Fijian Sigidrigi and the Sonic Representation and Construction of Place
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Keywords:
music, place, Fiji
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Abstract
This paper explores how the inhabitants of Taveuni, Fiji’s third largest island, use the music genre known as sigidrigi (from the English ‘sing drink’) to articulate and redefine their relationships to particular places. Sigidrigi songs are often performed by groups of men to entertain people during informal yaqona (or kava as it is known throughout Polynesia) drinking sessions. They feature three or four-part vocal harmony, and are accompanied by guitar and/or ukulele. The repertoire consists of covers and localised versions of overseas songs, as well as songs composed by Fijians in styles adopted and adapted primarily from Northern America and Western Europe (for example, rock, pop, country and blues). The repertoire also includes songs from other Pacific islands, the Caribbean (for example, reggae), Indo-Fijian songs, and i taukei (indigenous Fijians of Melanesian or Polynesian descent) children’s songs and meke (an art form consisting of music, dance and costuming whose origin pre-dates European contact). An examination of sigidrigi song lyrics (in terms of both language use and textual content), band names, and various elements of musical style (such as texture, timbre, meter etc.) reveals how Taveuni islanders have used this music genre to (re)construct communities at geographical scales ranging from the local to the supranational.
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References
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Whorson, C.W. (1936) Levuka Days of a Parson in Polynesia, London: Society for Promoting Knowledge.
Baldacchino, G. (2005) 'Editorial: Islands – Objects of Representation,' Geografiska Annaler Series B: Human Geography vol. 87, no. 4: 247-251. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0435-3684.2005.00196.x
Brewster, A.B. (1922) The Hill Tribes of Fiji, Philadelphia: JB Lippencott.
Chenoweth, V. (1998a) 'Compositional Processes: Irian Jaya,' in Kaeppler, Adrienne L and Love, JW (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands v9, New York and London: Garland Publishing, p. 360.
Chenoweth, V. (1998b) 'Compositional Processes: New Guinea,' in Kaeppler, AL and Love, JW (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands v9, New York and London: Garland Publishing, pp. 357-358.
Crowdy, D. (2005) Guitar Style, Open Tunings, and Stringband Music in Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies.
Crowe, P. (1998) 'Concepts in Oceanic Music: Popular Music – Vanuatu,' in Kaeppler, Adrienne L and Love, JW (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands v9, New York and London: Garland Publishing, pp. 139-140.
Freeman Moulin, J. (1998) 'East Polynesia: Marquesas Islands – New Things,' in Kaeppler, Adrienne L. and Love, JW (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands v9, New York and London: Garland Publishing, p. 894.
Giddens, A. (1990) The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Glamuzina, K.(1993) Contemporary Music and Performance Practice in Levuka, unpublished MMus (Ethnomusicology) thesis, University of Auckland.
Goldsworthy, D. (1998) 'Fijian Music,' in Kaeppler, Adrienne L and Love, JW (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands v9, New York and London: Garland Publishing, pp. 774-776
Hobsbawm, E. and Ranger, T. (1983) The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kaeppler, Adrienne L (1998a) 'Popular Music,' in Kaeppler, Adrienne L and Love, JW (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands v9, New York and London: Garland Publishing, pp. 126-128.
Kaeppler, A. L. (1998b) 'Concepts in Oceanic Music: Popular Music – Strings,' in Kaeppler, Adrienne L and Love, JW (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands v9, New York and London: Garland Publishing, pp. 136-7.
Lee, D. S. (1998) 'Music and Dance in Naloto,' in Kaeppler, Adrienne L and Love, JW (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands v9, New York and London: Garland Publishing, pp. 776-781.
Manuel, P. (1988) Popular Music of the Non-Western World: An Introductory Survey, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Massey, D. (1994) Space, Place and Gender, Cambridge: Polity.
Negus, K. (1996) Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Raven-Hart, R. (1956) "A Village in the Yasawas (Fiji)," Journal of the Polynesian Society vol. 65: 95-154.
Ravuvu, A. (1983) Vaka i Taukei: The Fijian Way of Life, Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies.
Stokes, M. (1994) 'Introduction, in Stokes, Martin (ed.) Ethnicity, Identity and Music: The Musical Construction of Place, Oxford: Berg, pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511528583.002
Teeling, W. (1936) Gods of Tomorrow, London: Lovat Dickson.
Thomson, B. (1864) South Sea Yarns, Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons.
Tuwere, I. S (2002) Vanua: Towards a Fijian Theology of Place, Suva and Auckland: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and College of Saint John the Evangelist.
Webb, M. (1993) Lokal Musik: Lingua Franca Song and Identity in Papua New Guinea, Apwitihire: Studies in Papua New Guinea Musics 3, Boroko: National Research Institute.
Webb, M. (1998) 'Concepts in Oceanic Music: Popular Music – Papua New Guinea,' in Kaeppler, Adrienne L and Love, JW (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Australia and the Pacific Islands v9, New York and London: Garland Publishing, pp. 137-9.
Whorson, C.W. (1936) Levuka Days of a Parson in Polynesia, London: Society for Promoting Knowledge.