Polynesia 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. While these elements are justifiably a part of Polynesian history and culture, there is actually a wide variety of music made in the far-flung reaches of Polynesia. Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the triangle Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. ... Official language(s) Hawaiian and English Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43rd 28,337 km² n/a km 2,450 km 41. ... Hula is universally known as primarily a Hawaiian dance. ...

Traditional music

Throughout most of Polynesia, music has been influenced by European, American and East Asian contact. The only major stronghold to hold to traditional culture without much evolution has been Tonga, which has pursued a relatively isolationist history. Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to some dispute as to Europes actual borders. ... Geographic scope of East Asia East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. ...

Within songs, the lyrics are by far more important than the melodic accompaniment, which has been sometimes changed to Western pop music structures in modern times. Elements like rhythm, melody, harmony and dance are traditionally viewed as accompaniment to the primary focus, the lyrics, serving to embellish, illustrate and decorate the words. Indeed, a song sung to traditional melody is considered no more Polynesian than the same song sung to a modern imported melody (Linkels, 218). // Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds or other events over time. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity and chords, actual or implied, in music. ...

Song and dance are integral parts of the same cultural elements throughout Polynesia. In action songs, dance is used to illustrate the lyrics by moving the hands or arms; some dances are performed seated. Traditionally, dance moves do not illustrate the song's narrative, but rather draw attention to specific words and themes; in modern times, however, dances are more often explicitly narrative in their focus. There are also traditional dances performed without lyrics, to the accompaniment of percussive music. A song is a relatively short musical composition for the human voice (possibly accompanied by other musical instruments), which features words (lyrics). ... For other uses, see Dance (disambiguation). ...

The most important instrument is the voice, though multiple varieties of slit drum and conch shells are also popular; the human body is used as an instrument, with clapping and knee-slapping used accompany songs and dances. Other instruments include the pandanus, a sitting mat that is also used as a percussion instrument, nose flutes (best-known for Tonga's Honourable Ve'ehala) and derivatives of Portuguese guitars like the ukulele and slack-key guitar. Slit Drums are percussion instruments that have parallel slits in one side and one slit across the middle, not always at the center point. ... Species Strombus gigas Strombus pugilis A conch (pronounced konk) is a sea-dwelling mollusk, and more specifically, a marine gastropod. ... A clap is the sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. ... Species See text. ... Percussion instruments are music instruments played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped, hence the percussive name. ... Girl playing the nose flute (Thomas Williams, 1858) The nose flute is a musical instrument played in Polynesia and the Pacific rim countries. ... Honourable Veehala (died 1986) was a Tongan nobleman best known as a nose-flute player. ... A guitar is a musical instrument characterized by its visually dominant body and neck. ... Ukulele The ukulele (pronounced , or the Anglicised ), or uke, is a fretted string instrument which is, in its construction, essentially a smaller, four-stringed version of the guitar. ... Slack key guitar, or Kī hō‘alu in Hawaiian, is a style of music originating in Hawaii using an acoustic guitar fingerpicking style. ...

Christian music

[[In the 1790s, Christian missionaries arrived in Polynesia for the first time. Hymns and other forms of Christian music were instituted, and native musical genres were driven underground and prohibited. Soon, traditional polyphonic singing was merged with Christian styles and church singing became an important part of Polynesian culture across the Pacific.]] Events and Trends French Revolution (1789 - 1799). ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on Jesus of Nazareth, known by Christians as Jesus Christ, and the New Testament accounts of his life, teachings, and actions. ... A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. ... Musical genres are categories which contain music which share a certain style or which have certain elements in common. ...

Popular music

Some Polynesian islands have developed a cassette industry, most notably Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. In the 1980s, Fijian stars like Laisa Vulakoro and Lagani Rabukawaqa became popular across the Pacific. The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... Laisa Vulakoro is a Fijian female singer. ... Lagani Rabukawaqa is a pop musician from Fiji who achieved fame in Oceania in the 1980s. ...

References

• Linkels, Ad. "The Real Music of Paradise". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 218-229. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0