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'tX) rlrt r,,'tl,l ,,1n,,,. \t l(tt "Bring the Past to Present": Recording and Reviving Rotuman Music via a Collaborative RotumaniFijian/ AustralianCD Project Karl Neuenfeldt Abilru(t This ltqter etplores a recordingpr<tjett tltut led to CDs dtx'utnetrtittgRrturtrttrr tnusi- cul per.fortnan<'esand ntusi<'practitt' in Snva,Fiji. The pro.jectn:us u t'ollulxtrution befw'eenthe Rottmnn tliusporiccttnunuttit,-, the'Ot'euniu Cetilre.lor the Art,sund Cul- ture ut tlk Universitl'oJ'the South PaL'itit und a nrusic-busedresearcher Jrotn Austru- liu. It usesdescriptitsn, unaltsis und ethnogruplt,-Io e.rpktrethe role oJ'digitaltechnol- og,ies;tht' role untl ewtlutiottol ntusiL'in tliasporiccotnnuuilies in Australia and Fi.ii: tlrc benefit.sutttl L'hallenges of tollulxtrative trunsildtionalmusitul researchpr()je(ts: antl tlrc role oJnusit reseon'hers us rttusit producers. "l think it is veryimportant to know aboutthe old songsand the new ones as wcll. I am a loverof singingand I loveto singchurch hymns and the traditional songs as well. It is also irnportantbecausc I can alwaystell my grandchildlc-nabout the songsof the past anclpresent and thcy might know rvhenthey -qrowup whcthcr anythinghas changed."(Sarote Fesaitu. eldest fernale member of the ChurchwardChlpel's Rotu- man Choir. Suva.Fiji 2004) In recent years an ernerging discourse in music-based studies has coalesced around the interrelationshipsbetween digital recording technologies,cross-cultural collaborative researchproJects and rnusic-researchersoperating as music producers, artistsor entr€preneurs.Greene and Porcello (2005:2) use the term "wired sound" for this phenomenon and discourseand provide the following sunllrary: Recordingstudios have become. among othc'r things. sponge-like centers where the world's soundsare quickly and continuallvabsorbed. reworked. and reincorporated into new musics.Mnsic can no longer be ldcquatcly rnodeledas sornetbingthat hap- pensin a localcontext and employsonly thc cxprcssivemeans specific to ir locality. Instead.music making increasingly employs tcchnologies produccd elsewhere lnd is infornredby a heightenedawareness of'sourrds thut afe tlavelingrapidly around the world. Wired soundtherefore ret'ers nol only to thc contcnlporancousfirct that nranyt'ri' I ttlt . tlrcvvrld rl rtrtrsit19( I ) - 2007 Kurl Nartertlcldt.Recortlittg und Rt'vivitt.qRoturtuttr Mu:tt . tts thcworld's musical practices are incrcnsingly wirccl together. Music (including even nrusicthat rcsists globalization) happens along a globalcircuit of rapidcommunica- tionand varying influencc. Appadurai(1990) has typified thesebroad processes as rapid,dis.junctive and globalizedcultural flows. This articledocuments and analyses a particularlycogent exampleof theseprocesses in placticeand adds to thephenomenon and discourse of how not only soundbut alsopeople are "wired" togetherthroughmusic. It alsoadds to discussionsof thedynanrics of culturalidentity and ethnicity in Oceania(Linnekin andPoyer 1990). Therehas been lirnited documenting of the sacredancl secular music of Rotuma, Fiji's northernmost island. both in historicaland contentporary contextr.l E,xisting @oarr;*t, key sourcesinclude research on chantsby Kaurasi( I 99 I ) andon danceby Hereniko ( 199I ).r Howardand Rensel (1991) and Fatiaki( 199I ) provideoverviews of Rotu- rnanculture. its derrrographics. and its socio-culturaland political organization. @fi,arrra@ The fcrcusher-e is on a collaborativerecording project between the Methodist ChurchwardChapel Roturlran Choir (CCRC) in Suva,Fiji; the OceaniaCentre tbr Arts andCulture (OCAC) andthe Media Centre ilt theUniversity'of the South Pacif- c ic: Roturrranresearcher Makeleta Mua: and CentralQueensland University. The oliginal inrpetusfbr the prcl.jectwas the presenceof Rotunran-basednrusic in the TolresStrait region of Australia.which I had beenrecording and researching. Via a Fig. /. RotunranChants and Hyrnns CD Frottt Cttvct Arrrt tr k ht' Si tttp le Art s seriesof serendipitouseve nts and encounters, an interestin themusic of TorresStrait ( 2005 ). - ( Plnto bv uut ltor ). ledlo an interestin RotLlnrunnlusic. One of my rolesin thc projectwAS as Co-producer ttf the recordingswith Nigel Pegrurn.Pegrur.r.r is an experiencedrnusician, sound engineer and producerand has Individualsproducc iutd consul.nc music within spccil'ic socill colttcxts (households. probablyrecorded and sold more Indigenous music than any other producer in Aus- ncighbourhoods.ctc)l at spccilictimcs or historicalmorncnts: within spccific nct- trafia throughhis work with Aboriginal tlid.jeriduisrDavid Hudson(Neuenfeldt worksof socialrclationships (involving kin. pccrs. collcagucs. r-tc). rclationships that 2005). I was also ExecutiveProducer in collaborationwith