coming and arrival of a tribal
chief.
Teetere are flax trumpets simply made by
winding a leaf to a horn shape. It was
probably a children's toy, but could also be
used to announce one's arrival in the village.
Non-blown aerophones include the
Puurorohuu which is a bullroarer made out
of a piece of wood. By swinging the bullroarer
around, a roaring sound is produced which it
was thought would bring rain. The idiophone
used comprised the following. Pahuu are
wooden gongs: flat slabs of resonant wood,
which were horizontally suspended above a
platform in the watch tower of the palisade
around the fortified village. It was hit in
case of danger, but also used to call the men
to go to war.Some tribes, living in the woods,
carved their war pahuu out of a hollow tree.
The wooden slab was sometimes cut away
and separated from the tree or sometimes it
remained a fixed part of the tree.
Paakuru is an instrument, which is held
between the teeth of the player, can be
compared to a jew's-harp. It comprised a
simple piece of wood of 40 to 50 cm long,
2 to 5 cm broad and 1 cm thick, struck by
a little wooden stick. The sound is changed
by the position of the mouth and the
movements of the lips. Nowadays, the
paakuru knows a revival as a whalebone
paakuru. Rooria are similar to paakuru, but
smaller: only 7 to 10 cm long. Maori lovers
use it for intimate conversations. Finally,
Tokere are whalebones used as clappers.
The traditional vocal music can be divided
in two categories: the recitatives and the
songs. The recitatives have no fixed pitch
organisation and the tempo is much higher
than the song's tempo. Among the recitatives
is a welcome ceremony known as Powhiri.
This welcome ceremony is a mixed form.
Men shout fiercely, whilst women sing in a
melodic way. The Powhiri often starts with
the men standing in front of the women. The
men make clear they are ready for a battle
by shouting, menacing with their weapons
and grimacing. After a while, the women
gently come to the front, singing and carrying
green leaves. The men kneeled down on one
knee and put their weapons on the floor.
Most of the time a Powhiri ends with a haka
(men song) without weapons.
Haka are shouted speeches by men, combined
with a fierce dance. Haka Taparahi are
performed without weapons and they can give
expression to different emotions depending
on the situation for which they are performed.
Haka Peruperu are performed with weapons
and associated with war dances.
Another form of recitative is known as Ngeri
and is used to annihilate any form of tapu.
Other forms of recitatives are Karakia which
are quick incantations and spells.They are used
during daily life by both adults and children, but
also during rituals. The ritual karakia is difficult
and dangerous to execute, because a mistake
during the performance will attract bad luck,
illness and even the death of the reciter. For
very important karakia, two priest reciters
are needed in order to alternate the breathing
pause, because even the slightest moment of
silence could result into disaster. Paatere are
mainly performed in group and composed by
women in answer to gossip. The texts of
paatere consist merely out of summing up
of the kinship connections of the author.
Kaioraora are like paatere answers to
gossip but with a rude, offensive text
The second form of traditional music are
Songs and the Sung Poetry, also called Nga
Moteatea, which often consist mainly of
laments, but sometimes also consist of love
songs and lullabies. Traditionally, sung
poetry of this form was accompanied by a
koauau flute.
Traditional songs comprise the following
forms: Poi, which are songs accompanied
by a form of dance in which women hit their
body rhythmically with one or two mainly
cotton balls attached to the end of a string.
Oriori, which are songs composed to teach
children of high rank about their special
descent and history.Pao are songs originating
out of a kind of instant-composing: the
composer sings the first couplet and is then
repeated by the chorus, and so on. These
are songs of local interest. They can be
funny or serious.Waiata is the most common
category of Maori songs and comprise
laments about different topics. Traditionally,
waiata are sung in groups and in unisono.
Waiata tangi are laments for the dead. The
word 'tangi' means 'weeping'. This form is
mainly composed by women. During burial
ceremonies, women were expected to show
signs of deep grief, for example, by
wounding their faces with sharp stones.
Sometimes, these waiata were very personal,
telling about the composer's emotions and
feelings towards the dead. When composed
by men, the waiata tangi can also instruct us
about the warrior qualities of the dead person.
They can also, for example, allude to most of
the calamities that can befall mankind.
Finally, waiata ahore are love songs, and
waiata whaiaaipo are songs for the beloved
one. They are often still laments and tell
us about all the misery that a love affair
can provoke.
There is little doubt that Maori music, like
that of other Pacific Islanders, has changed
under the influence of western culture. In
this respect, it is most pleasing to see, next
to the commercialisation, a strong revival of
the traditional Maori music, along with a
growing pride in the beautiful traditional
Maori culture.
FEATURE ARTIST
PAPUA NEW GUINEA STRINGBANDS
Papua New Guinea Stringbands CD Songs
Of The Volcano is a fascinating, raw and
unique sound from five villages in East New
Britain with five different Tolai stringbands..
