The music of the Northern Mariana Islands

Northern Mariana Islands

The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...

is dominated by the folk music of the Chamorros

Chamorros

The Chamorro people, or Chamoru people, are the indigenous peoples of the Mariana Islands, which include the American territory of Guam and the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia. Today, significant Chamoru populations also exist in several U.S. states...

, which remains an important part of the islands' culture, though elements of music left by American, German, Spanish and Japanese colonizers can be seen. There are both Carolinian and Chamorro traditional chant styles. A variant of the Spanish cha-cha-chá

Cha-cha-cha (music)

The Cha-cha-chá is a style of Cuban music. It is popular dance music which developed from the danzón in the early 1950s.- Origin :As a dance music genre, cha-cha-chá is unusual in that its creation can be attributed to a single composer, Enrique Jorrín, then violinist and songwriter with the...

 is popular, as is a Carolinian

Caroline Islands

The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...

 "stick dance" which combines improvised percussion and foot stomping A well-known stick dance group is the Talabwog Men Stick Dancers.

The national anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...

 of the Northern Mariana Islands is "Gi Talo Gi Halom Tasi

Gi Talo Gi Halom Tasi

The Chamorro lyrics for the official anthem of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was jointly written by the brothers Mr. Jose & Mr. Joaqin Pangelinan presumably around the time after World War II had ended. The Carolinian lyrics for the CNMI National Anthem were written by Mr David...

" (in Chamorro

Chamorro language

Chamorro is a Malayo-Polynesian language, spoken on the Mariana Islands by about 47,000 people Chamorro (Chamorro: Fino' Chamoru or simply Chamoru) is a Malayo-Polynesian (Austronesian) language, spoken on the Mariana Islands (Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan) by about 47,000 people Chamorro...

, "Satil Matawal Pacifico" in Carolinian

Carolinian language

Carolinian is an Austronesian language spoken in the Northern Mariana Islands, where it is an official language along with English and Chamorro. Spoken mostly by the Carolinian people, Carolinian is most closely related to Satawalese, Woleaian, and Puluwatese...

), which was adopted on October 1996. The song's melody comes from a German tune, "Im Schoensten Wiesengrunde".

Music festival

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

s in the Northern Mariana Islands include the Fiestan Luta, an annual celebration.