The Sixth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

155 Not that ‘strictly roots’ approaches contradict the growing enthusiasm of young Pacific artists for blending reggae with hip-hop; dance music, in its myriad sub genres; and the electronic pulse of reggae’s Jamaican offspring, dancehall. Artists such as O-shen and Chief Ragga (both based in Hawai’i), and Zennith from Kuranda in far north Queensland, add their own spin on hip-hop and dancehall, but are still identifiably reggae acts. O-shen, in particular, has created a unique pan-Pacific form of contemporary reggae rooted in his use of tok pisin and regional dialects from his childhood home in Papua New Guinea. The new variants of reggae are often invitations to dance, and nothing stops Anstine Energy, from Malaita in the Solomon Islands, from partying. With ‘fro and aviator shades in place — and moves to prove his moniker — Mr Energy gets down around Gizo town in Western Province. ‘Me wari’ exemplifies the creative possibilities (and pitfalls according to some critics) of popular Melanesian music which, like much of the current crop of Jamaican dancehall, is based on synthesiser- and sampler-based arrangements, assembled quickly in digital home studios by entrepreneurial producers who probably also edited the accompanying video. ‘Me wari’ is built around a two-note techno-style keyboard riff and looped drum pattern which settles into a bouncy reggae rhythm for Anstine Energy’s catchy choruses and lyrics, alternating between Jamaican-influenced English and Solomon’s pidgin. The colour-saturated video and the singer’s irrepressible sense of style make for a tropical pop explosion. Maybe the most ambitious inclusion in Pacific Reggae is the video by the proud Māori artist Tiki Taane, who has spent many years performing dub reggae with the band Salmonella Dub. Tiki received considerable recognition in Aotearoa New Zealand for mixing dancehall, UK drum ‘n’ bass and kapa haka , or posture dance and chant, into a te reo Māori lesson on history and the environment in the song ‘Tangaroa’. According to Taane, this song expresses ‘the anger and rage Tangaroa [the Māori god of the sea] had towards mankind as we have shown no respect for the ocean and its inhabitants’. 7 Reggae and its offshoots are arguably the most popular styles of music in Aotearoa New Zealand today, and the attention to cultural detail in the ‘Tangaroa’ video demonstrates the sophistication at work. Whatever its forms, reggae continues to ‘make sense’ in the Pacific. For 30 years, it has become a focus of popular culture for the young and a vehicle for social and spiritual expression. With its sinuous and potent rhythms, driven by the proliferation of small-scale recording and editing facilities and online diffusion via YouTube and other online outlets, reggae offers geographically isolated Pacific communities a vital way of negotiating a broader sense of the world — remaining rooted in island homes yet projecting far ‘beyond the reef’. Brent Clough Endnotes 1 See John Berger, ‘’02 not the year Jawaiian dies, but watch out’, Honolulu Star-Bulletin , 1 January 2002. 2 Emmanuel Narakobi, email to the author, September 2009. 3 Sammy Saeni, email to the author, September 2009. 4 David Nalo, email to the author, September 2009. 5 User ‘Geronimo2967’ in text comments for JVDK YouTube video for ‘Nu Me Kade’, <www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_DLCQCzjwQ >, viewed September 2009. 6 Sunshiners, <www.myspace.com/sunshinersfromvanuatu >, viewed September 2009. 7 Tiki Taane, <http://www.tikidub.com >, viewed September 2009.