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Music of Tuvalu

The traditional music of Tuvalu consists of dances, including fatele, fakanau and fakaseasea. The influence of the Samoan missionaries sent to Tuvalu by the London Missionary Society from the 1860s resulted in the suppression of songs about the traditional religions or magic and many songs were lost. As the influence of the missionaries diminished in the 20th century the traditional dances were revived and the siva dance tradition from Samoa also became popular.

Te titi tao is a traditional skirt placed upon another skirt - a titi kaulama - and tops (teuga saka), headbands, armbands, and wristbands continue to be used in performances of the fatele.[1][2]


Te Vaka, an Oceanic music group, contains Tuvaluans and musicians with Tuvaluan ancestry; Te Vaka performs original contemporary Pacific music or "South Pacific Fusion".

History[edit]

Poetry recitations were a common feature of traditional music before European contact, but this practice has since vanished.[3]


In 1960-1961 Gerd Koch, an anthropologist, made recordings of traditional songs on the atolls of Niutao, Nanumaga and Nukufetau. These songs were considered in a 1964 musicological publication,[4] with a selection of the songs published in 2000 as Songs of Tuvalu together with two CDs of the recorded songs.[5]


The influence of the Samoan missionaries sent to Tuvalu by the London Missionary Society from the 1860s resulted in the suppression of songs about the traditional religions or magic, with the Samoan missionaries also influencing the development of the Tuvaluan language.[6] The missionaries introduced church hymns and European song structures and melodies started to influence Tuvaluan music. However some pre-missionary songs survived and were recorded by Gerd Koch. In the early 1960s the transistor radio provided access to European pop music and the Hawaiian/Tahitian guitar rhythms, which influenced modern Tuvaluan music.[5] The recordings of Gerd Koch continue to be broadcast over Radio Tuvalu along with modern Polynesian music.


The traditional music of Tuvalu encompassed different types of song with a strong emphasis on dancing songs.[7] Other types were play songs (sung during counting game, games of skill and other games); work songs which the women performed, such as while preparing coconut fibre string; fishermen's calling songs; songs of praise (viki or taugafatu); and laments for deceased members of the family.[5][8] The tradition of singing appropriate for a funeral is called kupu and is similar to the fakaseasea.[3]


The fatele, in its modern form, is performed at community events and to celebrate leaders and other prominent individuals, such as the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in September 2012.[9][10][11] The modern Tuvaluan style has absorbed many influences and can be described "as a musical microcosm of Polynesia, where contemporary and older styles co-exist".[12]

Tuvalu mo te Atua

Afaese Manoa § National anthem of Tuvalu

Christensen, Dieter, Old Musical Styles in the Ellice Islands, Western Polynesia, Ethnomusicology, 8:1 (1964), 34–40.

Christensen, Dieter and , Die Musik der Ellice-Inseln, Berlin: Museum fur Volkerkunde, (1964)

Gerd Koch

Songs of Tuvalu (translated by Guy Slatter), Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific (2000) ISBN 9820203147 ISBN 978-9820203143

Koch, Gerd

Lambert, Sylvester M. . Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego. Retrieved 25 January 2017.

"Women dancers in Tuvalu"

Linkels, Ad. The Real Music of Paradise (2000). In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 218–229. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.  1-85828-636-0

ISBN

Beaulieu, Marc. (PDF). Context 34 (2009): 49–64. Retrieved 12 November 2023.

"Tuvaluan Faatele: A Performative and Historico-geographic Context"

Vaiaso ote Gana, Tuvalu Language Week Education Resource 2016 (New Zealand Ministry for Pacific Peoples)

Polyfest Tuvalu Group 2015 (YouTube)