Kiribati, Tonga, Cook Islands

I've tried to avoid multi-country compilations so far, but these Island nations are so small, the populations are so migratory, & the recording industry on most so nonexistent that I have lumped the last few Island nations into one post of some great traditional music from around the South Pacific. Some countries in this 27 track compilation I already posted & it covers most of the rest as well.

Another fine release from the Nonesuch catalogue.

In 1978 & 1979, musicologist David Fanshawe made a whirlwind tour of the South Pacific with the goal of recording the folk music traditions of the region. The fruits of his extensive labor are featured here, presenting a diversity of musical settings & styles, from love songs to work chants.

Here is an excerpt from the original liner note, from 1981:

“Do not expect to hear Hawaiian guitars, ukuleles, & the Hula. Imagine, however, a musical odyssey through the South Pacific islands traveling with a rucksack, 200 rolls of tape, 35mm film, & a stereo tape recorder. Here are some wonderful examples of authentic South Seas music—unbelievably beautiful & yet an endangered species. If you travel from the Cook Islands in an anti-clockwise circle via the Solomon Islands to Tahiti, if you search hard enough this is the kind of music you might have the luck to find.”

This is a compilation of sweet singing, steel guitars, & lovely music of the South Pacific. Great songs like "Imenetuki," with some eerie, shifting harmonies from the Cook Islands or the easy beauty of the Tongan "Faikava Love Song." Some more of the pan pipes of the Solomon Islands are featured here. From the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati), the song "Te Kawawa" has an elastic quality with the single male voice sliding in microtones around the notes. A drum accompanies Samoan women as they sing a lullaby on "Tagi," the slow rhythm like a pulse beat. In other words, there's plenty going on here; it's an indigenous travelogue through the Pacific Islands. Beautifully recorded with stunning clarity, the reissue of this 1981 album is a delight.

 Various - South Pacific: Island Music, Nonesuch 79723, 2003 re-release. 

Trackslist –

Drum Dance

Tapa Cloth Beating

Mire

Imenetuki – Cook Islands

Tau’a’alo

Faikava Love Song

Octopus Fishing

Fangufangu Nose Flute

Muli Tu Pe – Tonga

Male Fan Dance

Club Dance Meke Iwau

Vakamalolo Mixed Sitting Dance

New Year Celebration – Fiji

Pan Pipes Rereo Taba

Pan Pipe Ensemble

Pan Pipes & Night Roar

Spirit Song U’ula

Shell Money Making

Women’s Song Kukburi Sifoa – Solomon Islands

Te Kamei

Te Kawawa

Toddy Cutting Song – Kiribati

Sasa

Conch Shell Horn

Tagi

Ma’ulu Ulu – Samoa

Imene Tarava – French Polynesia

Enjoy…all that’s left of the South Pacific is a post of some great French Polynesian music & then it’s off to Tierra del Fuego & the firm ground of South America…Chile, here I come.

NØ