Pacific Islands Radio (Island Music) Newslette 35

Jane's Pacific Islands Radio Newsletter (Island Music)
Vol. 8, Edition No. 27, December 2008
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/

I N   T H I S   I S S U E ____________________________

Objectives
News and Views
Feature Artists
Notice Board
Coming Events
Pacific Islands Radio
Island Music Suppliers
Links
Letters
It's Time To Chat!

T H E V I E W _____________________________________
Pacific Islands Radio (Island Music) News and Views

WISHING YOU ALL MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND A HAPPY.AND PROSPEROUS 2009!

Welcome everybody to our Newsletter
for December 2008!

It has certainly been some time since we
have been in touch and I must say that,
as usual, it is just great to be back in
touch with everybody once again. Please let
me take this wonderful opportunity to very
sincerely wish everybody all the very best
for the festive season along with good
health, prosperity, happiness, peace and
harmony during the coming New Year!

Once again, please join me in extending
a very warm and sincere Pacific Island
welcome to the terrific number of new
members who have joined us since our
last Newsletter! Words cannot adequately
express my deepest appreciation and
gratitude for your most welcome and
kind support.

I would most sincerely like to welcome
you all on board! Please make yourselves
feel at home, relax and enjoy the music!
May you also find your stay and time
with us to be most enjoyable, mutually
beneficial and most rewarding!

OBJECTIVES

This Newsletter is a listening guide to
the many wonderful listeners of our
Internet Pacific Islands Radio Stations.
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/index.htm

In addition, the Newsletter will focus on
issues relating to Pacific Island music. It
also embraces some of the exciting changes
taking place in the Internet Radio Revolution,
as well as updated information on our Pacific
Island Artists, Programming and Playlists.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Welcome everybody to our last Pacific Islands
Radio Newsletter for 2008. I do hope that the
New Year brings with it increased prosperity,
good health and peace for us all.

A far as Pacific Islands Radio is concerned, I
am very pleased and proud to be able to say
that a number of exciting and significant changes
are both underway and are being planned for
implementation during the present year. The most
exciting of these is an expansion of our Playlist
to incorporate not only the music of the Pacific
Islands but also the incredible music of island
people worldwide. The Playlist has progressively
been expanded to include music from island people
worldwide and, as such, will incorporate music
from such islands as Madagascar and Mauritius
in the Indian Ocean along with the islands of
the Caribbean in the Atlantic Ocean.

In this edition of our Newsletter I would like to
spend a little time discussing the beautiful and
unique musical traditions of the Torres Strait
Islands, located between Australia and Papua
New Guinea.

The islands of the Torres Strait are occupied by
a people with a rich and diverse cultural heritage,
drawn from their Melanesian neighbours to the
north, the Australian Aboriginals to the south,
along with a touch of the cultural heritage of
the islands of the Malay archipelago.This cultural
diversity is also evident from the differing linguistic
groupings in the Torres Strait islands. The western,
northern and central groupings speak Western
language, Kalaw Lagaw Ya or dialects of this
language, belonging to the Australian language
family; while people of the eastern islands speak
Meriam Mir, an indigenous Papuan language.
Generally speaking, Australia has two indigenous
peoples - Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.
These groups share cultural traits, economic and
ceremonial dealings, and a customary system of
land-tenure law. The indigenous people of Australia
migrated here over 40,000 years ago, when Asia and
Australia were still connected by a land bridge. As
the land masses separated, the population adapted
itself to the various environmental and climatic
conditions of this continent. Aborigines were nomadic,
moving through the land in cycles, sometimes meeting
with and sharing stories with other clan-groups. The
Torres Strait Islanders were seafaring and trading
peoples and their spirituality and customs reflected
their dependence on the sea.

Although indigenous beliefs and cultural practices
vary according to region, all groups share in a
common world-view that the land and other natural
phenomena possess living souls. The collection
of stories of these powerful beings and the repository
of knowledge represented in these stories shapes
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law, both its
history and future.The Dreaming or Dreamtime is
the English name given to the intimately connected
but distinct strands of Aboriginal belief; they refer
not to historical past but a fusion of identity and
spiritual connection with the timeless present.A
similar concept with other names stands at the heart
of Torres Strait Islander spirituality.

