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Citizens of Vanuatu (ni-Vanuatu) perceive stringband music as a marker of national identity, an indicator of their cultural, stylistic, and musical heritage. Through extensive field and ethnographic research, Melanesian Mainstream offers a detailed historical record of the roots, context, evolution, and impact of stringband music. Beyond chronicling the genre’s history and cultural significance, this thorough monograph positions the genre’s musical hybridity, communal lyrics, and unique organizational structures as key factors in the anthropological understanding of ni-Vanuatu socio-cultural history.
“Melanesia Mainstream is a valuable historical record of the genre offering much detail—detail that reflects Ellerich’s determination to tell the stringband story comprehensively.” • Lamont Lindstrom, University of Tulsa
Sebastian T. Ellerich is a lecturer at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Cologne. His research interests in the fields of anthropology and ethnomusicology focus on Oceania. He is also a performing musician who plays with various groups and a music teacher specializing in the ukulele.
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Prelude
Chapter 1. A History of Stringban Miusik in Vanuatu
Chapter 2. Stringban Miusik and Its Musical Characteristics
Chapter 3. Lyrics
Chapter 4. The Music Industry in Vanuatu
Chapter 5. Stringbands as Social groups
Conclusion: Vanuatu Stringban Miusik and Other Musics in Oceania
Bibliography