Papua New Guinea is home to a huge
indigenous population speaking more than
800 languages, it laid largely undiscovered
until the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, and hence is one of the last
places on the planet to have guitars arrive
from afar. Rabaul, in Papua New Guinea's
far flung province of East New Britain, is a
town which has had its share of hard times.
In the same century, it has been destroyed
twice by massive volcanic cataclysms and
once by a devastating war imposed on it
by outsiders. The Tolai people of Rabaul
have suffered greatly from these natural
and manmade disasters and yet, somehow,
have always managed to bounce back and
keep their spirits high. One of the main
contributing factors to their capacity for
optimism is their music, an energetic and
unique blend of voices and instruments
performed by the community's local
stringbands.
The music carries a fragile innocence
and beauty reminiscent of what guitar
music may have sounded like, in Hawaii
in 1860, or Mexico in 1830. Most music
travelled throughout the Pacific Ocean
on boats, with sailors leaving behind
instruments and ideas to then percolate
in isolation. Hence, the music on this
album will seem at once exotic, yet
somehow familiar.Even today, there is
still very little mass media penetration
in Papua New Guinea, though that is
changing, and thus makes the
preservation of the traditional music
even more necessary. Material from
this CD is being proudly featured on
our Pacific Islands Radio, and it is
highly recommended for those who
enjoy vibrant and compelling guitar
music performed from the heart.
That's all for now my friends. I wish
you a wonderful day with a prosperous
and happy weekend. See you all later.
For further information, please check out my four Domains:
www.janeresture.com
www.janesoceania.com
www.ourpacificocean.com
www.pacificislandsradio.com
I would like to talk a little about the
music and, in particular, the traditional
music of the New Zealand Maori.
Certainly, the music of the New Zealand
Maori, ranging from diva Dame Kiri Te
Kanawa to traditional choirs and popular
music stars, have gained an appreciative
worldwide audience.
The New Zealand Maori are, of course,
Polynesian, and have lived in New
Zealand ever since approximately the
eleventh century A.D. They refer to their
homeland as Aotearoa, The Land of the
Long White Cloud. In terms of the origins
of the Maori, modern evidence, including
DNA analysis, confirms the opinion that
modern man, in the form of Homo sapiens,
first came out of Africa as early as 160,000
years ago. Of the pioneers who moved
across Asia, one group moved south-east
down through the Indo-Malaysian archipelago,
crossing over into Australia during a brief
window of opportunity 65,000 years ago
when water levels dropped. They also
reached Papua, also possibly as early as
65,000 years ago, eventually moving from
there across the Pacific.
Archaeologists believe that Polynesian people
came from a small central group that spoke the
Austronesian language on the island of Taiwan.
Genetic studies have also now indicated that
the ancestors of this group were the sailors
of the great canoes who started out on their
journey further back along the trail in eastern
Indonesia.
Researchers in New Zealand have also recently
concluded that the male and female ancestors
of Maori people came from different places.
The team, from Victoria University in Wellington,
New Zealand, have found that Maori women
have genetic markers that suggest their ancestors
came from mainland South-east Asia, probably
about 6,000 years ago. As they travelled south
from island to island, it appears that Melanesian
men joined the men and women on the boat,
with a small group of people eventually arriving
in New Zealand via the Polynesian triangle,
about 1,000 years ago.
Indeed, the word Polynesia, which means many
islands, comes from the Greek words 'poly'
which means 'many' and 'nesos' which means
'island'. Polynesia stretches in a huge triangle
from New Zealand in the southwest to Easter
Island, 8,000 kilometres away in the southeast
and up to Hawaii at its northern point. The
Polynesian people are lighter skinned and are
generally taller than the Melanesian and
Micronesian people.
The Maori view of creation in which all nature
was seen as a great kinship tracing its origins
back to a single pair, the Sky Father and the
Earth Mother, was a conception which they
brought with them when they came from
Central Polynesia about 1,000 A.D.
Furthermore, this belief in a primal pair, as
well as the metaphysical idea of an original
Void or Darkness, seems to be part of the
stock of ideas which the ancestors of the
Polynesians brought with them from the
west, from the Asian mainland, and which
they carried with them as they dispersed
into marginal Polynesia. The resultant shift
in names and attributes, and the elaboration
of themes which occurred throughout the
area certainly cannot obscure this underlying
unity of ideas.
The name 'Maori' is derived from Ma-Uri,
which means 'Children of Heaven'. Their
nickname is 'Vikings of the Sunrise', because
they are fierce warriors. Originally, they were
hunters, but soon became peasants, living off
agriculture. Today, approximately 300.000
Maori are mainly living in the cities, but they
remain closely connected to their tribes. Their
tribal groupings are derived from the people
of each canoe, settling New Zealand in the
early times.
