Music of Fiji

Fiji is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. Though geographically Melanesian, the music of Fiji is more Polynesian in character. Nevertheless, Fijian folk styles are distinct in their fusion of Polynesian and Melanesian traditions. Folk music is dominated by vocal church music, cultural and traditional music (vucu ni vanua), as well as dances characterized by rich and dull harmony and complex percussion made from slit drums or natural materials, such as drums.

Like their Polynesian neighbours, modern Fijians play guitar, ukulele and mandolin along with a variety of indigenous instruments, most commonly lali drums, which are now used to call the people of an area together. Lali drums were an important part of traditional Fijian culture, used as a form of communication to announce births, deaths and wars. A smaller form of the lali drum (lali ni meke) is used as a form in instrumentation. Meke is a kind of spiritual folk dance, in which dancers bodies are said to be possessed by spirits. Other percussion instruments include the derua, which are tubes made of bamboo which are stamped on mats or on the ground. Other dances included the women's dele or wate, which humiliated enemy prisoners sex, and the men's cibi, which uses spears and clubs .

Indian music draws heavily from rural North Indian and some of the Southern states in India. Most popular are Bhajans — a devotional music based accompanied by harmonium and dholak (drums). Many Indians now also export bhajan CDs for large Fiji Indian diaspora in Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand. Jazz too, has become increasingly popular as cultural horizons have broadened.

According to Qawaali/Ghazal singer Ustad Sheikh Mohyudean (August 1, 1920 – January 1, 2015) and Indian Classical musician Cassius Khan, the Qawaali has undergone a major transformation in Fiji. Because of the lack of classically trained tabla players who came to Fiji in the late 1900s, after their demise, some qawaali musicians started playing with dholak players who only knew how to accompany the Bhajan, and therefore incorporated a new style of music, somewhat akin to early jazz. When the trend caught on, some Bhajan singers also tried their voices in qawaali, and brought Bihari elements into the music known as "Phagua gayaki" an ancient bhajan singing style in Bihar, India. The classical qawaali style slowly took a back seat to this new style of singing, but has been snubbed by purists because of its non connection to qawaali. The word Qawaali means "utterance in the name of Allah." Qawaali in Fiji is rhythmically more challenging with a firm emphasis on percussion rather than the more traditional aspect which focuses on lyrics.