Kwaimani Ana Liohaua Gia, The Heart of Us

Abstract

In North Malaita, Solomon Islands, oral histories, songs and music have archived cultural knowledge and spiritual beliefs for generations. This thesis examines how North Malaitan ways of thinking and being are expressed and constructed within the music of Lau-Mbaelelea women. The overall structural framework of this thesis follows the life cycle of a woman and explores associated music contexts. Discourse communicates Malaitan observations, experiences and perception in a document that emphasizes feeling and sensing in addition to thinking and doing. This is the first ethnomusicological study of women’s music in Solomon Islands and the first to offer a bicultural (Solomon Islands-New Zealand) perspective on Solomon Islands music cultures.

As a researcher working with my own peoples, this thesis focuses on ethnographic experiences learnt as an apprentice learning intangible cultural heritage from my elders. As a descendent, I am gifted access to a musical world that engages with both the natural and the supernatural, where physical and spiritual planes are deeply integrated. An indigenous perspective offers deep meanings of the context, function and purpose of Solomon Islands women’s music.

In recent years, there has been a growing movement within a variety of disciplines (including indigenous studies, cultural studies, engaged anthropology and applied ethnomusicology) towards utilizing more ethical research methods and approaches. Knowledge of this movement has encouraged me to utilize methods that integrate local epistemologies and North Malaitan values. Thus, a collaborative approach has been used to gather collective knowledge. Such methods parallel how local knowledge is learnt within North Malaitan communities (i.e. my methods parallel indigenous epistemology). Embedded within all fieldwork methods is an ethical conduct model developed specifically to be ethically considerate and appropriate for indigenous research conducted in North Malaita.

Solomon Islands women’s music – informal in nature, absent from kastom pagan rituals, and subject to cultural gender restrictions – has predominantly been omitted from history books, films and scholarly documentation. Significantly, however, Malaitan women are active participants in performances and important cultural rituals. As key culture-bearers within their families, clans and communities, women transmit knowledge and understandings through lullabies, laments, dance and evening song. Musical hybridity indicates that Malaitans have adapted and embraced transformational processes and are willing to continue their traditions into the twenty-first century. Identities of the past meld with those of the present and expose spiritual concepts and metaphoric complexity within our musical heritage. As individuals and as a collective sisterhood, Lau-Mbaelelea women are an integral part of the social weave.

Kwaimani Ana Liohaua Gia (The Heart of Us), gives a voice to North Malaitan women through their music. This record of Malaitan music culture validates the influential positions and spiritual presence women have within their communities, sisterhoods and families. Women’s power and prominence is embedded within the ordinary; music nurtures, guides and entertains throughout daily life. Women demonstrate that their seemingly modest and unassuming roles form the crucial backbone – the ‘heart’ of our communities – as they support relationships, social health and wellbeing.