Pacific Islands Radio (Island Music) Newsletter

Jane's Pacific Islands Radio Newsletter (Island Music)
Vol. 5, Edition No.7, July 2006
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

Welcome everybody to our Newsletter
for July 2006! It is certainly great
to be back in touch with you all again
and, as always, I would very much like
to take this wonderful opportunity to
sincerely wish everybody good health,
prosperity, happiness, peace and
harmony.

In addition, I would very much like
to convey my heartfelt thanks to all,
our valued members, who have taken
the time to write, and for sharing
with us all. In this respect, your
most welcome and wonderful messages
and contributions are greatly
appreciated.

Please join with me in extending a very
warm and sincere Pacific Island welcome
to, once again, the incredible and
fantastic number of new members who have
joined us since our last Newsletter!
Thank you so very much!

I would sincerely like to welcome you
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 enjoyable, mutually beneficial and
most rewarding!

OBJECTIVES

This Newsletter is a listening guide to
the many wonderful listeners of our four
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
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, Programming and Playlists.

NEWS AND VIEWS

In the last edition of Jane's Pacific Islands
Radio Newsletter for June 2006, it was my
great pleasure to be able to share with you
some thoughts on the origins of the people
of Polynesia as well as the traditional music
of Polynesia. In the July 2006 edition, I
would now like to discuss a little further about
the origins of the Polynesian and Micronesian
people, as well as the traditional music of
Micronesia.

The islands of Micronesia include the Federated
States of Micronesia (Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk
and Yap), Guam, Palau, Saipan, the Republic
of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of
Kiribati. Indeed, Micronesia means 'small
islands' and is derived from the Greek words
'mikros' which means small, and 'nesos' which
means island. This is a perfect way to
describe these over two thousand tropical
islands scattered across the heart of the
Pacific Ocean between Hawai'i and the Philippines.
They are spread over a great distance, yet
each has its own culture, history, customs,
rituals, myths and legends, ethnology, lifestyle
and topographical personality.

The islands of Micronesia and Polynesia
collectively comprise the last major region
of the globe to be settled by humans. Both of
these groups of islands were colonized within
the last 5,000 years by Austronesian-speaking
agriculturists. In the past, linguistic studies
have been a major factor in suggesting the origins
of both the Micronesian and Polynesian people
who, in the main, are of medium stature with
straight hair and brown skin.

One of the earliest records of the evidence
of Polynesian languages deriving from Asia
was that of the missionary, John Williams,
who, in 1840, published a range of Polynesian
words along with their Asian origins. In his
book, 'Missionary Enterprises In The South
Sea Islands' published in London by John
Snow in 1840, William ponders in
Chapter XXIX on the origins of the South
Sea Islands. He draws the distinction between
the characteristics of the Melanesians and
those of the Polynesians which he considered
had Malay characteristics and Indian social
structure. These he took as clear indications
of the Asiatic origin of the Polynesian people.
He said, however, that the language spoken
by the Malays and the Polynesians was clear
evidence of the origins of the Polynesians.

Certainly, it was common for anthropologists
to base past studies on linguistics. A study
of grammar and word lists allowed researchers
to establish degrees of correlation between
various Pacific Islanders. For example, the
Chamorro language is most closely related to
Bareic in Sulawesi based on a comparison of
standardized word lists. Linguists have
formulated theories of Pacific Island colonization
based on the similarity of languages including
P.S. Bellwood, who wrote the definitive work
on the peopling of the Pacific, relying heavily
on linguistic evidence.

Recent research has suggested, however, that
DNA offers a better way to study the relationships
between Pacific Island people. There is a problem
in using language to predict relations among people
in that language is a culturally transmitted and
not a biological trait, whereas DNA is the genetic
material that determines biological inheritance.

