Ukulele songs from Oceania

Today’s round the world ukulele trip takes us to some of the Pacific islands in Oceania.

Firstly, a video from New Caledonia by geronimo-33.

34. New Caledonia (French)

L’île kanaky. (compo dédicace ukulélé )

Next comes a video from a project featured on a DVD/CD, called Songs of the Volcano. The project was initiated by Santa Cruz ethnomusicologist Bob Brozman who went to Papua New Guinea to record local string bands, in the province of East New Britain . The video is a mixture of guitars and ukulele.

35. Papua New Guinea (Kuanua ?)

Since this is performed by strinbands from the local Rabaul community, we can safely assume that the language used is kuanua. If you know otherwise, please let me know.

Lastly a video from the island of Taveuni in the Fiji islands about young men having to go to war far from the Fiji islands.

36. Fidji (most probably Taveuni dialect)

As you will not fail to notice, it is a bit difficult to find out exactly what language is used in the last two videos. I did my best to do some research on what is usually spoken in the areas where the videos have been recorded but I cannot guarantee that I am right. Please let me know if you have more information.

If you wish to follow today’s trip more closely, take a look at this map