Vanuatu: Land of String Band and Top-40 Remixes
The people of Vanuatu love their music. Plenty of people
load it onto their phones and walk around at all hours of the day blasting
their tunes. We have two of three neighbors that are kind enough to blare their
favorite songs from deafening speakers at all hours of the day. It has become
kind of a pleasant background noise in our otherwise quiet village, and helps
drown out the dogs barking, mosquitoes buzzing, and people of all ages spitting
and hawking loogies. Most of the time we welcome it, unless we are reading or
trying to sleep.
As this blog title mentions, in my experience I’ve noticed
two main types of music poplar with the Ni-Vanuatu people: String band and
American Top-40 Remixes. When you mix in the occasional country hit or the
“Water Music” of The Banks Islands in Northern Vanuatu, I think you’ve painted
a full picture of the music scene here! Reggae also has a huge following. Bob
Marley is an icon here, with each local owning at least one Bob Marley themed
shirt, pair of shorts or lava-lava. The Vanuatu colors match the Jamaican colors,
so maybe it’s convenient that Marley apparel also shows national pride. It doesn’t
seem to bother parents that their children wear clothes and carry backpacks
showing large Marijuana leaves and the word “Rasta”, but that’s another blog
posting all together!
String Band music: This appears to be uniquely Vanuatu -
although I haven’t yet traveled the rest of the South Pacific islands, so what
do I know? I’ve put a link to a YouTube video that shows a string band song, so
check it out. In a quick search I couldn't find too many online, so look for yourself. The minute you get off the plane in Port Vila, you are welcomed
by a 5 or 6 man string band group that seems to play their music all day long.
In my opinion, the best way to describe it is a Mexican mariachi band
influenced strongly by T-Pain. It is an acquired taste for sure, and I’m not
quite sure I’m there just yet. I got some music from our little host-brother Junior, so I'm listening to it more and more. We haven’t seen a string band group live yet
outside of the International Airport, but I have been promised there is plenty
to entertain us at the Independence Day festival in July. Stay tuned....
Stringband music
American Top-40 Remixes: Take a popular radio hit from a
year prior, such as a Taylor Swift or Adele song, and then lay the
aforementioned String Band music sounds on top, and BOOM, you have the second
popular musical trend of Vanuatu. Plenty of them are very entertaining. In
addition to TSwift and Adele, I have heard Genesis, Darius Rucker, Maroon 5,
Eminem, and lots of Rihanna and Beyonce remixes. Also in a taxi in town one
time the driver was blasting a string band remix of the “Chillin’ on a Dirt
Road” country song by Brantley Gilbert…the version WITH Ludacris, which made it
that much better/worse. I like a lot of these, and it's a fun way to spruce up a played-out song from a few years ago.
Water Music: I find this interesting music. We have a volunteer in the Banks that has seen this live, and if we visit I'd like to catch it also. See below video if
you'd like an example. From a UNESCO report:
For as long as anyone can remember the women of the Banks Islands have made sounds from the river and the ocean. Women from other islands in the TORBA, and as far away as the Solomon Islands have also been known to engage in this practice of making sounds in the water by splashing, scooping, and slapping the water.....Another reason why Zemp, and the Melanesian communities themselves, have considered the water music as a “game” or pastime may be because, almost exclusively, it is women who practise it. Occasionally boys join in if they are young enough to be bathing with their mothers or sisters, but water music is simply perceived to be “a woman’s thing”. The water music is also not associated with any formal ritual or ceremony, and is therefore not considered a sacred or taboo practise. It is possible that if water music was considered “a man’s thing” then it could have developed a stronger association with men’s customary rituals. Perhaps the women deliberately prevented the water music from entering any ritual, or any musical canon, preferring that it was perceived to be a “game” so as to protect it from being ritualised by men (from inside or outside the community). The fact that it is not associated with any ritual or taboo
For as long as anyone can remember the women of the Banks Islands have made sounds from the river and the ocean. Women from other islands in the TORBA, and as far away as the Solomon Islands have also been known to engage in this practice of making sounds in the water by splashing, scooping, and slapping the water.....Another reason why Zemp, and the Melanesian communities themselves, have considered the water music as a “game” or pastime may be because, almost exclusively, it is women who practise it. Occasionally boys join in if they are young enough to be bathing with their mothers or sisters, but water music is simply perceived to be “a woman’s thing”. The water music is also not associated with any formal ritual or ceremony, and is therefore not considered a sacred or taboo practise. It is possible that if water music was considered “a man’s thing” then it could have developed a stronger association with men’s customary rituals. Perhaps the women deliberately prevented the water music from entering any ritual, or any musical canon, preferring that it was perceived to be a “game” so as to protect it from being ritualised by men (from inside or outside the community). The fact that it is not associated with any ritual or taboo
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