When the first Europeans settled in Australia in
1788 there were, perhaps, a million Aborigines in
Australia and over 200 different spoken languages.
This population was significantly and quickly
depleted through a combination of warfare, disease
and dispossession of lands. One reason for the cultural
acceptability of colonial violence was the mistaken
belief that Aborigines had no religion. The continuous
Christian missionary presence in Aboriginal communities
since 1821 has seen many Aborigines convert to

Christianity. Indigenous communities across Australia's
Top End had contact with the Muslim Macassan traders
for many centuries before white settlement. In the 1996
Australian census, more than 7000 respondents indicated
that they followed a traditional Aboriginal religion.

Each clan-grouping has an important religious specialist
who will initiate and foster contact with spirits and
divinities. Specific elders may also be keepers of
specific stories or rituals. Sometimes this knowledge
is segregated according to gender - there is men's
business and women's business.

Some key beliefs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
people are that the earth is eternal, and so are the
many ancestral figures or beings who inhabit it.
These ancestral beings are often associated with
particular animals, for example, Kangaroo-men,
Emu-men or Bowerbird-women. As they journeyed
across the face of the Earth, these powerful
beings created human, plant and animal life; and
they left traces of their journeys in the natural
features of the land.

The spiritual powers of the Dreaming are accessed by
ritual ceremonies which invoke these mythic and living
beings.These ceremonies involve special sacred sites,
song cycles accompanied by dance, and body painting,
and even sports. In addition, at important stages of
men and women's lives, ceremonies are held to seek
the assistance of spiritual beings.This makes them
direct participants in the continuing process of the
Dreaming.

Music has formed an integral part of the social,
cultural and ceremonial observances of Torres Strait
Island peoples, down through the millennia of their
individual and collective histories to the present
day.

The traditional forms include many aspects of
performance and musical instrumentation unique to
particular regions and there are equally elements of
musical tradition which are common or widespread
through much of the Australian continent, and even
beyond. The culture of the Torres Strait Islanders is
related to that of adjacent parts of New Guinea and
so their music is also related. In addition, the death
wail is a mourning lament generally performed in
ritual fashion soon after the death of a member of a
family or tribe. Examples of death wails have been
found in numerous societies, but the practice is most
commonly associated with the peoples in central and
northern Australia and among the Torres Strait Islanders.

The musical artistic expression of the Indigenous
peoples in Australia is commonly connected to
notions of place. Consequently, it is also linked to
musical artistic expressions of longing and belonging;
two affective emotions readily expressed through
music and lyrics. Because over two thirds of Australia's
approximately 29,000 Torres Strait Islanders have
migrated to the mainland since the Second World War,
artistic expressions such as music (and dance) are
used regularly to establish and nourish connections to
the Torres Strait. This kind of arguably fictive yet
deeply-felt affective connection is especially crucial
to diasporic populations, regardless of whether their
migration was forced or voluntary. Music is a very
mobile and potentially powerful form of cultural
baggage and it was readily carried from the Torres
Strait.

Indeed, wherever Torres Strait Islanders now live,
it retains a high level of symbolic importance.
It is one way to not only remain connected to home
islands but also to differentiate Torres Strait
Islanders as a group from the diverse cultural groups
(both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) that now live
together on the mainland.

Maritime songs provide many insights into how some
Torres Strait Islanders used, and still use music
to connect themselves with their actual places of
physical origin, their equally important symbolic
places of cultural origin, or the industries (beche-de-mer,
pearling, trochus and crayfishing) and boats (smaller
schooners and luggers such as the 'Grafton' and 'Goodwill'
and larger cargo boats such as the 'Melbidir' and
'Elsanna') that shaped and serviced the region. Several
distinct narrative themes arise directly from the work
and lifestyles of the maritime industries, which were
crucial to the development of colonial and
contemporary Queensland, as well as other areas
of northern Australia such as the littorals of the
Arafura and the Timor seas.

