Pacific Islands Radio (Island Music) Newsletter

Jane's Pacific Islands Radio Newsletter (Island Music)
Vol. 1, Edition No.10, March/April 2005
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/

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

Objectives
News and Views
Pacific Islands Radio
Feature Artist
Notice Board
Suppliers
Links
Letters

Welcome everybody to our Pacific Islands
Radio Newsletter (Island Music) for March
2005! It is simply wonderful to be back in
touch again and I would like to take this
opportunity of wishing everybody good
health, peace, prosperity and harmony.

I would also like to extend a very warm and
sincere Pacific Island welcome to all our many
new members who have chosen to join us since
our last Newsletter. Welcome on board, please
make yourselves feel at home, relax and enjoy
the enchanting, vibrant, exciting, soothing,
melodious and magical sounds of the Pacific
Islands!

OBJECTIVES

This Newsletter is a listening guide to
the many listeners of our Internet Pacific
Islands Radio Stations. These comprise
the two Pacific Islands Radio Stations
as well as Pacific Music Radio (mp3PRO
FM Stereo) as well as Micronesia Music
Radio.

The information in this Newsletter will also
embrace some of the exciting changes
taking place in the Internet Radio Revolution
as well as updated information on our Pacific
Island Artists, as well as Programming and
Playlists.

NEWS AND VIEWS

The indigenous people of Vanuatu pride
themselves on their traditional musical
instruments, of which the tamtam - also
called the slit-drum or slit-gong - is a
fine example. Traditionally used on
ceremonial occasions, it is an intricately
carved log with a slice hollowed out from
the centre from which the sound reverberates.
Panpipes and conch shells are also common in
the traditional music of Vanuatu. On Santo
they play a three-holed flute, while on
Ambrym a long, carved musical pipe is played.

It is certainly pleasing to see that many
Vanuatu musicians are utilising traditional
musical instruments, blending them with
modern instruments to give a new flavour and
dimension to their music.

In order to provide the musicians and artists
of Vanuatu with the highest possible standard
of recording facilities, Vanuatu's leading studio,
Vanuata Production, have installed a G5 digital
16 track mixer and 32 track playback consul
which utilises Pro-Tools, the most advanced
recording system. This new equipment will lift
Vanuata's profile above most of the regions' small
studios and, indeed with this new set up, Vanuatu
is second only to Australia in terms of recording
capacity.

Mangrove Studios in New Caledonia has risen
from relative obscurity to become the leading
recording studio and publishing company of New
Caledonia. Its rapid development is closely tied
to the rise of the Kaneka genre, a type of music
that closely resembles reggae. This blend of ancestral
Kanak music with modern Pacific flavour is becoming
increasingly well known and Mangrove Studios has
spearheaded the drive to promote Kaneka music to
a worldwide audience.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA MUSIC

This Web site contains information on the traditional
music in ritual of Papua New Guinea, along with a
table history of Papua New Guinea music from the
early pre late 19th century to the present day. Also
included is general information on the categories and
types of traditional instruments used in Papua New
Guinea, with a discussion on how to make a
traditional Papua New Guinea Kundu drum.
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/arts/music/musicarchive/PNGArchive.html

NEW ZEALAND - MUSIC OF THE MAORI

This Web site contains general information on the music
of the Maori people of New Zealand, as well as some
information on instruments, and music history.
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/arts/music/musicarchive/NZArchive.html

TUVALU - SINGING AND DANCING

The early Tuvaluans, untouched by western influences
and aspirations highly valued their traditional singing
and dancing. Apart from simply providing entertainment,
the fakanau and fakaseasea, which were formerly very
popular form for dance, were composed to
commemorate the reign of an aliki or toa, or to praise
certain outstanding figures for their skills in canoe
building, fishing, house building or for their wealth
or bravery within the community.

The fakanau which has a tune that is between speech
and singing was performed while dancers are standing
on their feet. The rhythm of the fakanau is much
quicker than those of the fakaseasea and the present
day fatele. With the arrival of the missionaries, because
of the wide swaying movements and actions required in
the fakanau were considered to be sexually stimulating,
efforts were made to put an end to this kind of dancing.
At first it was difficult, but as more and more people
came to accept the new religious beliefs the pastors
became powerful and influential figures who ultimately
dominated the rights of the aliki. Because of this the
fakanau, which the pastors regarded as evil dancing,
gradually declined until it disappeared completely.