In a DNA study undertaken in 1994, Koji Lum
from The Institute of Statistical Mathematics,
Tokyo, Japan, collected head hair in Micronesia.
He used the head hair to obtain DNA samples.
The study was undertaken in order to compare
the genetic relationships of various Micronesian
groups to other Pacific Islanders and Asians and
their languages. The study examined DNA that
is found within mitochondria (mtDNA), small
cellular bodies that function as the energy
factories and storehouses of our cells. Mitochondria
are inherited from the body of the mother's fertilized
egg, and are transmitted maternally to the next
generation. Consequently, this analysis ignores
inheritance from a father.

In general, this study found that the majority
of mtDNA sequences from Micronesian and
Polynesian populations are derived from Asia,
whereas others are inferred to have originated
in New Guinea. The data supported the concept
of an Island Southeast Asian origin and a
colonization route along the north coast of New
Guinea. The Marianas and the main island of
Yap appear to have been independently settled
directly from Island Southeast Asia, and both
have received migrants from Central-Eastern
Micronesia since then. Palau clearly demonstrates
a complex prehistory including a significant
influx of lineages from New Guinea. Thus genetic
similarities among Micronesian and Polynesian
populations result, in some cases, from a common
origin and, in others, from extensive gene flow.

As well as showing that Micronesians and
Polynesians have a southeast Asian homeland,
studies based on DNA contributed by both
females and males to their offspring generally
indicate a greater degree of Melanesian heritage
for Polynesians and Micronesians.

There are some exceptions, however, with the
results for Palau and Yap showing that the
mtDNA and linguistic relationships do not agree.
This can be interpreted in a number of ways and
suggests that Palau has been 'seeded' by people
with ancestral roots in island Southeast Asia and
Melanesia, as well as the more easterly parts of
Micronesia.

In addition, Chamorro mtDNA is very distinctive
when compared to other Micronesians and
Polynesians. This suggests that the Marianas have
a different settlement history than the rest of
Micronesia. Chamorros have not mixed much
with other Micronesians. The study suggests that
Chamorros and Aboriginal Malays have common
maternal ancestral origins in the distant past.
This was a time being before the Chamorros
were a distinctive group and before the colonization
of the Marianas by people whose descendants
would only later develop the way of living that
defined them as Chamorros.

Music and dance in Micronesia, though certainly
not the same as their Polynesian counterparts, are
closely related to them.With the exception of Truk
(Chuuk) in the central Carolines, which displays
traits of Melanesian and possibly Indonesian
influence, the music structure of all parts of
Micronesia is predominantly word-determined, as
is that of Polynesia. The songs of Micronesia tell
of legendary histories, genealogies and navigational
tales of the islands. Indeed, the music is based
around the mythology and ancient Micronesian
rituals which were handed down in a musical
context from one generation to the next.Certainly,
over generations, the traditional music of Micronesia
was composed utilizing mythology, magic, rituals
and closely guarded procedures. The music is very
voice oriented with chanting, stamping and body
percussion.

The musical instruments of Micronesia are few,
mainly as a consequence of limited material being
available throughout the small islands and atolls
of Micronesia..The shell trumpet and nose flute
are the most common, though standard flutes and
Jews harps are also found. A common idiophone
in Micronesia is a stick that is carried by men in
certain dances. The performers strike each others
sticks in the course of the choreography.
Membranophones are not very common, though
the hourglass single-headed drum like those played
in Papua New Guinea is found as far north as the
Marshall Islands. In keeping with the ecology of
atoll life, the skins of these drums are made from a
shark's belly or parts of the sting ray. Many atolls
of the Micronesian Pacific are without any
indigenous musical instruments whatsoever.

Dance movements are mainly of hands and arms
in accompaniment to poetry. In some islands, such
as Yap (in the western Carolines) and Kiribati,
there is a similar concern for rank in the placement
of dancers, as well as the emphasis on rehearsed
execution of songs and movements. But, although
movements and types of dance have a superficial
similarity to those of Polynesia, there are differences.

