Singing in French Polynesia
The first himene (which means singing) was established at the early 20 th century and is a sort of combination of Polynesia folk polyphon...
https://worldhitz4u.blogspot.com/2014/01/singing-in-french-polynesia.html
The
first himene (which means singing) was established at the early 20th
century and is a sort of combination of Polynesia folk polyphonic singings and
religious hymns brought by the first British missionaries. The himene tarava,
the himene ru’au and the ‘ute are man himene types.
source of picture: www.flickr.com
The
himene ru’au is sang acapella (without music) on a slow tempo by a group
composed of a combined chorus and soloists sitting in semicircle, facing the
chorus chief. The himene tarava is generally gathered from 60 to 80 singers
from the same district or the same protestant parish. Composed of 6 to 10
different parts, himene traava is by definition of great difficult: men
producing bass and songs tones, men and women combining their voices to sing
the text or singing in offbeat, women singing only the first sentence to launch
the melody, soloists forming vocalizations and modulations, etc. and finally, a
group chief that knows all the parties. When he feels that the parties has reached
a perfect harmony, he turns back to face the people and adds his voice to the structure.
The
‘ute is a singing that often uses a satirical tone, to the great happiness of
the spectators. This is interpreted on a high tempo by two or three persons
with traditional or more recent instruments (like ukulele, harmonica, guitar
and accordion).
