Chapter 07
Twenty-Four Performances Across Solomon Islands Music
9 min
The sequence keeps six Malaita performances because they reveal different kinds of musical work, not six versions of panpipes. It then moves through Mungiki, Guadalcanal, Western Province, Isabel, a Temotu address, national institutions and present studios.
1. Kinipa'ea, Ooreana, 'Irisipau and Warahane — “Paane ni Rokera”
Four players realise two cyclic parts, each doubled at the octave. Follow one pair until the other changes the composite rhythm. The Raroasi quartet gives southern Malaita precise names rather than a generic panpipe sound.
2. Afunakwa — “Rorogwela (Lullaby)”
Hear Afunakwa's unaccompanied Baegu voice before the sample history. Phrase endings, breath and melodic return carry the recording. Later electronic reuse does not change its northern Malaita origin.
3. Joshua Kaipua and male singers from Mungiki — “Na hua a na sa'a (Song of the Clans)”
Bellona, or Mungiki, is a Polynesian-language community within Solomon Islands. Kaipua leads a long vocal form in which repeated group material leaves room for individual variation.
4. Women of Makile — “Rope”
Voices change balance as dancers move relative to the microphone, making choreography audible. Makile gives Guadalcanal a village setting outside Honiara.
5. 'Irisipau and 'Are'are participants — “Kiro Ni Karusi”
'Irisipau introduces a water game in which hands splash, scoop and trap air. The instrument vanishes after every strike, leaving technique in bodies rather than in stored equipment.
6. 'Are'are slit-gong ensemble of Kiu — “Para Ni 'O'o”
Several hollowed wooden bodies divide high and low attacks in a ceremonial repertory. Their interlock recalls shared panpipe timing while impact, resonance and physical effort are entirely different.
7. Catholic Mission Choir, Buma — “Always I Remember You”
The choir's Malaita address and Catholic institution remain audible in balance, harmony and collective breathing. Imported church form has become local vocal work through language and rehearsal.
8. Panapasa and Matila Balekana with Wesley United Church choir — “God Save Our Solomon Islands”
A married composing partnership, congregation, tape technology and anthem competition meet in one civic work. The song entered state ceremony at independence while retaining its church recording history.
9. Kaibia Worship Team — “Gloria”
Larisha Ramo, Priscilla Luiramo and Stephany Agusi Ratu place three women's voices over drums, bass, keys and guitar at Kaibia SSEC Church. This documented 2023 cover captures a current worship band.
10. Bamboo Band of Roviana Western Solomons — “Bamboo Rhythms of the Solomons”
This 1970 album moves bamboo-band listening westward. Low air columns supply bass weight while shorter tubes divide quicker attacks.
11. Solomon Islands Dance and Theatre Group — “Bilikiki”
The group's 1972 recording presents a Western Solomon bird dance inside a staged national production. It is an arranged presentation, not a village performance captured in its original setting.
12. Emanuel Sale — “Kisi Mai”
Sale's concise 1963 recording restores another named musician to the early popular field. Voice and portable accompaniment carry the song without the weight of a modern studio.
13. Edwin Nanau Sitori and Fred Maedola — “Walkabout Long Chinatown”
Sitori's Honiara composition became widely known through Maedola's early recording and later versions. Urban Pijin, memorable refrain and string-band economy make the city singable.
14. Narasirato — “Warato'o”
Narasirato brings 'Are'are panpipe knowledge into a modern album and international stage frame. Low pipes, group movement, voice and amplification shape long cycles for festival and recorded duration.
The Isabel group brought ancestral songs into a public Honiara festival, with Amelia Thapo and Lency Noguara joining panpipe performance and dance. The documented event is enough; no invented track title is needed.
16. Sisiva — “Tutuani”
A women-led Isabel band enters the current popular field with voice, guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. Provincial identity comes through the artists, not a required traditional quotation.
17. Bre-Zii, Troblack, Legal and Jammin — “Meri Temotu”
The title makes Temotu the subject. It does not prove every performer's birthplace or represent Tikopia, Anuta, Reef Islands and Santa Cruz traditions.