The fakaseasea is said to be as old as the fakanau.
This type of dancing is still performed nowadays by
elders. Unlike the fakanau, the fakaseasea is sung
much slower to a lovely tune and has one or two
performers dancing on their feet. Normally the
fakaseasea requires no uniformity of actions but
the performers are free to make actions which
express the meanings of the words. The survival
of the fakaseasea up to the present time is due to
the fact that the first pastors, fascinated by the
lovely tune and the gentle slow actions of the fakaseasea,
did not do anything to stop people from performing it.
http://www.janeresture.com/tu8/singing_and_dancing.htm

PACIFIC ISLANDS RADIO

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. These formats, in terms of Connection
Speed and Sound Quality are basically as
follows:

STATIONS

Pacific Music Radio with a connection speed of
32 kbps is FM Stereo - FM mp3PRO;

Pacific Islands Radio 33K and Micronesia Music
Radio 33K with connection speeds of 24 kbps are
AM Quality; and

Pacific Islands Radio 28K with a connection speed
of 16 kbps is AM Quality.

Perhaps I should mention also that the previous
practice of specifying a minimum connection
speed has now been upgraded. Now, instead
of specifying a bitrate, our broadcast formats
are specified in terms of a combination of
bitrate, sampling rate, stereo mode and codec.

These changes have allowed the introduction
of Pacific Music Radio (FM mp3PRO Stereo)
broadcasting in high fidelity FM stereo as well
as allowing an upgrade in the fidelity of Pacific
Islands Radio 33K and Micronesia Music Radio
33K while still broadcasting at the same bitrate
(24 kbps).

Also, in the longer term, 33K will be referred
to as 24kbps and 28K will become 16 kbps -
please keep an eye out for these changes.

As usual, Pacific Islands Radio is always keen
to promote our talented island musicians
worldwide in order to satisfy the continuing
demand for our beautiful and distinctive Pacific
Island music! In this respect, should you know
of any island artists whose talents you would
like to see promoted, please contact me on:
jane@pacificislandsradio.com

Our four 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

Pacific Music Radio (mp3PRO)
http://www.live365.com/stations/drjaneresture
Pacific Islands Radio 33K (24 kbps)
http://www.live365.com/stations/janeresture
Pacific Islands Radio 28K (16 kbps)
http://www.live365.com/stations/janeres
Micronesia Music Radio 33K (24 kbps)
http://www.live365.com/stations/jane_resture

FEATURE ARTIST

XAVIER X. FETHAL

With his latest album "Island Girl", Xavier X. Fethal
has gone from strength to strength as an artist, musician,
composer, and as a leading light in the promotion and
preservation of our beautiful Micronesian heritage.

The songs on this album are a pleasing mix of contemporary
and traditional musical styles. This album is highly
recommended as a collection of the best of Micronesian music
presented by one of Micronesia's most outstanding performers.

KOSRAEAN STYLE BAND

From the "Sleeping Lady" island of Kosrae in Micronesia, the
Kosraean Style Band's latest album "Voice of Kosrae", provides
their listeners with some delightful and enthralling harmonies
that always reflect their love for their "little island in the Pacific".

The band members Joshua William, Gaius Ittu and Kimji
Isisaki give thanks to songwriter Xavier X. Fethal for weaving
their thoughts into a song that speaks for all islanders. Wherever
they may be, their little island in the Pacific is always on their mind.

The Kosraean Style Band are also highly recommended as a special
band that manages to capture the essential spirit of Micronesia.

NOTICE BOARD

Pacific Islands Radio is very pleased and proud
to be able to advise that Vanessa Quai is booked
to appear on the main stage at the Australian Gospel
Music Festival (AGMF) to be held in Toowoomba,
Queensland, Australia, on March 25-27. This is an
ideal and excellent opportunity for Vanessa's fans
and supporters to see her performing LIVE! Please
join with me in wishing Vanessa our warmest best
wishes on this special occasion.

For further information please contact:
Craig Ross at: designeraudio@optusnet.com.au
or/and Vanessa's manager/father, Nigel Quai at:
vquai@hotmail.com

MICRONESIA MUSIC ANTHOLOGY

An anthology of traditional Micronesian Music
is available on Micronesia Music Radio:
http://www.live365.com/stations/jane_resture

The anthology can be accessed by clicking on the
Broadcast Schedule after logging in to Micronesia
Music Radio. This should allow you (and our other
listeners worldwide) to determine when the
anthology is available in your beautiful part of
the world. For example, on the Australian Gold Coast,
the anthology is available from 12 noon to 1.30 pm
each Saturday (AEST), and Kiribati from 2 pm to
3.30 pm each Saturday afternoon.