In a ceremonial context, songs are seen as having
a non-human origin. Old songs, evoking powerful
Dreaming stories, are said to be created by the
Dreaming beings themselves as they created the
country in its present form. New songs may also
be dreamed by individuals. The song text can
evoke a complex web of associations and meaning
for people who have extensive and specific local
knowledge of country.

Bearing in mind that a performance of a central
Australian songline may consist of hundreds of
different song texts, the depth of knowledge it
embodies and that is required for its decipherment
is staggering. Truly the long song series of
Australia are among the most impressive monuments
of human culture.

In addition to these indigenous traditions
and musical heritage, ever since the 18th
century, European colonisation of Australia
began indigenous Australian musicians and
performers have adopted and interpreted
many of the imported Western musical styles,
often informed by and in combination with
traditional instruments and sensibilities.
Similarly, non-indigenous artists and performers
have adapted, used and sampled indigenous
Australian styles and instruments in their works.
Contemporary musical styles have all featured a
variety of notable indigenous Australian performers.

These include award-winning singer, Christine Anu
who has made her signature song 'My Island Home',
is an anthem for reconciliation among younger
Australians and is proudly featured on Pacific
Islands Radio. Another Torres Strait Islander with
a national and international reputation is Henry
"Seaman" Dan, known universally as Seaman Dan,
a singer/songwriter whose music portrays a mixture
of Blues, Hula, Slow-Jazz and Pearling songs,
reflecting the many cultures and traditions found
in the Torres Strait.

Pacific Islands Radio is very proud to be able to
feature the beautiful, compelling and world-class
music of the island people of the world whose
artistry and talents are certainly worthy of a global
audience. This is particularly so as many of these
artists continue to draw inspiration from their rich
and varied cultural heritage. In doing so, they are
producing work that has a richness and vibrancy
that is compelling and absorbing and is something
that is not always present in many of the current
genres of popular music. .

FEATURE ARTISTS

Pacific Islands Radio is very proud to be able to
feature the music of a veteran performer, Gerard
Haynes and, in particular, the beautiful and haunting
music from his CD "South Sea Island Magic".

Gerard Haynes was born in Leicester, England, in
1929, and started learning to play the ukulele from
his father at an early age. By the age of 12, he had
become competent enough to play in his father's band
"Martini and his Hawaiians". Having already become
interested in the Hawaiian sound,Gerard sought tuition
on the Hawaiian guitar at the age of 14. Several years
later, he was conscripted into military service and was
invited to play Hawaiian guitar in the Dance Army Band
in which he doubled in both the rhythm guitar and string
bass.

After demobilisation of the military service, Gerard
migrated to Melbourne, Australia, where he later
married.

During the mid 1950s, he formed a group called "The
Blue Hawaiians" which performed at local regional
venues, as well as appearing on various segments on
local radio.

Gerard is still actively involved with playing Hawaiian
guitar and arranges, plays and records all his backing
on ukulele and rhythm, bass and Hawaiian guitars, as
well as incorporating his own accompanying vocals.
Gerard Hayes is a veteran performer who remains
dedicated to the preservation of the true musical
sounds of Hawaii.
* * * * * * * * * *
NOTICE BOARD

Since its inception, Pacific Islands Radio has
been very pleased and proud to have been
able to present the beautiful and enchanting
music of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia,
as well as the music of the indigenous Australian
Aborigines to an audience presently in almost
100 countries worldwide. In doing this, the
music of the many talented artists from Oceania
has reached out to an appreciative worldwide
audience and, in doing so, their music has not
only been enjoyed and promoted, but has also
touched the hearts of so many of our island
people living away from their beloved homes -
their families and friends.