18. Sharzy — “Ta'umai”
Sharzy's Simbo birth, Roviana work and multilingual catalogue make mobility part of the music. The polished island-pop arrangement supports a direct melodic voice.
19. Onetox — “Ramukanji”
Close voices, reggae pulse and social singability carried this Honiara track across Pacific audiences. Bass and offbeat guitar frame a group identity built for circulation.
20. DMP with Anthony B — “Hustle Harder”
DMP meets a Jamaican artist without losing its Honiara band identity. Alternating voices and a shared reggae grammar make collaboration audible.
21. Jaro Local — “Dakini Tangarareh”
Jaro Local centres language and cultural ownership inside a current popular song. His festival work also connects performance to the infrastructure that lets other artists travel.
22. Rosie Delmah — “Hello”
Delmah interprets a widely known song through Pacific reggae. Familiar melody becomes part of the test: focus on her phrasing, rhythmic bed and production rather than crediting her with the original composition.
23. Baka Solomon — “What Na U Saveh?”
Conversational Pijin and rap-inflected rhythm give the sequence a different verbal centre. Baka turns a direct question into hook and attitude while leaving room around the flow.
24. MiYah and Baka Solomon — “Unpredictable”
End with two Honiara artists sharing a 2026 studio single. MiYah's melodic lead and Baka's production network bring reggae, pop and electronic polish into one compact exchange.
A Practical Listening Sequence
Start in Honiara with orientation
Give the first day to context before chasing a show. Visit the National Museum and Cultural Centre during opening hours and ask about current public programmes or credited groups. Listen to SIBC and Wantok FM, noting artist names, languages and event announcements. Honiara changes quickly, so a current radio presenter or museum contact will know more than an old timetable.
Walk the city with its layered history in mind. Chinatown connects to “Walkabout Long Chinatown.” Rove connects to broadcasting and police-band history. The waterfront and hotel grounds connect to contemporary concerts. Guadalcanal's wartime landscape is present, but let local life lead the musical story.
Choose a live bill by its credits
Heritage Park Hotel, Pacific Crown Hotel and King Solomon Hotel have all hosted live music, while Bonfire Festival and Aelan Riddim Music Festival have built major bills. Check the date, lineup, ticket arrangements and transport on the day. A venue name does not guarantee a particular genre.
Choose a bill that names its performers. A mixed night can be ideal: a string-band tribute, reggae group, woman solo artist and visiting Pacific act reveal how the scene works. Arrive early enough to hear support acts, whose sets often show the next stage of Honiara music.
Let radio connect the provinces
SIBC's string-band programming and provincial reporting can introduce groups that have little commercial catalogue presence. The announced group, village and song title are essential context. Radio Happy Lagoon can add Western Province orientation when available. Phone audio may be the only accessible trace of an excellent provincial group, so credits matter even more.
A trip beyond Guadalcanal should follow a public event, local invitation or knowledgeable guide. Do not arrive in an 'Are'are, Isabel, Makira or Temotu community expecting a private ceremony to become a performance. Ask who may attend, whether payment is appropriate and whether recording is allowed.
Hear worship as worship
Church singing is among the country's most powerful public sounds. Attend only in the ordinary respectful manner expected by the congregation. Dress appropriately, arrive before singing begins and keep phones away unless permission is explicit. A large choir is not a free concert placed inside a church.
Denomination changes the sound. If opportunity and etiquette allow, hear more than one tradition across a stay. Attend to language, lead-and-group relation, instruments and room resonance. The most valuable experience may be learning how people participate, not obtaining a recording.
Build a four-part home sequence
After the visit, organise listening in four contrasts. First, place “Paane ni Rokera” beside the water attacks of “Kiro Ni Karusi” and the struck wood of “Para Ni 'O'o.” Second, put Afunakwa beside the Mungiki singers and Women of Makile. Third, compare the Buma choir, the independence anthem, Kaibia Worship Team and the Roviana bamboo band. Fourth, move through Sharzy, Onetox, DMP, Jaro Local, Rosie Delmah and the two Baka Solomon recordings.
