Fakaseasea
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The fakaseasea is a tradition dance song of
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...
. Dancing songs are the most common type of the traditional Tuvaluan songs, with other tradition dance styles including ''
fakanau A fakanau (meaning "spells") is a traditional Tuvaluan male dance, accompanied by singing and rhythmic clapping. ''Fakanau'' singing and dancing are typical of Niutao and Nukufetau islands of Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, a group of ...
'' and ''
fatele The fatele is a traditional dance song of Tuvalu. Dancing songs are the most common type of traditional Tuvaluan song, with other tradition dance styles including '' fakanau'' and '' fakaseasea''. The ''fatele'', in its modern form, is perfor ...
''.


Tuvaluan dance music

Dancing songs are the most common type of traditional Tuvaluan songs. Older style dancing songs were known to be performed while sitting, kneeling or standing. The two primary traditional dances of Tuvalu are the ''
fakanau A fakanau (meaning "spells") is a traditional Tuvaluan male dance, accompanied by singing and rhythmic clapping. ''Fakanau'' singing and dancing are typical of Niutao and Nukufetau islands of Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, a group of ...
'' (for men) and ''oga'' (for women) and the ''fakaseasea''. The modern ''
fatele The fatele is a traditional dance song of Tuvalu. Dancing songs are the most common type of traditional Tuvaluan song, with other tradition dance styles including '' fakanau'' and '' fakaseasea''. The ''fatele'', in its modern form, is perfor ...
'' involves the women on their feet, dancing in lines; with the men facing the dancers, sitting on the floor beating the time with their hands on the mats or on wooden boxes, such as
tea chest A tea chest is a type of wooden case originally produced and used to ship tea to the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The conventional tea chest is a case with riveted metal edges, of approximate size . The term is now used more wide ...
s.


Performance of the fakaseasea

The ''fakaseasea'' was mainly performed by women, who were on their feet, dancing and moving their arms, hand and upper body; while men and women would sing and beat the time. It is a slower song with very loose rules on how to dance to it, with variations on different islands with different names. The ''fakaseasea'' tradition continues in the present day although performed mainly by elders.


References


Further reading

* Christensen, Dieter, ''Old Musical Styles in the Ellice Islands'', Western Polynesia, Ethnomusicology, 8:1 (1964), 34–40. * Christensen, Dieter and
Gerd Koch Gerd Koch (11 July 1922 – 19 April 2005) was a German cultural anthropologist best known for his studies on the material culture of Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Santa Cruz Islands in the Pacific. He was associated with the Ethnological Museum of ...
, ''Die Musik der Ellice-Inseln'', Berlin: Museum fur Volkerkunde, (1964) * Koch, Gerd, ''Songs of Tuvalu'' (translated by Guy Slatter), Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific (2000) * 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. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fakaseasea Dances of Polynesia Tuvaluan music Tuvaluan culture