Pacific Island Radio always welcomes and looks
forward with great pleasure to hearing from Pacific
Island artists, as well as Australian Aboriginal artists
living either in their homelands or away from home,
as we would greatly appreciate the opportunity of
including your authentic and beautiful music on our
Playlist. I would also certainly look forward to
hearing from you at: jane@pacificislandsradio.com

OCEANIA MESSAGE FORUMS

I am very pleased to be able to say that,
in addition to our main Oceania Guest Book,
additional Forums have been introduced to
all Web sites of the main islands and islets
of the Pacific, as well as personalities,
along with our Pacific Islands Radio Web sites:
http://pub47.bravenet.com/forum/4004922603

As you are no doubt aware, these Forums
have been most beneficial in bringing together
many people with an interest in and a love of
the beautiful and enchanting music of the
Pacific Islands. You are cordially invited to
share your valuable and important thoughts
and opinions with us all.

Recent additions also include the Web
sites for Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, Republic
of Nauru, Republic of the Marshall
Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Easter Island,
New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Papua New
Guinea, Cook Islands and Pitcairn Island,
Niue, as well as our Oceania Postcards
and Picture Galleries - and many more!
Thank you.

COMING EVENTS

THE ORGANIC RIVER FESTIVAL

Wellington Anniversary Weekend - 16th, 17th
and 18th January 2009.

The Organic River Festival is a vibrant and upbeat
celebration of music, healthy food, dance, creativity -
and the community - a celebration of life.

A selection of International, national and
top regional bands offers a continuous musical
line-up on the various stages.Celebrity chefs
entertain and put on a wonderful array of
delicious seafood and Kiwi dishes.

Workshops, speakers, dance tent, kids-stage,
swimming, fire-pits, drumming, healing, massage,
whatever you are into, it's here.

You are all invited to come and, of course,
bring along your dear family, friends and
loved ones for the day. Should you wish,
you can also camp for the three nights and
enjoy the very best weekend that summer
will offer you.

Wonderful things manifest when you are in tune
with the ebb and flow of life.Organics is the
understanding of this finely-tuned structure, be
it an expression of the arts, food and wine,
healing, business or environment - The Organic
River Festival is an opportunity to relax and
rejuvenate the mind, body and spirit with friends
and family and, at the same time, have lots
of fun with stacks of food and drinks to have, good
company and entertainment.

For more information on this important Organic
River Festival, you are invited to visit:
http://www.ecofest.co.nz/index.php

I am very pleased to be able to share with
you that the following events mentioned in
our last Newsletter - held during 2008 - were
extremely successful. They were well attended
by participants along with many kind supporters
worldwide..

The 10th Festival of Pacific Arts
American Samoa
20th July to 2nd August 2008 was a resounding
success.

The idea of a Festival of Pacific Arts was
conceived by the Conference of the South
Pacific Commission (now the Pacific Community)
in an attempt to combat the erosion of traditional
customary practices. Since 1972, delegations from
27 Pacific Island Countries and Territories have
come together to share and exchange their cultures
at each Festival of Pacific Arts.

In 1977, at the 3rd meeting of the South Pacific
Festival Council (now the Council of Pacific Arts),
the Council determined that the Festival's major
theme should continue to be traditional song and
dance, and that participating countries and territories
should be free to include other activities depending
on the resources available to them.

The 27 participating Pacific Island Countries and
Territories include: American Samoa, Australia,
Cook Islands, Easter Island, Federated States of
Micronesia, Fiji Islands, French Polynesia, Guam,
Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New
Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island,
Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New
Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands,
Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis and
Futuna.

The festival exhibits include: Contemporary Arts,
Traditional Arts, Culinary Arts, Film-making,
Literary Arts, Natural history, Navigation and
Canoeing, Performing Arts, Symposiums,
Traditional Architecture, Traditional healing
Crafts, Traditional Skills and games and Visual
Arts.

VANUATU - FEST'NAPUAN - HISTORY

The first Fest'Napuan was organised in 1996 by
the Vanuatu Cultural Centre to commemorate the
second National Day of Culture-17th November-
which had been officially declared by the
Government the previous year to celebrate the
opening of the new National Museum building on
that date in 1995. Fest'Napuan 1996 was staged
in front of the National Museum building, in the
purpose-built amphitheatre of the National Cultural
Complex, which has now become the event's home.

