Festival highlights similarities of cultures

GUAM – The art of weaving and traditional music are major features at the 12th Pacific Arts Festival in Guam. Delegations from around the Pacific are sharing aspects of their cultures and they are finding solidarity in the sharing of these traditions.

A group of Kanak women from New Caledonia – pictured above – weave while they sing about past loves on their home island.

“We’re so humble, we are so small and our island is so small so we are happy to be in this place to meet all the islands at the same time, it’s so extraordinary,” says Wali Tetuanui from New Caledonia.

For the Chamorro of Guam, weaving has been taken up by the men following the decline of the art by the women.

“Nowadays it is a dying culture because everybody is more into their phones – iPad you know – nobody really wants to go out do something more adventurous, so I took it up as a hobby,” says Tomas Torres, a Chamorro from Guam.

Maori performers from Aoteoroa, Rob Ruha, Maisey Rika along with Horomona Horo use song and sound as the medium to voice indigenous issues.

Ruha says: “The main message in our songs is independence and that’s the theme that has come out of the opening ceremony. It is a real honour, I have now settled and my heart goes out to the indigenous people of this place.”

Ruha believes this experience has highlighted the similarities in the issues each Pacific culture faces.

“To see the other 27 delegations and to hear their songs and what they think about issues like unity, independence, rights to the land, water, all of that.”

For the next few days, the island of Guam will ring with song and laughter from shared experiences, in an exchange that is unique to the people of the Pacific. - PNC