The Broadcast Schedule can also be accessed at
the following URL:
http://www.live365.com/broadcast/scheduler/?stationname=jane_resture

The supporting Web site to the anthology is:
http://www.janesoceania.com/micronesia_music_anthology/index.htm

GOSPEL MUSIC

Pacific Islands Radio is very pleased to be able
to advise that a collection of some of the most
exciting and absorbing gospel music from the
Pacific Islands is now being featured on Pacific
Music Radio (FM mp3PRO Stereo), Pacific
Islands Radio 33K (24 kbps) as well as Pacific
Islands Radio 28K (16 kbps)

With an extended running time of three hours,
the gospel collection has proved to be extremely
popular and features the music of a number of
extremely talented artists and groups such as
Vanessa Quai (Vanuatu), Xavier X. Fethal (Yap),
Bata Teinamati, Betania Gospel Singers and Emmaus
Family Singers (Republic of Kiribati), Lia Osborne
(Fiji), Aoloau Youth Choir (Samoa), and The
Auckland Pacific Gospel Choir (New Zealand).

Please monitor the Broadcast Schedule of the
above three Pacific Islands Radio stations for
the availability and time for the Gospel Music
collection. At present this exciting collection
is available every Sunday from 12 midday to
3 pm Australian eastern standard time.

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

NEW ALBUMS

The following are the latest additions to the
Playlists:

Island Girl - Xavier X. Fethal
Voice of Kosrae - Kosraean Style Band
"Promise" - Vanessa Quai and Soul Harmony

It is pleasing to say that the above three excellent
albums have been well received by Pacific Islands
Radio listening audience.

"Promise" can be viewed at:
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/profiles/melanesia.htm
Island Girl and Voice of Kosrae can be viewed
at:
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/profiles/index.htm

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.

KINGMUSIC -
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Kingmusic offers a wide selection of Pacific
Island music which is available on the Internet.
Their mail order service is very responsive
with orders generally being dispatched on or
about the same day!
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
C/- Angirota Enterprises
P.O. Box 299
Te Ununiki
Bikenibeu, Tarawa
Republic of Kiribati
Phone/Fax (686) 28236
E-mail: angirota@tskl.net.ki
LINKS

The following link contains samples of Hawaiian
Music midi files:
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/arts/music/musicarchive/TonganInstruments.html

Fiji Music Downloads:
http://cs.union.edu/~thompsj2/fiji/section.php?section=music

The Peace Place - airs live on Mondays 2-4pm (-l0GMT).
http://radio.uhh.hawaii.edu/peaceplace/

************************
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 and music.
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 with me in thanking these wonderful
people for sharing their thoughts with us all.
************
Hi, my name is Shrew from Kosrae, FSM.
I read and love all your advertisements of
the beautiful island music from Polynesia.
Everyday and nite when I came back from
my duty I used to listen to the Micronesian,
as well as the Polynesian, and the Melanesian
music too. I love all the island music, my
buddies also love my music and they want me
to ask you if you can send us some Polynesian
music, just one and we will be really happy to
listen and do our duty day and nite at all time
here in Iraq.Well, once again I thank you for
your happy smiling lovely faces and we will
never forget those beautiful faces of the
Pacific islanders. Hoooaaah.

Jane
Where do you live at? I live in the north central
part of Arkansas, a place called Harrison. I
enjoy the music. Thank you

Aloha Jane!
Just came upon your Pacific Islands Radio
offerings! WOW! A tremendous effort, labor
of love!

Just found your web site, it is a labor of love.
My Samoan wife and I enjoyed the Samoan
music/photos/history. Do you have an office
on the Gold Coast? Regards, Brisbane, Australia

Dear Jane,
It was so nice to read your letters. Also, it was
good to hear your voice. Now I can imagine you
reading the letters. Listening the first thing is a
way to set or restart my day fresh with a new attitude.
Obtw, I did add a link to my website as promised. I
think I emailed you yesterday about that.

I have a small request. My friend has family in Tahiti.
She showed me the annual dance contests. I found
the music or dance accompaniment hypnotic. The
drums and percussion rhythms are similar to the famous
drum groups in japan that are so famous. This is where
the people seek out this group to apply and they commit
to stay a certain period of time if accepted. I was wondering
if there is any music like this in the Pacific Islands recorded.
Is it a music genre? I think it is because it is culturally
significant.