The name 'Fest'Napuan' is a combination of two
words, the word 'festival' from English and French,
and the word 'napuan' from one of the languages of
the island of Tanna, which means music and dance.
The Fest'Napuan aims to promote the development
of contemporary music in Vanuatu by:
* providing young people in music groups with the
chance to perform in front of a large audience and
access to greater public exposure;
* providing young people in music groups and
aspiring musicians with exposure to other bands
and other types of music;
* encouraging Government and private sponsors to
recognise and support Vanuatu's contemporary
musicians;
* providing two nights of free top-quality musical
entertainment for the people of Port Vila (and the
rest of the country) performed by a broad cross-
section of local groups and special overseas acts.
The Fest'Napuan is organised by its own committee,
all of whom are volunteers.Each year, the committee
has comprised mostly of young people, many of
whom are musicians themselves and many of whom
are unemployed. Their participation in the organising
committee provides them with skills and experience
in office management, administration, logistics and
organisation that greatly improves their prospects
for later employment.

Now in its 13th year, the Fest'Napuan is
recognised nationally as the premier cultural
event of the year. Audience numbers grow each year
(last year's estimate was well over 30,000 people
over the four days) and include increasing numbers
of people coming in from the outer islands especially
for the event. The Fest'Napuan is also gaining
increasing recognition regionally, with bands
from New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, the Fiji
Islands, West Papua, Rapa Nui (Easter Island),
Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand
having participated to date. In 2004, for the
first time, Australia's ABC network recorded and
broadcast the event live across the region on
Radio Australia.

Fest'Napuan - Sponsorship

Major and main sponsors remained local
business houses. More was done last year to
mention major sponsors on radio and television.
Special programs were organized for in the
build-up to the festival. Banners were put on
Kumul Highway and the Saralana stage.

Sponsors were given credit continuously
throughout the four nights of the festival.
Today most in Vanuatu, especially Port Vila,
know that the Fest'Napuan biggest sponsors
are Unelco, Telecom, Air Vanuatu, and the
Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta. The other major
sponsors for 2007 were the Australian High
Commission, Pacific Autronics, Cooperation
regionale Nouvelle Caledonie, Further Arts,
and the Musicians of Vanuatu

The inclusion of overseas sponsorships last
year allowed for many of the international
bands to perform. The Whitehouse were
sponsored by the Australian High Commission
(this group also did workshops with Wan
Smolbag), part of the Black Seeds act by Air
Vanuatu.

Last but not least, Radio Australia provided
live coverage of the event with Radio Australia
and Vanuatu Online broadcast the event on the
internet.

For more information, feel free to email
ralph.regenvanu@vanuatuculture.org or
call on (678) 22129. Alsoclick here for
related updates on Fest Napuan Music
Festival.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Coming Events" outlines some of the
many events on our cultural, lifestyle,
musical and dancing calendar throughout
the year hence the inclusion in our monthly
Pacific Islands Radio Newsletter (Island Music).

As valued members of our Pacific Islands
Radio Newsletter, you are invited to share
any of your most welcome thoughts and
great ideas about Pacific Island musical
events/festivals, etc. that you feel should
be shared and enjoyed by all our members.
I humbly feel that our members would
greatly appreciate your kind gesture in
sharing this very useful information with us.
Thank you so much!

PACIFIC ISLANDS RADIO

I would like to mention, in response
to some of the e-mails and messages that
I have received, from those wonderful
people who would like to listen to our
beautiful Pacific Island music, but
unfortunately are unable to actually
listen to the music.

Basically, it is quite easy to access and
enjoy Pacific Islands Radio. Once you
have accessed the page, it is most
necessary to firstly log on, in order to
be able to listen to the music. The process
of being able to log on can be achieved
by providing your username and password
before clicking on the yellow 'Play' button
provided on the centre of the page.
Good Luck and Enjoy!