Keep the performer and work together in your notes. Add place only when the credit supports it. This sequence makes change audible without arranging communities on a ladder from old to new.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about Twenty-Four Performances Across Solomon Islands Music
1. What is Solomon Islands music best known for?
International listeners often know the country through polyphonic panpipe ensembles, especially 'Are'are recordings from southern Malaita. The larger picture includes multipart voices, slit gongs, shell trumpets, water play, church choirs, string and bamboo bands, brass, reggae, pop, hip-hop, gospel and electronic production. Its defining strength is variety organised by named communities and relationships.
2. Is 'Are'are music the traditional music of the whole country?
No. 'Are'are music belongs to the 'Are'are people of southern Malaita. Its documented panpipe ensemble families and other genres are extraordinarily rich, but Malaita alone contains many other language communities. Guadalcanal, Isabel, Makira, Western Province, Temotu, Choiseul, Central and Rennell and Bellona have distinct histories that require their own credits.
3. How do 'Are'are panpipe ensembles make polyphony?
The technique changes by ensemble family. In the ’au tahana recording “Paane ni Rokera,” four musicians perform two cyclic parts, each doubled at the octave. The cycles meet with a small displacement, creating changing intervals and a dense combined rhythm. Other families distribute different numbers of parts and instruments, so this quartet is an example, not a universal formula.
4. Who was Afunakwa, and why is “Rorogwela” important?
Afunakwa was the Baegu woman from northern Malaita who sang the recorded lullaby “Rorogwela.” Deep Forest later sampled her voice in “Sweet Lullaby” while presenting it through an incorrect African frame. The ethical and musical starting point is Afunakwa's complete credited performance, where her breath, language and phrasing can be heard on their own terms.
5. Is Solomon Islands water music the same as Vanuatu Women's Water Music?
No. “Kiro Ni Karusi” documents 'Are'are musical play in water in southern Malaita. Vanuatu Women's Water Music is a separate named movement from another country, with its own communities and performance history. Both use hand technique and water resonance, but similarity of material does not merge their ownership or identity.
6. What is the difference between a panpipe group and a bamboo band?
Panpipes are blown: air crosses the pipe edge to make pitch. A bamboo band commonly uses open-ended tubes struck against the ground, producing tuned thumps from the tube and its air column. Both can divide parts among players, and both use bamboo, but their actions, attacks, ensemble roles and repertories differ.
7. How did radio shape Solomon Islands music?
Regular public broadcasting began in 1952, with Fred Kona's Honiara string band on the first programme. Tape recording let the station gather and replay music from many islands. SIBC later promoted custom music, panpipe groups, classic singers and live string bands. Radio made a performance in one room familiar across an archipelago, helping songs become national memories.
8. What should I hear first in current Solomon Islands popular music?
Begin with Onetox's “Ramukanji,” Sharzy's “Ta'umai,” DMP with Anthony B on “Hustle Harder,” Jaro Local's “Dakini Tangarareh,” Sisiva's “Tutuani,” Baka Solomon's “What Na U Saveh?” and MiYah with Baka on “Unpredictable.” Together they open reggae, multilingual island pop, women-led band music, electronic production and hip-hop-inflected Pijin.
9. Are Solomon Islands, Bougainville and Vanuatu part of one music culture?
They participate in connected Pacific and Wantok networks, but they are not one country or one musical culture. Bougainville is part of Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu is an independent state. Artists tour and collaborate across borders; bamboo formats and reggae circulate widely. The performer, community and recording location should stay attached to every work.
10. How can a visitor listen respectfully?
Use current public programmes, credited concerts, radio and museum guidance. Ask before photographing or recording. Treat worship as worship and community ceremony as community life, not guaranteed entertainment. Pay artists and organisers through the available ticket or contribution system. Most of all, remember names: careful credit is a practical form of respect, and it leads to better listening.