Traditional Maori villages are fortified with
an open space in the centre, called the 'marae',
on which the meeting house or 'whare hui' is
located. This building represents the symbolic
body of the ancestor. Around the fort sites,
a palisade with watch tower is built. In these
watch towers are suspended alarm gongs
comprising huge wooden plates referred to
as 'pahu'.
The Maori religion is closely related to nature
and to the ancestors. Nature itself is considered
a living being and thus the interaction between
man and nature is bound by prescripts and
rituals. The notion 'tapu' (sacred), from which
the word 'tabu' is deduced, is still a central
notion in contemporary Maori society.
Tiki are anthropomorphic ornaments representing
spiritual beings. Many times they have some kind
of deformation, like only 3 fingers and they can
be both positive and negative towards mankind.
Much of the Maori religion remains intact and many
rituals associated with traditional visual arts and
traditional music are still carried out with strong
ties between songs and magic still remaining.
Traditional Maori music, in the main, only used
aerophones and idiophones to support the vocals.
Aerophones were mainly of the following types.
Koauau, which can be made out of different
materials: wood or even a human bone. It is a
straight blown flute, blown under an angle, 12 to
15 cm long and with a bore of 1 to 2 cm. When
the instrument isn't played, it's worn around the
neck. It has 3 finger holes.
Porutu is a flute similar to the koauau but
longer: it measures between 30 and 40 cm.
There is doubt about wether it is an original
Maori instrument or an imitation of the western
flute. Nguru is a small instrument (8 to 10 cm).
It is curved at one end, because originally this
flute was made out of a whale tooth. It can also
be made out of wood, stone, clay. It has one
open end like the koauau and one small
opening at the curved end. It has 2 to 4 finger
holes.
Whio is a bone flute made out of an albatross
bone. The instrument is 15 cm long, has a
diameter of 1.5 cm and 4 finger holes. The
instrument was played by men in order to
attract the attention of women they longed for.
Puukaaea is a wooden war trumpet, made out
of two pieces of wood cut lengthwise and
hollowed out. Both pieces are again assembled
and kept in place by fibres or ropes. The length
varies between 1m and 2,5 meter. At one side
there is a sculptured wooden mouthpiece and
the other side of the instrument is broader
and resembles an open mouth. Inside tohu are
sculptures, representing the human tonsils and
uvula. The puukaaea could be used during the
war as a megaphone or as an alarm instrument.
Puutoorino, which is often referred to as a
bugle-flute instead of trumpet, because the
instrument could also be used as a flute, but
originally it was a trumpet. It is about 30 to
60 cm long and is made as the puukaaea out
of two pieces of wood, but here widest in the
middle and more narrow at both end sides.
In the middle are sound holes, mostly in the
shape of an eight, are made as the open
mouth of a sculptured face. Near the
mouthpiece, another face is carved, or a
tiki (men/spirit) or a manaia (men/bird). The
player placed his hand over the sound hole
in order to change the tones of the instrument.
Originally, this instrument was mainly used to
announce the coming and arrival of a tribal
chief.
Teetere are flax trumpets simply made by
winding a leaf to a horn shape. It was
probably a children's toy, but could also be
used to announce one's arrival in the village.
Non-blown aerophones include the
Puurorohuu which is a bullroarer made out
of a piece of wood. By swinging the bullroarer
around, a roaring sound is produced which it
was thought would bring rain. The idiophone
used comprised the following. Pahuu are
wooden gongs: flat slabs of resonant wood,
which were horizontally suspended above a
platform in the watch tower of the palisade
around the fortified village. It was hit in
case of danger, but also used to call the men
to go to war.Some tribes, living in the woods,
carved their war pahuu out of a hollow tree.
The wooden slab was sometimes cut away
and separated from the tree or sometimes it
remained a fixed part of the tree.
Paakuru is an instrument, which is held
between the teeth of the player, can be
compared to a jew's-harp. It comprised a
simple piece of wood of 40 to 50 cm long,
2 to 5 cm broad and 1 cm thick, struck by
a little wooden stick. The sound is changed
by the position of the mouth and the
movements of the lips. Nowadays, the
paakuru knows a revival as a whalebone
paakuru. Rooria are similar to paakuru, but
smaller: only 7 to 10 cm long. Maori lovers
use it for intimate conversations. Finally,
Tokere are whalebones used as clappers.
The traditional vocal music can be divided
in two categories: the recitatives and the
songs. The recitatives have no fixed pitch
organisation and the tempo is much higher
than the song's tempo. Among the recitatives
is a welcome ceremony known as Powhiri.
This welcome ceremony is a mixed form.
