Music of Tonga
Encyclopedia
History
Tonga was discovered by European explorers in 1616. Early visitors, such as Captain CookJames Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
in the 1770s, and William Mariner
William Mariner (writer)
William Mariner was an Englishman who lived in the Tonga Islands from 29 November 1806 to 8 November 1810. He wrote an account of his experiences, Tonga Islands, that is now one of the major sources of information on pre-Christian Tonga.-Mariner's sojourn in Tonga:William Mariner was a teenage...
in the 19th century, describe traditional dance performances featuring singing and drumming.
The first successful missionaries, English Methodists
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
, arrived in 1822. By 1830, most of the population were nominally Christian. Western church music and Western classical and popular music would then start to mingle with the pure Tongan music, resulting in the often hybrid music of contemporary Tonga. Now popular guitar styles are used throughout Tonga too.
Surviving traditional music
Traditional music is preserved (though how faithfully we can only guess) in the set pieces performed at royal and noble weddings and funerals, and in the song sung during the traditional ceremony of apology, the lou-ifi.Radio Tonga
Radio Tonga
Radio Tonga is Tonga's main commercial radio station, founded in 1961 by Queen Salote Tupou III, and operating as a service of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission . Its slogan is "The Call of the Friendly Islands"...
begins each day's broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
with a recording from Veehala
Honourable Ve'ehala
Honourable Ve'ehala was a Tongan nobleman best known as a nose-flute player. He remains undoubtedly the most famous Tongan musician, both at home and abroad, and his recordings are still traditionally the first broadcast every day by Radio Tonga....
, a nobleman and celebrated virtuoso of the nose flute
Nose flute
The nose flute is a popular musical instrument played in Polynesia and the Pacific Rim countries. Other versions are found in Africa, China, and India.- Hawaii :In the North Pacific, in the Hawaiian islands the nose flute was a common courting instrument...
. The nose flute is otherwise rarely heard. Contemporary youth prefers the guitar.
Some ancient dances are still performed, such as ula
Ula (dance)
The ula is an ancient Tongan group dance, already reported by early European navigators like captain Cook. It is also known as fahai-ula , which may be degenerated to fahaiula...
, otuhaka
'otuhaka
right|300pxThe otuhaka is a traditional Tongan group dance with prominent Sāmoan influence wherein the performers are seated and make gestures with their arms only, with some accentuation from head and body....
and meetuupaki
Me'etu'upaki
The meetuupaki is an ancient Tongan group dance, already reported by early European navigators like captain Cook. This dance has been traditionally designed for men although women may take part if there are not enough men...
.
The lali or slit-gong, is still in use—as a substitute for a church bell by congregations that cannot afford a bell.
Church music
Methodists were known for their extensive use of hymnHymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
s in their emotional services. True to their tradition, the early missionaries introduced hymn-singing to their congregations. These early hymns - still sung today in some of the Methodist sects, such as the Free Church of Tonga
Free Church of Tonga
The Free Church of Tonga is a church in Tonga.The church was established in 1885 by King George Tupou I and Rev. Shirley W. Baker. Originally with the name The Wesleyan Free Church of Tonga , it became the official state church...
and the Church of Tonga
Church of Tonga
The Church of Tonga is one of the churches in Tonga. It is located in the capital Nukualofa.It was established in 1928 by those members who did not agree to the unification in 1924 of the Wesleyan mission and the Free church into the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, and they also did not agree with...
- have Tongan tunes and simple, short Tongan lyrics.
In the late 19th century, missionaries introduced hymns popular in England and Australia at the time, keeping the Western tunes and translating the lyrics into Tongan. These hymns are still sung in the largest Methodist church, the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga.
Other Christian denominations have introduced their own musical traditions. The Roman Catholic church in Tonga, while a minority church, has been notable for its accepting attitude towards traditional Tongan culture. Their church music, however, follows Western Catholic models.
In the smaller churches and the minority Methodist sects, hymn singing is unaccompanied, hiva usu. A strong singer will sing the first notes alone (a practice called hua or opening) and the rest of the congregation will then join. Church choirs are popular, practice is frequent, and most congregations sing all hymns in harmony.
Free Wesleyan Churches feature not only choirs, but brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
s. It is possible that this tradition comes from northern England, a strongly Methodist area, where participating in brass bands is a popular amusement. Visitors may regret that the blaring bands drown out the delicate harmonies of the hymns, but Tongans glory in the size and splendor of their bands as they do the size and splendor of their churches. Smaller churches have no bands, but aspire to them.
All the Methodist churches have occasional choir exhibitions (po hiva), held in the larger churches, to which all the neighboring congregations are invited. Choirs practice assiduously to show off their prowess before their rivals. Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's Hallelujah Chorus is frequently sung at these festivals, being esteemed as the epitome of choir display.
Hymn-singing is greatly practiced at the wakes before funerals. Relatives sit with the body, while mourners come to make their last greetings to the departed and to bring gifts to the bereaved. The church choir (from the family's own congregation) sits in the background, singing hymns through the day and night.
