Songs of the Solomons

Here are some interesting re cordings of songs from a very little known part of the world. Bellona and Rennell are two small raised atolls 130 miles directly south of Guadalcanal in the Solomons. They have about 2,000 inhabitants.

Both the recordings and the is lands are very new to me, but I was intrigued to immediately note the similarity of these songs to the songs, chants, melodies and rhythms of the coastal people of Papua New Guinea. Mako hakasauni, the sec ond song on side B, is strongly reminiscent of songs from the beach people of Malol in the West Sepik area of Papua New Guinea.

None of the music seems to re mind one at all of early Polynesian chants, melodies and rhythms as shown in the ute chants or of the old kcirakia’s or the various song haka's and waiata's of the Maori Polyne sians of New Zealand.

This brings the interesting thought that these Polynesian peo ple, surrounded by Melanesian Is lands, seem to have been much more easily influenced by Melanesian culture than by their Polynesian an tecedents. I noticed only an occa sional Polynesian beat or rhythm although the rather full notes that came with the recording state; “The musical traditions of pre-contact time . . . provide a glimpse of vanished Polynesian musical culture, albeit with possible Melanesian influence”. The pese or clapping dances are the most ap pealing, especially with the melo dies interweaving with the soloist (leader) singing a main melody against a chorus sung by the group.

The recordings were made by Jane Mink Rossen of the Danish Folklore Archives and are of partic ular interest to students, anthropologists and musicologists.

The standard of reproduction is quite acceptable. Victor Carell.

(Polynesian Songs And Games From Bellona

(MINGIKI), Solomon Islands. Ethnic Folkways Libr ary, records from Folkways Records and Service Corp, New York, US.)

Levuka, "Our home in Fiji", frontispiece to Eka's book, At Home in Fiji