In the Yap empire, for example, dancers from Ulithi,
Woleai, and other islands performed and taught their
choreography and texts to the Yapese as tribute,
even though the dance texts were in languages
unintelligible to the Yapese dancers; the function
of movements was not to illustrate a story but to
decorate it. Instead of acknowledging a chief's
deed or genealogy, the Yapese dancers
demonstrated the overlordship of Yap to the
other islands. Even in Ifalik, where texts were
in their own language, the movements did not
interpret poetry but were apparently abstractly
decorative. The same is true for Kiribati. Thus,
Polynesian dance could be characterized as
illustration of poetry, and Micronesian dance
as decoration of poetry, while music in both
areas serves as an elevated form of audible
performance for poetry.

FEATURE ARTISTS

TIM SAMEKE AND THE WE CE CA
(Melanesia)

Tim Sameke and his group, Wececa, are the
most popular dance troupe that produces shows
regularly in New Caledonia. Confident with this
popularity, they have recorded their first album
at the end of 1999. With the cover version of
one of Gurejele's hit, "Waipeipegu", Wececa
meets a huge success in the country and wish to
be the first band from New Caledonia to export
beyond the Pacific region

SOMAI SERENADERS
(Melanesia)

The Somai Serenaders from Savu-Savu, Fiji,
play a traditional string band style unique to
the islands. Every village, it seems, has its
own string band and that the Somai group is one
of the very best players. Their music is played
in a very ritualized fashion while sitting on
the floor or the ground around a large bowl filled
with kava juice. Kava is a local root that has
medicinal properties and leaves a mild narcotic
effect.

We were immediately impressed by their music
and their stories of how their music is inspired
by nature, like the rhythm of the wind blowing
through the palm trees. Apenisa Waqa, the lead
guitarist told us 'Just imagine a couple of coconuts
floating on the water and from that we compose
a song'.The group's instrumentation is three guitars
and a ukulele with four male voices -- sung in a
soprano range. But Apenisa's improvisational
guitar leads were tasteful and full of ease. It was
almost as if the entire Fijian lifestyle of taking
things slowly was being expressed through his
fingers.

They call their style of music 'Sigi Drigi' --
singing and drinking. When asked about what he
would like the world to know about their music,
Apenisa replied: 'We didn't know we were good -
we just do this to make the kava taste better'.
This group has never been recorded before and,
in fact, this genre of Fijian.
* * * * * * * * * *
NOTICE BOARD

MELANESIAN MUSIC -
"RADIO MELANESIA"

Pacific Islands Radio is very pleased
to be able to advise that Pacific
Islands Radio 28K has now been
converted to "RADIO MELANESIA" -
to progressively highlight the vibrant
and exciting music of Melanesia, along
with a selection of music from Polynesia
and Micronesia.
RADIO MELANESIA
http://www.live365.com/stations/janeres

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

MELANESIAN ARTS FESTIVAL

The third Melanesian Festival of Arts is to
be held in Suva, Fiji, from October 2 to 10
with the theme of the festival is "Living
Culture and Living Traditions." This festival
promises to be the best yet and will feature
rich traditions and contemporary art from
Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon
Islands and New Caledonia. In addition,
participation is being invited from countries
with a substantial Melanesian population,
including West Papua, the Australian
Aborigines, Torres Strait Islanders and
Timor Leste.

The Melanesian Arts festival came about in
1995 when it was decided by members of
the Melanesian Spearhead Group that they
should come together and share the many
cultures and to create new cultural processes.
Indeed, the festival was first hosted in the
Solomon Islands in 1998 with the second
being hosted by Vanuatu.

Further information on the Melanesian Arts
Festival will be included in our next Pacific
Islands Radio Newsletter (Island Music)
for July 2006 when more, complete and
exciting information is available!

PACIFIC ISLANDERS'
CULTURAL ASSOCIATION

The 12th Annual San Francisco Aloha
Festival will be held on Saturday - Sunday,
August 5 - 6, 2006, 10am - 5pm at the
San Francisco Presidio!