In addition, the many listeners who would
like to purchase the music played on our
Pacific Islands Radio Stations, in CD
format, can obtain details of recommended
suppliers by clicking on Artists' Profiles
on Pacific Islands Radio Home Page:
www.pacificislandsradio.com

Pacific Islands Radio continues to offer a
range of broadcasting formats in order to
allow a wide range of listeners to enjoy
our beautiful island music.

STATIONS

Our Pacific Islands Radio Stations play the
enchanting music of the Pacific Islands 24
hours daily.
www.pacificislandsradio.com
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/index.htm
http://www.janeresture.com/radio/index.htm

OUR FREE INTERNET RADIO STATIONS:
(See News and Views August/September 2006
on our Jane's Pacific Islands Radio Newsletter
Archive)

Pacific Islands Radio
http://www.live365.com/stations/janeresture

Our flagship station, Pacific Islands Radio,
has now moved to an updated format with
the capacity to double the size of its Playlist
to in excess of 100 hours.In this respect, the
Playlists for Radio Melanesia and Micronesia
Music Radio will progressively be incorporated
into the Pacific Islands Radio Playlist.

VIP PREFERRED MEMBERS -
PAYING MEMBERS
(See News and Views August/September 2006)

Pacific Music Radio (mp3PRO)
http://www.live365.com/stations/drjaneresture

Radio Melanesia
http://www.live365.com/stations/janeres

Micronesia Music Radio
http://www.live365.com/stations/jane_resture

PACIFIC ISLAND MUSIC SUPPLIERS

The following are some of the main specialist
suppliers of our music from the Pacific
Islands, which are now being used and are
highly recommended by Pacific Islands Radio.

KING MUSIC -
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
(Please note that the King Music Web site is
presently being reconstructed and should be
back online shortly)

Kingmusic offers a wide selection of Pacific
Island music which is available on the Internet.
http://www.kingmusic.co.nz/

ISLANDMELODY.COM

Pacific Islands Radio would like to recommend
Islandmelody.com for a selection of traditional
and contemporary music with an emphasis on
Micronesian music.
http://www.islandmelody.com

BWANARAOI MUSIC SHOP -
TARAWA, REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI

For Kiribati music, along with music from
other Pacific Islands and elsewhere, you
are invited to contact the following
exclusive distributor:

Bwanaraoi Music Shop
Republic of Kiribati
Phone/Fax (686) 28236
E-mail: angirota@tskl.net.ki

LINKS

MUSIC OF THE PACIFIC ISLAND
NATIONS

General

The Pacific Ocean covers a third of
the earth's surface and contains the
deepest waters in the world. It is also
a region with deep musical traditions,
too, buffeted by the regular currents
of colonists and explorers and now
undergoing dramatic changes.You
can hear music ranging from ancestral
navigational chants and glorious
polyphonic singing to laments about
nuclear testing. The ethnic cultures of
the Pacific can be divided into three
main areas - Melanesia, lying mostly
south of the equator, Micronesia,
north of the equator above it, and
Polynesia, spread over a huge area
to the east.
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/sass/music/musicarchive/PacificInfo.html

WELCOME TO THE MUSIC
ARCHIVE OF THE PACIFIC

The Music Archive for the Pacific has
been established by the Southern Cross
University, Lismore, Australia. for the
main purpose of providing a collection
of recordings of indigenous music, related
books, journals, musical instruments and
art works to interested persons for
research purposes.

The archive covers the music of the
indigenous people of Australia (incl. Torres
Strait), Papua New Guinea (incl. Bougainville),
New Zealand as well as the nations of the
Pacific Islands - Cook Islands, Easter Island,
Fiji, Hawaii, Nauru, New Caledonia,
Rarotonga, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti,
Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/arts/music/musicarchive/ArchiveHome.html
MUSIC ARCHIVE FOR THE PACIFIC
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/arts/music/musicarchive/ArchiveArchive.html

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
LETTERS

The following are extracts from a few
interesting and most welcome letters that
I have recently received about our four
Pacific Islands Radio Stations, our artists,
music and the Pacific Islands in general.
In this respect, it is my great pleasure to
be able to share these letters with you all
as I find them to be most uplifting, supportive,
motivating and encouraging. They also provide
much needed feedback in order to continuously
monitor and enhance the quality of the service
provided by Pacific Islands Radio.

