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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.
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
Poetry recitations were a common feature of traditional music before European contact, but this practice has since vanished.
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, with a selection of the songs published in 2000 as Songs of Tuvalu together with two CDs of the recorded songs.
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. 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. 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. The tradition of singing appropriate for a funeral is called kupu and is similar to the fakaseasea. 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".
Traditional Tuvaluan song structure
Traditional Tuvaluan songs are very short poems which are repeated. These songs have strong rhythm, which the performers would maintain by clapping or hitting their hands on the floor or a sound box, such as a tea chest; with the tempo increasing as the song was repeated.
An example of a pre-missionary song is Te foe, te foe kia atua, which is a fakanau dancing song, from Niutao recorded by Gerd Koch.
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|Te foe, te foe kia atua. Te foe, te foe kia tagata. Pili te foe, manu te foe! E, taku foe! E, taku foe!||The paddle, the paddle of the gods. The paddle, the paddle of men. Take the paddle, seize the paddle! Oh my paddle, Oh my paddle!
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This concentrated dramatic story is an account of men of Niutao who come across a strange canoe out in the ocean. The men call out in greeting to the canoe but the crew make no reply. The men of Niutao believe it is a ghostly canoe – containing the gods – so in fear of impending disaster the men rapidly paddle home to the safety of Niutao. The fakanau and oga tradition has since died out.
The fakaseasea was mainly performed by young unmarried women, who were on their feet, dancing and moving their arms, hand and upper body; while men and women would sing and beat the time.