There will be a free two-day festival of
arts including Pacific Island music, dance,
crafts vendors, Island cuisine, educational
exhibits and workshops, etc. Enjoy!
http://www.pica-org.org/AlohaFest/index.html

"Coming Events" outlines some of the
many events on our 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 (our four
Pacific Islands Radio Stations). 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
four 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 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
http://www.live365.com/stations/janeresture

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

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

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 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 kind thoughts with us
all.
************
Hi Jane!
Love the radio station!! I'm in Fort Worth Texas,
and I've been to the islands in the Caribbean but
not the Pacific. Still, your station brings back
great memories . Keep up the great work........
Thanks

HI JANE,
AFTER VISITING FANNING ISLAND
A FEW YEARS AGO, WE OFTEN LISTEN
TO THE ENCHANTING MUSIC OF YOUR
WONDERFUL WEBSITE. KEEP UP THE
GOOD WORK..
Regards, Perth, Western Australia

Hello Jane Resture,
I have visited your website and love it.
Are you Tahitian or live in Tahiti by the
way (sorry for my ignorance).
I live on the island of Guam,though am
originally form the mainland U.S.,and I
have also lived in the Philippines for 2
years; Guam almost 28. I wish I had the
chance to visit Tahiti, and maybe will
never get a chance to; such a lovely place.
I know several Tahitians here on Guam.
I am interested in getting some Tahitian
music if possible, if you might be able to
help me.

My friend had visited Tahiti and brought
some Tahitian music back, of some which
was a modern mix of Tahitian and maybe
pop or Euro beats,and I never found out
how to order the music, and the Tahitian
people I know are too busy with working
for the Polynesian dinner shows to go
back to be able to help

Would you know how I could order some
Tahitian music and maybe some traditional
island wear? Thank you for any help.

Jane, Love your show .... dig your music.
Lots of lolomas from the Fiji Islands

Hi Jane, Just want to let you know that Live
365fm is just so awesome I stumbled across
it about two weeks ago at work and I listen
to it all day here at work.

It makes me homesick when I listen to the
music. I'm from Vanuatu/New Caledonia and
will be going back to Vanuatu end of July for
Independence and the music is already putting
in holiday mode. Thanks for what you are
doing it's a blessing. I've informed all my
family of this website and they are happy to
be able to listen to the music of the islands.
Take care and keep up the good work.
Vanuatu

Hi Jane,
Hello and how are you, I'm a 30 years old
male from Papua New Guinea, heard your
presentation on the radio through Internet
and I really love those songs & music you
played.

Would you be able to please email me titles
of the sounds and CD titles so I can be able
to find them here. Thanks a lot and love to
hear from you. Cheers
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Hi Jane,
Just out by the pool with my babies 2 and
8 here in Southern California. Wish we
were in the Islands but this will do for now.
Your sound gives us the flavour of the South
Pacific we crave. Thanks for making our
day a little brighter!
Aloha

Jane,
Hello my name is Paul.
I found your name and e-mail while doing
a Google search for South Pacific Music.
I hope you might be able to help me, by
suggesting where I might get a copy of a
CD with Vanuatu music.

I went for a cruise to Vanuatu recently
and was absolutely mesmerized by the
local's music. The sound of a Tea Chest
Bass, numerous Guitars (most with only
3 or 4 strings) and Singers belting out
their music with such passion, absolutely
filled my heart with joy.

Could you please suggest a CD with a
similar theme and where I might get one?
Thank You in advance.

Hi Jane!
Thank you for your Tokelau project!
One year ago we discovered your site
and that Pacific Islands Radio and this
all made us feel the connection with the
distant mysterious piece of earth called
Tokelau. So good is that you did this
all!

How only these brave and joyful people
survive on such a thin island in the
middle of the dangerous ocean, far from
the mainland. Do they suffer from tsunami
or so?

We wish you all the best, thank you again
and hello from Moscow, Russia!
*************
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 also hope for
continuing greater peace and harmony,
good health, prosperity and happiness,
for everybody!

May our God bless us all and, as usual,
I look forward to the pleasure of your
company next time!

Jane Resture