Music of Tuvalu

Tuvalu is an island nation consisting of eight inhabited islands in the Pacific Ocean. Its people are of Polynesian descent. Their traditional music consists of a number of dances, most popularly including fakanau and fakaseasea, and were used to celebrate leaders and other prominent individuals.

The fakanu is performed by people standing on their feet, swaying their body. The swaying was considered erotic by missionaries after the arrival of Europeans, and most traditional dancing was forbidden. The ban came along with restrictions on religious activity, for the fakanau served a spiritual purpose as well. The fakanu has since died out, though the fakaseasea lives on, performed only by elders. It is a much slower song with very loose rules on how to dance to it.

Tuvalu also had a tradition of funeral singing called kupu, which is similar to the fakaseasea.