Secular music
Secular music is composed in a gamut of styles, ranging from the semi-traditional to the aggressively "pop" influenced by overseas styles. The usual instruments are voice, guitar, and sometimes the players from the church brass band.Hiva kakala (fragrant songs, meaning love poems) are an important part of the semi-traditional group. Many of the ones still popular nowadays were made by queen Sālote in the 1950s and are the favourite tunes for the tauʻolunga
Tau'olunga
The tauolunga is a traditional Tongan dance. The type of dance is comparable with Hawaiian hula, or the Tahitian aparima.-Performance:...
dances. Another important part in this group are the more formal songs, slanted towards odes to the chiefs and the royal family. They are the ideal choice for dances like the māʻuluʻulu
Ma'ulu'ulu
thumb|576px|right|Teachers training college students ready to perform their māuluulu examinationThe māuluulu is a traditional Tongan dance, performed by a group of seated men and women; stylistically, the dance form is a direct successor of the ancient Tongan otuhaka having been synthesized with...
or the lakalaka
Lakalaka
The lakalaka is a Tongan group dance where the performers are largely standing still and make gestures with their arms only. It is considered as the national dance of Tonga and part of the intangible human heritage...
, Tonga's national dance form.
Mixed dancing, or hulohula as practiced at parties and clubs in the Western world, is still comparatively rare. It is not a feature of village life, and can be found only in the cities, such as Nukuʻalofa.
Most village musicians display their talents only in church, or at the koniseti. The koniseti or concert is a display of dance and song, usually done as a fundraiser for some worthy cause, such as a sports team or a local congregation. The musicians consist usually of singers, guitar players, and possibly a church brass band. The music is melodic and minor key; it serves as background to the dancers. Sometimes villagers will rehearse a koniseti for months and then tour neighboring villages or even islands. The size of the receipts is commensurate with the quality of the show, and there is great incentive to excel. At other times the koniseti may be performed only once, for a special occasion.
Music is often heard in Tongan towns and villages, but it is usually music from Radio Tonga
Radio Tonga
Radio Tonga is Tonga's main commercial radio station, founded in 1961 by Queen Salote Tupou III, and operating as a service of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission . Its slogan is "The Call of the Friendly Islands"...
. Radio Tonga is a state-run radio station; it starts broadcasting early in the morning and ends late at night. It can be heard even in the smallest villages on the remotest islands, blasting from the omnipresent tepis or combination radio/tape cassette players (usually battery powered). One weary Western visitor was heard to complain, in 1980, "You can't get away from Radio Tonga".
Radio Tonga plays music from local Tongan musical groups, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
an and Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
n bands, Hawaiʻian music
Music of Hawaii
The music of Hawaii includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Hawaii's musical contributions to the music of the United States are out of proportion to the state's small size. Styles like slack-key guitar are well-known...
, etc. It also broadcasts church services and choir competitions, so it disseminates church music as well as popular music. The Tongan groups usually feature strong vocals, solo or choral, haunting minor key harmonies, and guitar backup. To the unsophisticated Western ear, it savors of American country music.
Western pop is also popular among a younger audience, though disapproved by elders and churches. It can bought as CD or tape, seen on DVD or videotape, picked up on short-wave radio, viewed in movie theatres, or even watched on the one TV station, broadcasting from the capital city of Nukualofa
Nukuʻalofa
Nukualofa is the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga. It is located on the north coast of the island of Tongatapu, in the southern most island group of Tonga.-Mythological origins:...
. However, government censors significantly limit what can be imported, or played.
Local custom also plays a part. It is forbidden to mention sexual topics in front of men and women who have a brother-sister relationship. This applies not only to brothers and sisters by Western reckoning, but also to cousins. Hence sexual references are taboo in most public situations where both men and women are present.
Contemporary Tongan pop music has reached outside Tonga, but only to the Tongan diaspora in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.
No Tongan artists have achieved a cross-over hit. However, the Jets
The Jets (band)
The Jets are a family band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, composed of brothers and sisters who specialize in pop, R&B, and dance music, particularly Latin freestyle.The group officially formed in 1985, with the original lineup fizzling out by 1990...
, an R&B/pop octet of the mid-1980s, had a string of hits on the American charts . The Minneapolis-based act consists of eight brothers and sisters whose mother and father had emigrated to the U.S. from Tonga.
See also
- Tongan music notationTongan music notationThe Tuungafasi or Tongan music notation is a subset of the standard music notation, originally developed by the missionary James Egan Moulton in the 19th century for singing church hymns in Tonga.- The notation :...
- Music of PolynesiaMusic of PolynesiaPolynesia is a group of island chains spread across much of the Pacific Ocean, and includes many countries and territories. Internationally, Polynesian music is mostly associated with twinkling guitars and grass skirts, Hawaiian hula and other tourist-friendly forms of music...
- Bill SevesiBill SevesiBill Sevesi QSM is a musician and master of the steel guitar who helped popularise Hawaiian style music in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands....
- Bill WolfgrammBill WolfgrammBill Wolfgramm is a musician specialising in lap steel guitar and popular Hawaiian music. He was born in the island kingdom of Tonga and is also of German descent...