Music from Kiribati



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Europeans arrived relatively late—in 1892—in the Micronesian country of Kiribati, so aspects of native culture have survived to a greater extent than in other parts of Oceania. Thought to be descended from southeast Asians, the Kiribati have no instruments that would link their music to Asia. Their music has a vocal focus with chanting accompanied by stamping and body percussion. Stick dances, considered to be premissionary, accompany the telling of legends, history, and genealogy.

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Kiribati

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