French Polynesia - Music

Music

French Polynesia came to the forefront of the world music scene in 1992, with the release of The Tahitian Choir's recordings of unaccompanied vocal Christian music called himene tārava, recorded by French musicologist Pascal Nabet-Meyer. This form of singing is common in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands, and is distinguished by a unique drop in pitch at the end of the phrases, which is a characteristic formed by several different voices; it is also accompanied by steady grunting of staccato, nonsensical syllables.

Read more about this topic:  French Polynesia

Famous quotes containing the word music:

    “Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.”
    —Frank Zappa (1940–1993)

    “The music of an unhappy people, of the children of disappointment; they tell of death and suffering and unvoiced longing toward a truer world, of misty wanderings and hidden ways.”
    —W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)

    “It is hard to describe the thrill of creative joy which the artist feels when the conviction seizes her that at last she has caught the very soul of the character she wishes to portray, in the music and action which reveal it.”
    —Maria Jeritza (1887–1982)