Men shout fiercely, whilst women sing in a
melodic way. The Powhiri often starts with
the men standing in front of the women. The
men make clear they are ready for a battle
by shouting, menacing with their weapons
and grimacing. After a while, the women
gently come to the front, singing and carrying
green leaves. The men kneeled down on one
knee and put their weapons on the floor.
Most of the time a Powhiri ends with a haka
(men song) without weapons.
Haka are shouted speeches by men, combined
with a fierce dance. Haka Taparahi are
performed without weapons and they can give
expression to different emotions depending
on the situation for which they are performed.
Haka Peruperu are performed with weapons
and associated with war dances.
Another form of recitative is known as Ngeri
and is used to annihilate any form of tapu.
Other forms of recitatives are Karakia which
are quick incantations and spells.They are used
during daily life by both adults and children, but
also during rituals. The ritual karakia is difficult
and dangerous to execute, because a mistake
during the performance will attract bad luck,
illness and even the death of the reciter. For
very important karakia, two priest reciters
are needed in order to alternate the breathing
pause, because even the slightest moment of
silence could result into disaster. Paatere are
mainly performed in group and composed by
women in answer to gossip. The texts of
paatere consist merely out of summing up
of the kinship connections of the author.
Kaioraora are like paatere answers to
gossip but with a rude, offensive text
The second form of traditional music are
Songs and the Sung Poetry, also called Nga
Moteatea, which often consist mainly of
laments, but sometimes also consist of love
songs and lullabies. Traditionally, sung
poetry of this form was accompanied by a
koauau flute.
Traditional songs comprise the following
forms: Poi, which are songs accompanied
by a form of dance in which women hit their
body rhythmically with one or two mainly
cotton balls attached to the end of a string.
Oriori, which are songs composed to teach
children of high rank about their special
descent and history.Pao are songs originating
out of a kind of instant-composing: the
composer sings the first couplet and is then
repeated by the chorus, and so on. These
are songs of local interest. They can be
funny or serious.Waiata is the most common
category of Maori songs and comprise
laments about different topics. Traditionally,
waiata are sung in groups and in unisono.
Waiata tangi are laments for the dead. The
word 'tangi' means 'weeping'. This form is
mainly composed by women. During burial
ceremonies, women were expected to show
signs of deep grief, for example, by
wounding their faces with sharp stones.
Sometimes, these waiata were very personal,
telling about the composer's emotions and
feelings towards the dead. When composed
by men, the waiata tangi can also instruct us
about the warrior qualities of the dead person.
They can also, for example, allude to most of
the calamities that can befall mankind.
Finally, waiata ahore are love songs, and
waiata whaiaaipo are songs for the beloved
one. They are often still laments and tell
us about all the misery that a love affair
can provoke.
There is little doubt that Maori music, like
that of other Pacific Islanders, has changed
under the influence of western culture. In
this respect, it is most pleasing to see, next
to the commercialisation, a strong revival of
the traditional Maori music, along with a
growing pride in the beautiful traditional
Maori culture.
FEATURE ARTIST
PAPUA NEW GUINEA STRINGBANDS
Papua New Guinea Stringbands CD Songs
Of The Volcano is a fascinating, raw and
unique sound from five villages in East New
Britain with five different Tolai stringbands..
Papua New Guinea is home to a huge
indigenous population speaking more than
800 languages, it laid largely undiscovered
until the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, and hence is one of the last
places on the planet to have guitars arrive
from afar. Rabaul, in Papua New Guinea's
far flung province of East New Britain, is a
town which has had its share of hard times.
In the same century, it has been destroyed
twice by massive volcanic cataclysms and
once by a devastating war imposed on it
by outsiders. The Tolai people of Rabaul
have suffered greatly from these natural
and manmade disasters and yet, somehow,
have always managed to bounce back and
keep their spirits high. One of the main
contributing factors to their capacity for
optimism is their music, an energetic and
unique blend of voices and instruments
performed by the community's local
stringbands.
The music carries a fragile innocence
and beauty reminiscent of what guitar
music may have sounded like, in Hawaii
in 1860, or Mexico in 1830. Most music
travelled throughout the Pacific Ocean
on boats, with sailors leaving behind
instruments and ideas to then percolate
in isolation. Hence, the music on this
album will seem at once exotic, yet
somehow familiar.Even today, there is
still very little mass media penetration
in Papua New Guinea, though that is
changing, and thus makes the
preservation of the traditional music
even more necessary. Material from
this CD is being proudly featured on
our Pacific Islands Radio, and it is
highly recommended for those who
enjoy vibrant and compelling guitar
music performed from the heart.
That's all for now my friends. I wish
you a wonderful day with a prosperous
and happy weekend. See you all later.
For further information, please check out my four Domains:
www.janeresture.com
www.janesoceania.com
www.ourpacificocean.com
www.pacificislandsradio.com
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