Music of New Caledonia
Encyclopedia
The music of New Caledonia
includes a folk music heritage in the Melanesia
n tradition. The Pacific Tempo is an important music festival
, held every three years in Noumea
; the biennial equinox
is also an important celebration.
Modern popular performers include OK! Ryos , Edou
and Gurejele, who are at the forefront of the popular Kaneka movement, which began in the mid-1980s. Kaneka fuses traditional styles with pop
and world music
. The most well-known modern record label
on New Caledonia is Alain Lecante's Mangrove Studios, which distributes much of the Kaneka music.
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
includes a folk music heritage in the Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
n tradition. The Pacific Tempo is an important music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
, held every three years in Noumea
Nouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
; the biennial equinox
Equinox
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
is also an important celebration.
Modern popular performers include OK! Ryos , Edou
Edou
Edou is a small town in Oyo District in the Cuvette Department of the Republic of Congo.President Denis Sassou-Nguesso was born in Edou in 1943 as was politician François Ibovi in 1954....
and Gurejele, who are at the forefront of the popular Kaneka movement, which began in the mid-1980s. Kaneka fuses traditional styles with pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
. The most well-known modern record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
on New Caledonia is Alain Lecante's Mangrove Studios, which distributes much of the Kaneka music.