Music In The Samoan Culture

In our world today, Tattoo is a form of art displayed on the skin. In many countries, tattoos symbolize different meanings, but in America, tattoo has lost its true meaning and is being performed on a daily basis. In our society today, tattoos are becoming more of a trend. For instance, people are getting flowers such as a rose being a popular one, tattooed on them. Currently nowadays, people are getting anything tattooed that interests them and it is losing its significance. Back in Samoa, a small little cultural country, traditional Samoan Tattoos are something that are considered sacred and have true meaning behind it. The artwork and designs go beyond being skin deep. In every Samoan tattoo, there are history and deep meanings behind each and every one. It takes a lot of hard work to earn in order in having the honors to receive the Samoan tattoo. Not only is the Samoan Tattoo a form of beautiful art, but it also resembles respect, loyalty, honor, community, and the growth of accomplishment in a person. It is not like in America where getting a tattoo done is easy and your own decision, the Samoan culture takes a lot of pride and courage into doing so.

The Zuni Lullaby illustrates a contrast with Plains singing to assist in confirming that there is not an individual style to Native American music. Through the Native American styles of music, repetition becomes a prominent feature. This is not because the Native Americans can’t find words to fit into the music, but because repetitions with slight variations are often too insignificant for outside listeners to notice.

One famous Polynesian tradition is a celebration dinner to mark an important event. This typically features a feast of pig cooked in a pit oven, then entertainment including local dancing, drumming and fire-walking. In Hawaii these celebrations are well-known as ‘luaus’, in Fiji they are ‘lovos’, and for Maoris they are called ‘hangi’.

The Peruvian culture was selected for this cultural assignment after an encounter with a surprising Peruvian music performance during a routine work commute at a New York City train station. The band, Espiritu Andino, consisted of several male performers in ponchos and threaded caps. Although outshined by a pan flute, all the typical musical instruments worked together to produce soothing and melodic notes. The listeners could easily transcend to mystic mountain tops and river passages. The performance ignited not only intrigue but also admiration for the Peruvian culture.

Puerto Rican music is an evolving art form that expresses Puerto Rican culture and identity. The development of Puerto Rican music is also a reflection of their history, both being complicated by several layers. Social, political, and economic conditions are all related to the musical expressions of Puerto Ricans (Glasser, 8). Puerto Rican migration to the United States and the culture clash experienced by migrants is another layer complicating the evolution of Puerto Rican music (Glasser, 199). Musical expression has been affected by every aspect of life for the Puerto Ricans and therefore is an illustration of the Puerto Rican experience.

According to Rose, within the Native American music, “No harmony is ever incorporated, although sometimes many people sing at once, and other times the vocals are solo. The Native American vocals are passionate, used to invoke spirits, ask for rain or healing, or are used to heal the sick.” Like Rose, Native American Music – The Beating of Native Drums and Flutes, agrees that the “Native American Indians worshipped the spirits of the animals, the sun, the moon and the stars and everything else that they could not explain. The songs they sang and danced to were meant to honor these spirits as stated but many of their traditional celebrations would also have re-enactments of these stories, where members of the tribe would dress up and perform ceremonial dances to the gods while they would re-enact tribal myths.” As made aware through thr exploration of what the music is, the representation is lost through study and inappropriate understanding due to westernized intuition.

The music of Hawaii is an impression of what Hawaii is - a blend of various societies. Present day Hawaiian melodies are really a jumble of antiquated and current impacts. Hawaiian melodies are simply one more work of art through which the general population of Hawaii love nature. The verses of the nearby tunes are by and large about the spots of Hawaii and different things identified with the Hawaiian method for living. The early music of Hawaii is religious in nature. Fundamentally, it is made out of serenades joined by musical instruments. Since Hawaii needs metals and minerals aside from magma, individuals made utilization of the plentiful materials around them. This is the reason the early musical instruments of the Hawaiians were generally

Although Native Americans are known for their voice being a vital instrument, most rituals, songs, and dances are accompanied by an assortment of instruments such as, drums, rattles, flutes. Every instrument has it is own meaning and a purpose. In this section, the significance of these instruments as well as their structure and functionality is explored.

Hawaiian is unique among the fifty states, especially in regards to its native music form, which is still preformed, and captivates audiences even today. Hawaiian chanting, music, and dance are not only key parts of life on the island, but have also become cultural icons as well as profound symbols of nature and religion in Hawaii. Hawaii has a rich history, beginning with the early settlers from Polynesia who brought their traditions and religions to Hawaii. Over the years, the inhabitants took those traditions and adapted them to their new home, creating the definitive culture that, even with Western influences, still is a captivating force within the society.

In specifically, the community ceremonies on battles warriors where everyone comes together to watch the biggest fight of the year. As the author describes on Okonkwo's defeat of Amalinze the Cat, a great wrestler who was unbeaten for seven years, the music of the community illustrates the unity between their harmonic songs, “The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath” (Achebe, 1 pg). Achebe points out the excitement Umuofia experiences because the competition of the two warriors develops a commotion among the crowd due to the winning of Okonkwo. Thus, throughout the fight, the instruments perfectly portray the community’s atmosphere between these warriors. Their dynamic culture brings both the unity of villages and the combination of a woodwind and percussion instrument.

American Samoans speak an ancient form of Polynesian dialect. There are three basic types of language. The first is Common Samoan. It is used in the buying and selling of goods and everyday village interactions. The second is Respect Samoan. It includes honorific terms used for others of equal or greater rank. The third is Rhetorical Samoan. It uses powerful words to get peoples’ attention, poetic verses, and talks of Samoan history. It is mostly used on formal occasions, special events, and during ceremonies.

In this course we have learned about all of the different cultures and their musical traditions. My favorite so far has had to be the west African music culture. They have a variety of different music, instruments, and dances to contribute to the reasons I liked this music culture so much. So, I have taken it upon myself to further my research on this particular musical group. I will compare and contrast a variety of different videos from the west African music culture and I will analyze how they connect to this culture.

Samoan culture plays a large part in the lives of those with Samoan heritage. Samoan culture is kept strong in a Samoan house hold by keeping the culture alive. This is done by keeping family unity, the art of traditional tattooing, and eating traditional foods and cooking traditional ways.

Samoa has been around for many centuries dating as far back as 3000 years ago according to researchers and scientists. Throughout the years, the Samoan culture has gained a various amount of influence under the ruling of the U.S., the U.K., Germany and also New Zealand before it became its own independent state. To this very day, the old style traditions and values of Samoa are still practiced on a daily basis. Whether it be practicing religion, or relying on agriculture as one of their main resources for food and currency. Upholding ones values is extremely important as well as respecting the role separations, religious beliefs and following a strict chain of power to the people of Samoa.

Scholars have attempted to define music, and to be quite honest, it will be a huge challenge to try to weave a definition around the art that is music, because it is beyond definition. However, for the purposes of this work, we shall adopt the definition by Aluede & Eregare (2009), not because the definition is, in itself, complete, but because it captures the very essence of what we look for in the definition of music. Music, according to Aluede & Aregare (2009), is not only an organization of sound but also a symbolic expression of a social and cultural organization, which reflects the values, past and present ways of life of human beings. Also, Jones (1975), cited in Amana and Onogu (2015), defines music as “a language which encodes emotions, aspirations and people’s goals in autonomous and self-expressive arts forms.” These definitions are important in understanding music, because they highlight the fact that music does not only appeal to the feel-good emotion, it is not only used for entertainment; it is a valid form of social expression and this underscores the centrality of music in African socio-cultural life.