The Latin Pacific: Latin American Music at the Three Corners of the Polynesian Triangle

New Zealand Centre for Latin American Studies (NZCLAS)
and Latin American and Iberian Film Society (LAIFS)

present

The Latin Pacific: Latin American Music at the Three Corners of the Polynesian Triangle

Thursday August 27, 6-8pm
ARTS 1, Room 616
Followed by discussion, drinks and nibbles

Dr Dan Bendrups
Department of Music
University of Otago

The contemporary Pacific reflects diverse processes of cultural crossover and hybridity. In music, it is often the case that island cultures have developed in conjunction with cultural influences brought by a specific colonial or neo-colonial power, and discourses of music and identity often reflect the enduring relationship between colonist and colonised. While many Latin American nations occupy a place on the Pacific Rim, Latin America played only a small role in the colonisation of the Pacific, represented by the neo-colonial Chilean possession of Easter Island since 1888. Nevertheless, Latin American musical influence can be found throughout the Pacific, making an important if obscure contribution to local music cultures.

This presentation provides an overview of three examples of Latin American musical influence in the Pacific, drawing on case studies from the three points of the Polynesian triangle: Rapanui, Hawai‘i and Aotearoa. As the only Latin American territorial possession in Polynesia, Rapanui presents a unique history of local adaptation of Chilean musical influences, reflected in both traditional and contemporary music repertoires. In contrast, Hawai‘i historically received waves of migration from Mexico and Puerto Rico, and these migrants forged a musical community within the wider scope of Hawaiian performance cultures. Their cultural presence has been reinforced through the arrival of new migrants, and by the integration of Hawai‘i into mainstream America where Latin music and cultural influences are abundant. Like Hawai‘i Aotearoa has a long association with American mass culture, and Latin influences have a long history within jazz and popular music repertoires. However, it is only recently that Aotearoa has begun to receive substantial migration from Latin America – especially Brazil – and these new migrants have made immediate impact in live music, especially through their collaborations with Māori and Pasifika musicians in ‘world music’ contexts. These diverse processes of musical migration and adaptation provide an entry point to understanding the little-researched area of cultural exchange between Latin America and the Pacific, reflecting both historical antecedents and innovations in contemporary performance culture.