EVERY GENRE PROJECT - May 27 - Micronesian Music

Genre of the Day - Micronesian Music

Album of the Day - Songs from Micronesia by Various Artists (1969)

May 27, 2024

Micronesia is perhaps undeserving of the prefix that defines it. Sure, its myriad islands and atolls are indeed micro, and some might even say mini, but the region that encompasses Micronesia is actually quite large. Within the region of Micronesia lies the unincorporated US outpost of Guam, the country known as the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as the countries of Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and Palau. The term micro should also not be applied to the stature of the region’s music, even if it lives in the shadow of its Polynesian neighbors-by-extensive-boat-journey.

Micronesia is one of the most under-discussed regions in the globe. To be fair, it’s hard to develop much known industry other than tourism or cultivate significant influence-via-population when the islands are small and hundreds of miles from each other, and isolation ensures a certain propensity for being overlooked. If you’re willing to take probably four flights on over, though, the history to uncover runs as deep as the blue waters separating the isles. The awe-inspiring ruins of the city of Nan Madol on the island of Pohnpei constitute the most iconic Micronesian landmark, blocks and blocks of massive stone edifices built with considerable ingenuity and, somehow, no mortar forming an otherworldly lagoon metropolis. 

It goes without saying that the ocean is of chief importance in Micronesian cultures. Though the culture of each island differs such as the several indigenous languages spoken in the Federal States of Micronesia alone, no matter where you go in the region, the watery expanses stretching as far as the eye can see are paramount culturally. This factors into distinctive instruments: one Micronesian traditional drum used the skins of a shark or ray as a membrane. Drawing from the land, the same basalt stones mined for Nan Madol also serve as percussion, and coconut trees and bamboo provide flutes and jaw harps. 

Like Polynesian music, the litany of instruments introduced by western colonizers such as guitar and accordion have also become entrenched in Micronesian music, though traditional percussive sticks still dominate. Those same western visitors also complicated the Micronesian music scene in the form of missionaries discouraging many traditional spiritual dance rituals, leading to hymns also becoming widespread in their place, though the two coexist today. Solo and group singing also dominate, speaking to the spiritual importance of much Micronesian folk music. In the video below, you can get a slice of dancing from the island of Yap, particularly noted for the talent of its dancers.

To cover as much ground—or, water—of the Micornesian music scene is difficult, given just how much diversity that exists across the hundreds of islands and the various nation states that comprise it. This 1969 set mostly concentrates on Marshallese and Gilbertese tunes of eastern Micronesia, in the Marshall Islands and Kiribati, making my Nan Madol anecdote feel a little obsolete while also showing just how macro Micronesian music is (today’s column is just chock-full of dubiously effective turns of phrase). The importance of community prevails through the joy of singing in groups; on the opening “Carpenter Song - Marshallese Nonsense Song” sunny guitar ripples trade time with simple harmonies. The polyphonic male and female melodies of “Ai Batira” demonstrate the range of vocal traditions in the region. The exuberant zeal of the not one, not two, but three “Marshallese Christmas” songs by joyful children’s choir reveal one end of Micronesian recent musical history with the rapid chanting of “Old Language Gilbertese Chant” peering out from centuries of tradition. It’s an album suffused with the sun that beats down upon these islands, and a testament to the tight-knit nature of insular communities us mainlanders can appreciate but never truly get to understand.