Fr Francis Hezel, Micronesian Seminar
2007 award – major project
£11,343 for 18 months
In an oral society such as Micronesia, music conveys considerable information on the past even as it reflects changing cultural patterns. Traditional chants evoked memories of the historical events that inspired them. Tales that some cultures might tell in story form, Pacific islanders will often sing or dance. Elegies, sung at the funerals of notable persons, were testimonies to the achievements of the deceased. Love songs were often tales of love and courtship between particular couples. Even church songs often called to mind the context in which they were created and first sung.
The evolution of the music itself, from nose flute and chant to reggae or rap, is of considerable interest in that it reflects at a basic level the social transformation that is occurring throughout the culture.
The archival material consists of audio tapes, many of them old 7-inch reel-to-reel tapes, scattered throughout the region on the shelves of offices, local radio stations and private homes. After years of neglect, the tapes are often damaged in places. This project will attempt to collect this material and/or digitize and archive it, and make it available to Micronesians as the valuable historical resource that it is.
The project will collect and digitise recorded chants and music from throughout the region (each of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Marianas and Guam). All the chants and music will be listed and the lists available on the Micronesian Seminar website so that visitors and researchers can search for musical pieces of interest to them. Copies of the recordings will be deposited with the donor, with local archives, the Micronesian Seminar library, the University of Hawaii Library and the British Library.
By the end of the project period, it is anticipated to have digitised perhaps 4,000 to 6,000 items from all the islands of Micronesia .
