Living the ‘Grand context’: Chants in Palauan history

Abstract

Ancient chants form a central fibre of the current cultural fabric of Palau, a small island nation in the West Pacific. By reverting to extant sources concerning life on the island in early contact and colonial times, it becomes clear that, historically, chants have been closely interconnected with societal structures and indigenous religion, systems in which they perform distinct functions. The oldest recordings that give us an aural idea of the sound worlds of earlier Palau date from 1909. These historical sound documents are few in number, and their careful examination is crucial in order to put them into perspective. Yet they grant an important glimpse into historical music-making in Palau: they suggest that while form follows function in local music-making, there is at the same time a subtle system of absolute aesthetics of sound in Palau that defines musical form when function has already been fulfilled.