Melanesian Reggae Group "Sisiva" - "Neuban" (comments & video)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a video of the song "Neuban" by Sisiva, a female Reggae vocal group from Soloman Islands. This post also includes information about Melanesia, information about the Soloman Islands, comments about Sisiva's music and the song "Neuban" as well as a summary of that song's lyrics. Additional comments about the group's physical appearance and the racial origins of people from the Soloman Islands are found in the Addendum to this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All content remain with their owners.

Thanks to members of Sisiva and thanks to the publisher of this video on Youtube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT MELANESIA
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 the countries of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea; besides these independent countries, Melanesia also includes New Caledonia, a special collectivity of France, and the region of West Papua, which includes two provinces of Indonesia, Papua and West Papua"....

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands#Culture
"Solomon Islands is a sovereign country consisting of a large number of islands in Oceania lying to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu and covering a land area of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi). The country's capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. Solomon Islands should not be confused with the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that includes Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island....

As of 2006, the majority of the 552,438 people in Solomon Islands are ethnically Melanesian (94.5%). Polynesian (3%) and Micronesian (1.2%) are the two other significant groups.[32] There are a few thousand ethnic Chinese.[21]

The number of local languages listed for Solomon Islands is 74, of which 70 are living languages and 4 are extinct, according to «Ethnologue, Languages of the World».[33]... While English is the official language, only 1–2% of the population speak English; the lingua franca is Solomons Pijin.

About 10% of the population of Solomon Islands has blond hair, a native trait that is not the result of intermarriage with Europeans, but due to a variant of the TYRP1 gene which causes blond hair. The allele is absent in the European genome.[34]

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From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Solomon_Islands
..."Traditional Melanesian music in the Solomon Islands includes both group and solo vocals, slit-drum and panpipe ensembles.[1] Panpipe orchestras, which are well-known on Malaita and Guadalcanal use up to ten performers with different instrument, each with unique tunings.[1]

In the 1920s bamboo music gained a following in several countries. Bamboo music was made by hitting open-ended bamboo tubes of varying sizes, originally with coconut husks.[1] After American soldiers brought their sandals to the Solomon Islands, these replaced coconut husks by the early 1960s, just as the music began spreading to Papua New Guinea.[2]...

Modern Solomon Islander popular music includes various kinds of rock and reggae as well as something known as island music, a guitar and ukulele ensemble format influenced by Polynesian and Christian music.[5]"...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO
Melanesian music - Vanuatu, Solomon Island, PNG, Fiji, NC


Joseph Toara, Uploaded on Nov 18, 2007

Sisiva - Neuban Melanesian music
-snip-
PNG- Papua New Guinea
NC- New Caledonia

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SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT THE SONG OR THE GROUP'S MUSIC
From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enwFGuPI1rA [another YouTube video of this song performed by Sisiva]
Lattur Ben, 2012
"what does NEUBANE means? please"
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runlose, 2012
in reply to Lattur Ben
"means love u:

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Comments from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFmJGAA-KyY [the viewer comment thread for the video given above]
Tee Teel, 2007
"This song is sang in one of the many dialects spoken in the Solomon islands specifically from the island of Isabel, maringe language.Briefly, the song is about 'young' lovers trying to re-kindle n repair their relationship. Unfortunately, the damage is far beyond repair leaving the other person broken and lost, that wounded deep love is expressed beautifully through this song."

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ikamana, 2008
"i love this song... but I'm Tongan... what melanesian language is this? and what does the song mean? LOVEEEEE... the beat...the voices...and just the ESSENCE of the song... beautiful Island sisters!!!"

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meimosaki, 2009
"where do these girls from? Their physical apperances similar to the tribes in Cenderawasih Bay in West Papua. Beautiful girls, beautiful tune 'n their video reminds me a lot of my hometown in West Papua. Yet, keep wonder, what language it is? They way they pronounce it reminds me about the austronesian language family in West Papua? (For in New Guinea, there are two or three main language families)"

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ADDENDUM - COMMENTS AB OUT MELANESIAN PEOPLE
2008
thashawty
yea they loo like black people like i do ;) but duhh ?? get over it .. theres alot of africans who got seperated from africa since slavery .. and maybe some of them got sent to some islands .. and they're all mix now .. just like me .. IM PROUD TO BE AFRICAN-AMERICAN / INDIAN / IRISH & FILIPINA :) NiCE SONG

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1slanderrx0
in reply to thashawty
Melanesian's may have dark skin but that doesn't make them African. I may be white and look spanish but that does not make me spanish. Race & ethnicity are completely different. every1 is ultimately African but that doesn't give you the right to say were Africans. MELANESIAN PRIDE.

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2010
eNERDchi
in reply to thashawty
@thashawty actually these black people in melanesian islands are native there. they've been there for tens of thousands of years or something like that.

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kanakaken
in reply to thashawty
@thashawty Glad to hear how proud you are for what you are, nothing better than being happy with yourself. One thing though, the brown skinned people of the Melanesian Islands, had nothing to do with slavery, apart from being enslaved by sugar plantation owners in Australia. Their ancestors arrived there about 40000 yrs ago. Then about 3500 yrs ago the Polynesians started their journey to the islands, eventually some mixing with the people of Vanuatu. Saludos.

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Manyouri
We are Black and we are proud. There is no Melanesian without West Papua. Don't forget us. Sisters you have beautiful voices.

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2011
Charles Sagigi
im from Torres Strait, Australia and a lot of my people including myself have Vanuatu, Solomon islander blood in us. These people in this clip look like my cousins.

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