Music of Fiji, Nadi International Airport, Nadi, Fiji, Oceania

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• published: 29 Jul 2011
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Fiji is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. Though geographically Melanesian, the music of Fiji is more Polynesian in character. Nevertheless, Fijian folk styles are distinct in their fusion of Polynesian and Melanesian traditions. Folk music is dominated by vocal church music, as well as dances characterized by rich harmony and complex percussion made from slit drums or natural materials. Like their Polynesian baby neighbours, modern Fijians play guitar, ukulele and mandolin along with a variety of indigenous instruments, most commonly lali drums, which are now used to call the people of an area together. Lali drums were an important part of traditional Fijian culture, used as a form of communication to announce births, deaths and wars. A smaller form of the lali drum (lali ni meke) is used as a form in instrumentation. Meke is a kind of spiritual folk dance, in which dancers bodies are said to be possessed by spirits. Other percussion instruments include the derua, which are tubes made of bamboo which are stamped on mats or on the ground. Other dances included the women's dele, which humiliated enemy prisoners sex, and the men's cibi, which uses spears and clubs. Indian music draws heavily from rural North Indian and some of the Southern states in India. Most popular are Bhajans a devotional music based accompanied by harmonium and dholak (drums). Many Indians now also export bhajan CDs for large Fiji Indian diaspora in Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand. Jazz too, has become increasingly popular as cultural horizons have broadened. According to Qawaali/Ghazal singer Ustad Sheikh Mohyudean (1920) the Qawaali has undergone a major transformation in Fiji. Because of the lack of classically trained tabla players who came to Fiji in the late 1900s, after their demise, some qawaali musicians started playing with dholak players who only knew how to accompany the Bhajan, and therefore incorporated a new style of music. When the trend caught on, some Bhajan singers also tried their voices in qawaali, and brought Bihari elements into the music known as "Phagua gayaki" an ancient bhajan singing style in Bihar, India. The classical qawaali style slowly took a back seat to this new style of singing, but has been snubbed by purists because of its non connection to qawaali. The word Qawaali means "utterance in the name of Allah." In the 1980s, Fijian performers like Laisa Vulakoro and Lagani Rabukawaqa became pan-Pacific stars. Vulakoro is especially well known for her part in creating vude, a popular style that combines disco, country and island music (especially the meke rhythm) and rock and roll. Other modern performers include the bands Nuku Katudrau, Karuna Gopalan, Black Rose, Danny Costello, Michelle Rounds, Seru Serevi The Freelancers and Emosi Lomata who is well known across Fiji for his ongoing compositions and album releases over 30 years since the age of 11, recently performing in Australia in October 2008 with his band JES4P's. Fiji is especially known for the field of Fijian reggae.