Anyway I would love to hear occasionally some of this music.
For us mainlanders maybe Friday nights or Saturday would
be best. I don't really know. I know that the primary focus of
the radio station is to play things people like to promote the
  culture. With that in mind I know you have to play a lot of
acculturated music that is less reflective of the cultures in
Oceania. I enjoy them too for their light-hearted spirit.

I am most touched by the traditional lyric music however.
This would be the type of music the tempo would be slow and
dreamy as in traditional hula. I am thinking of Rell Sunn Queen
of Makaha and her dancing which was like her surfing and her
spirit so powerful and angelic. This is the music I love best.
Could you dedicate a few songs to the people who have promoted
the culture of the peoples of Oceania in their memory? I believe
this has power when we remember them. Rell Sunn taught reverence
for all life of the seas. Her Hawaiian name means 'Heart of the Sea'.
She believed that someone's ancestor could be swimming in the
waters from which all life comes.

Wonderful mix of music you are playing. How do you do it? Take
care and have a wonderful day. I know what you are doing has
true and lasting powerful impact on the world spirit. I believe that.

Hello Jane
I listen to your radio station everyday. I fell in love with the South
Pacific when I first visited Rarotonga in 1994.Your radio station has
ruined me at work because I cannot concentrate. I do have a question to
ask of you. There is group that your station plays and I cannot find any
information about them nor can I find there CD. They have a few songs
that you play, one is this song ÿþM -Moe Varua Au Kia Koe [4:30] - ÿþM
and the other song is called Rapa Nui or has those words in it. Can you
tell me who is this group and How can I find their CD.

REPLY - FROM PACIFIC ISLANDS RADIO -
I am including an extract from my reply to the above, as a few of our
listeners may want to know a little about this beautiful Easter Island
album:

Hello Vince,

Thank you so much for your welcome e-mail and for your
interest in our Pacific Island music. It is pleasing to know that
you listen to our Pacific Islands Radio every day and yes, please
keep on listening and spreading the good word :-)

As for the CD containing
ÿþM - Moe Varua Au Kia Koe [4:30] - ÿþM and Rapa Nui -
it is entitled Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui as per the following Easter
Island songs:

Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 01 - Rapa Nui
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 02 - Cominando
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 03 - Mau Vanua Au Kia Koe
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 04 - Kantera I
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 05 - Voy Navegando, Navegando
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 06 - Fusion Cultural
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 07 - Iorana Koe Ete Repa Hoare (Curanto)
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 08 - A Media Luz
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 09 - Kantera II
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 10 - A'amu Ote Togata Manu (Fiesta)
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 11 - Despierto Con El Sereno
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 12 - Voy Navegando, Navegando (Remix)
Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui - 13 - Rapa Nui (Remix)

You can access details of the suppliers at the following URL,
where I introduce some of our Pacific Island artists (Polynesia)
and their CDs:
http://www.pacificislandsradio.com/profiles/polynesia.htm

The CD Mito Y Fusion Rapa Nui can be obtained from
Kingmusic, Auckland, New Zealand, at the following
Web site:
http://www.kingmusic.co.nz

Hello, my name is David, I'm 19 years old and live in Melbourne,
Australia. Recently I took 3 weeks holiday in Vanuatu, all the time
in Port Vila - I had an awesome time, it was really great. I heard
a lot about Vanessa Quai and wondered if I would be able to see her
perform or even meet her. I went to a concert held for the tsunami
appeal but had to leave before Vanessa could perform. I would like
to get in contact with her as I'm really interested in the local musical
talent in Vanuatu. I was wondering if you had an email address or
something I could write to get in contact with her? I appreciate she's
probably very busy and if you can't give me any contact details that's
fine but I thought it was worth a try anyway.

Also, I was wondering if you could give me any information about
working within the music industry in Vanuatu? I'd love to move there,
but I need a job. I study music at university, this is my final year.
Once I've finished I'd like to move somewhere like Vanuatu of PNG
because I love the simple but real life the people in those countries
have. I was wondering if there is any work at all within the music
industry, even in teaching at schools or the Music Academy in Vila, and
if so, can you give me any contacts or information about it? I would
really appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks very much for your
time
************
COMMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

These are always most welcome and can be
e-mailed to me at:
jane@pacificislandsradio.com

As usual, it has been my great pleasure to be
able to share with you our March 2005 edition
of our Pacific Islands Radio Newsletter
(Island Music).

Let us all hope for continuing peace and
harmony for the people of the Pacific Islands
and everywhere.

I would like to thank you so much for your wonderful
support and I look forward to the pleasure of your
company next month! Take care and Best Wishes
everybody!

May our God bless us and protect us all!

Jane Resture