representativesof the havcdifl'crcnt dimcnsions (social. political. cconomic). Peoplc's experiences of mu- ulbremc'ntionedortunizutions. sic,thc uscs thcy havc lbr it.irnd thc nrcanings thcy construcl nrour.rd. orthrough it. alc The mainresulls ol theproject irre two CDs.l One. Rt,tuntttnClrttttt.s und Hymns boundup with thcsc spccilicitics. and with thc intcrconncctions be't*,ccn thcrn. (Cohcn (FigureI ), wasreleased in 2006under the auspices of theOCAC andl-eatures tradi- |993: |35) (lra(' (/rrulogrr). tionalRotunran sacred songs ku pelu)and seculiirchants The OCAC Music.especially within a diasporicpopulation such as Rotunrans in Sr.rva(lrava (volunte holds copyrightin the recordings.The other,Cltun'ltwurd Chapel C/lr.rrr 199I ). perforcepla)'s a role in fashioning"the changing social. territot'ial. and cultur- two). wasreleased in 2006under the auspices of theCCRC. which holds copyright in al reproductionof eroup identity" or "ethnoscape"proposed by Appadurai therecordin-ts. It features thelrrrA ku pelu hymnsand anthents arranged by choirmas- ( l99l : l9l ). Music.howevcr, is notjust the recordings thernselves or thetechnologi- ter SanruclaTaukave. The reasonswhy thetnuk ku pelu hymnswere used twice will cal andindustrial processes that underlie theircultural prclcluction; it is alsothemak- be addressedbelow. This analysisfcrcuses rnainly on the RotLurrurtChutts arul ing of rneaning.Insights into how Rotumansmake meaningvia the n.rusicand the Hlllrs CD. projectatre revealed in theethnographic data. Theoretically,this paper uses a conrbinationof culturalstudies, ethnomusicolog- I mustnote at theoutset I makeno claimto in-depthkno'nvledge of Rotumanmu- ical andethnographic perspectives. Taken together they help to unravelthe musical- sic or culture.I am very rnucha novice.However. through doing music-recording ly linkedthreads that infornredthe projectand the resultingrecordin-es. Sara Cohen projectssuch as this an inter-estedacademic researcher and a culir-rusmusic producer providesa usefuloverview of how suchconfluences can be viewedfrom a cultural or;tof necessitymust leam nrole about a distinctsocial group. Such research helps to studiesperspective that profits fronr an ethnographicelemetrt: ,taininsights into the lnusic and how tt'ranalyze zrnd produce it to rellectappropriate- ly theculture. society and ethos from which it arises. Karl Neuettleldt.Recordin,q und RevivingRotunrun Musir' . 86 . rhev.orklol'nrusit'49(I)-2007 87 that inform pretedas a resultof contactwith EuropeanizedPacific Thereare several underlying and overlapping topics investigated here Islanders."Although the gen- includethe role of eral populationdoes not alwaysrecognize the origins o1these influences the projectsas examples of ihe "wired sound"phenomenon. They today,some of music in di- TorresStrait Islandersare awareof them. digiialiechnologiesio facilitatesuch projects; the role and evolution andchallenges Immigrantsfrom Rotuma were only one of many groups usiori. commuriities(in Tones Strait,Australia and Fiji); thebenefits of thoseEuropeanized of music re- Pacific Islandersin Torres Strait. Although not necessarily of collaborativetransnational musical research projects; and the role relatedconsanguinally theydid constitutea discemablesub-group within thewider pacific Islander popula- searchersas musicProducers. tion. For whateverreasons, Rotunrans have left recognizablecultural tracespanicu- larly in the islandsof easternTorres Strait, Erub (Darnley) and Mer (Munay), al- though the Pacific Islanders' presenceand movementswithin l. The Torres Strait Connection those islands were fraught with difficulties (Shnukal 1996).The title of a rccentedited collection of re- (and in Torres searchabout Torres Strait Islanders,woven Histories, (Davis Becausethe projectsarose from an interestin Rotumanmusic dance) DrtncingLlves 2004), over60'000 Pa- highlights that for Islanders identity. culture and history Strait,it is usefulto examinethose linkages. Between 1863 and 1904 are often interrelated throughmusic and dance.One interestingfacet of theircontemporary cific lsli.rnderimmrgrants from all over Polynesiaand Melanesia-predominantly culturalheri- andpasto- tage and performanceculture is the influenceof Rotuman men-came to work asindentured laborers in Australia'smaritime' sugar immigrants.In Beckett's themaritime (198l:l) opinion:"Island music and Islanddance are ral industries(Shnukal 1992). They constituted a sizeableproportion of not traditionalto the Torres providedthe great Strait. Like Islandhymns, they are the productof the workforce in Torres Strait for sometime (Mullins 1995)and also secondhalf of the nineteenth music century,when Torres Strait was'civilized'.... Always majorityof Christianmissionaries. Consequently Pacific Islanders influenced receptiveto