Australia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia Music of Oceania Australia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia

Where is Oceania? Oceania is the part of the world between the Indian and Pacific ocean which includes, Australia, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. Link

Australia

Australia Culture Influences Australian culture has two predominant influences: the British and Aborigines. The music we will focus on is indigenous Aboriginal and folk.

Australia Indigenous This is the oldest music, dating back to prehistoric times. Primarily vocal music, involving growling, grunting, wailing, etc. Percussion instruments from surrounding natural objects, sticks, boomerangs, logs, body percussion, etc. Didgeridoo – unique wind instrument. Produce sound by loosely buzzing lips on one end. Didgeridoo Example

Australian Folk Comes from British, Irish, and Celtic traditions. Many songs were written by the convicts that were brought over to Australia during colonization. Waltzing Matilda is the unofficial Australian national anthem. They Dying Stockman The Wild Colonial Boy

Micronesia Northern Marianas, Guam, the Republic of Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia

Micronesia Vocal Music Traditionally sung in unison. Any harmony used can be attributed to European settlers. Music is used as a form of contest between clans. Powerful deities would be called and lyrics would contain insults. Often times performers would go into an otherworldly state in which they would scream, flail, and faint. Christian missionaries found these practices to be unstable and therefore put restrictions on the local community. Kiribati Popular Choir

Melanesia Fiji, New Caledonia and Dependencies, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu

Melanesia Music is used to imitate natural sounds; rain, wind, forest, animals, etc. Missionaries disapproved of this type of music. (Do we see a pattern?) Bamboo music became more popular, using stalks of bamboo of various sizes to create different pitches. Example Susap

Polynesia American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Easter Island, French Polynesia, the Hawaiian Islands, Niue, the Pitcairn Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Wallis and Futuna Islands, and Western Samoa

Polynesia Traditional – chant songs Christian Missionaries brought the idea of harmonies. Poetry plays a big part in performance art. Poetry is set to music and is acted out in dances (hula). Instruments are made from natural found materials – ex. Log drum. Tongan Dance Himeni “Hymn”

Maori of New Zealand

Maori Haka – A dance of intimidation used by Maori warriors. Performers of the haka open their eyes wide and stick out their tongues, as well as display masculine poses. It is often used at the beginning of sporting matches – NZ All Blacks. Maori Women