Please join me in thanking all these wonderful
people for sharing their kind thoughts with us
all.

By the way, the following letters below are just
a small selection of the many letters received
since our last Newsletter. In this respect, I shall
include the remainder of these most welcome
letters in our next Newsletter.Thank you all.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dear Jane,
I live in Sweden and work with photography
and also as a composer of music for film and
television. I subscribe to Live365 and came
across your station today. I have been listening
for a few hours now; this is so nice and wonderful!
Warm, happy, sincere and just feeling-good music.
Such an excellent choice of songs in a great mix.
Very well made Jane!

Warm greetings from Sweden. Today is our first
day of Spring here, it isn't really warm but the sun
is shining and I will be at the local beach here soon.
Warm hugs and greetings from Sweden! Lars

Hello Jane,
My name is Menia and I come from Greece.
I just "discovered" your online radio.This music
is so peaceful! I really enjoy it.
It's cloudy outside and listening to this radio
makes me feel like I'm on the beach!!!

P.S. If this is live, I would appreciate it, if
you said that you got my email.
Thank you again, Menia

Hello Jane,
I was just reading your page on Kiribati
traditional music... Can you please help
me with some sources as I am working
on an assignment of Kiribati composers
at the New Zealand School of Music.
Any help would be fantastic.

Hi Jane,
I really love listening to your choice of
music that you play every day.I just came
back today from visiting my son there in
Brisbane.

He is not one that listens to Island music but
he knows that I love anything from the islands.
My question is, does it cost me anything to
listen to your web site? Please let me know.

Hi Jane,
I am a college student taking a course on
world music.I would like to do a research
paper on the music of Kiribati. I was wondering
if you might have some information that would
be helpful to me. I have been surfing the Internet
for information regarding the history of the music
of Kiribati but am hoping that you may be able
to point me in the right direction to obtain
information that may not be readily available
to the average person, such as a magazine
article or a book. I am at a loss. There isn't
a whole lot of information on this subject on
the Internet. I would also be interested in
photos and music files.You seem to be an
expert on the subject. Anything you could
provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time.

Hi Jane
Can you play a love song for someone
special at our Fefan Island?
Thank you. I'm in America right now.

Dear Jane,
My name is Jerry from Dukwasi village,
Central Kwara'ae, Malaita Province.

Today I came to the internet cafe and luckily
to browse through your websites.Yes, I have
one idea for you. I want you to come to
Auki or you can email me about this idea.
The idea is to establish a local FM RADIO
here in Auki, Malaita Province. I have seen
that your websites have all the good
information about Auki and the Malaita
Province. And I hope this is one of the big
steps we will do to develop this place.

The radio can be a branch of any of your
establishment. I have a Land to donate
and trees for the radio station. This is
my dream and I would like to inform you.

I hope that you can inform me and tell
me what we can do. Thank you.
God Bless you and hope to hear from you.

Hello Jane,
Oceania and Kiribati, all the new pictures of
islands and island life, and stories/history.
Stuck in flatland (Houston, Texas) and love
to browse your sites at lunch.

Hopefully, in a few years, the Company will
transfer me to Australia so I'll be closer to
the "action".

Anyway, I'm curious, that theme you have
on your Palmyra Website. What is it?
It is absolutely intriguing!
I'd love to have a copy to set for a ring
tone on my cell phone. That way I can be
reminded of paradise every time the cell
phone goes off.(when I read that last line
back, it sounds rather strange).

Anyway, I really enjoy your sites! Keep up
the outstanding work. If you ever visit
Houston, I would love to buy you and yours
dinner.

Dear Jane
Good day to you and how are you doing?
Came across your webpage through Google.

I'm a media service provider. I create and
distribute media contents for our clients
using TV, Radio and web platforms.

Can you please advice me on who or which
company (in PNG), can provide a service of
receiving our audio files (mp3 by internet
transfer), make an audio cd of it and then
dispatch it to the radio station. They must
have an internet connection that is faster
than dial up (is broadband available in PNG?).

We have a contract with Wantok Radiolight
to broadcast a programme - 7 days of the week
in PNG and we are looking for a better way of
getting to programmes to PNG rather than
using a courier company.

HELLO JANE

IM GEOFF, LEAD VOCALIST FOR THE BLACK
SABBATH TRIBUTE BAND - INTO THE VOID -
A TRIBUTE TO BLACK SABBATH, BOSTON
MASSACHUSETTS, I WAS SURFING AROUND
AND FOUND YOUR STATION AND WE REALLY
GOT A BIG KICK IN THE ASS LISTENING
TO YOUR STATION, HERE'S ONE OF OUR
TUNES, IF YOU WANT MORE THEN LET US
KNOW, OK. YOU ROCK \m/ Geoff

Hello Jane,
I am a broadcaster with 4MW Radio Torres
Strait. I want to establish networking with
you. I sighted your address from the Web
Pacific Islands Radio 33K hosted by you.
Lak kai nge (until next time)

Jane,
I am a Californian woman. I found you on the
computer while looking at Pitcairn Island
information.I am now listening to Rachel
Ratsizafy sing. I like what I hear.I will
put your site on my "favourites".I read
your history of your islands and found it
very interesting.Thank you

Hi Jane,
I have enjoyed looking through your
website at the various pictures of
islands all over the Pacific.While I was
looking at the pages, I noticed that
the music used in them was quite cute.
Would it be possible for you to share
the .Midi files that you used on these
Web Pages with me?

Hello Jane,
I found your name at KINGMUSIC.
Please can you help me with information?
I'm looking for a wholesaler in PACIFIC
music on cd and dvd. In Melbourne I bought
some titles of Samoan artists, but I want
a bigger choice for my web-shop in the
Netherlands.
Looking forward for your reply.

Dear Ms. Resture,
Some years ago I listened a lot to your
internet station and very much enjoyed
the information about the Pacific peoples
that you have made available. Some
technical problems interrupted my listening
for a while, but I have just re-discovered
your station and am happy that it is just
as good as ever. I have managed a visit to
Hawaii in the meantime, but still hope to
see more of Oceania. Keep up the good
work.

Aloha Sir/Madam,
Would you please tell me do you know
anyone that gives dance instruction to in
Dis life? I've been asking around but I
could not find anyone that can teach me.
and do you have some dancing steps
instruction for me to try at home? If so,
would it be possible to email me the
dancing instruction? I would like to
have it anytime soon which is today
or tomorrow or if you would like,
you can send it to me by mail.

Hello Jane,
I got a question, there is a song in a
soundtrack which I like a lot but since
9 years I could not find a way to
understand what they are saying.
Can you help me?

"God yu tekem laef blong mi
mi mi givim nao long iu
Bac mi givim evride
Blong leftemap nem blong iu".

Hello Jane from California!
I'm from Chuuk living in California
for about 27 years enjoying your
]Radio Station. Thank you

*   *   *   *   *   *   *
IT'S TIME TO CHAT

Our Chat Rooms are always available for
online chatting between parties and can be
accessed via Jane's Oceania Home Page:
http://www.janeresture.com or the URLs:
http://pub18.bravenet.com/chat/show.php/1489671900
http://pub32.bravenet.com/chat/show.php/2702076781

COMMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Your valuable contributions and comments
are always most welcome and they can be
sent to me at:
jane@pacificislandsradio.com

Thank you so much everybody for your
very kind support and for being such
important and valuable members of
our Pacific Islands Radio (Island Music)
Community.

As always, let us all hope for continuing
greater peace and harmony, good health,
prosperity and happiness, for everybody!
I wish you all the very best and please
take care!

Once again, I would sincerely like to wish
you all the very best for a Merry and
Blessed Christmas and a very Happy and
Prosperous 2009.

May our God bless us all this day and
always! As usual, I look forward to the
pleasure of your company next time.

Jane Resture