Torres Strait Music

The islands of the Torres Strait region were once part of the land bridge connecting the continent of Australia with the Melanesian island of New Guinea. When the bridge was submerged by rising sea levels some 12,000 years ago, it left behind mountain tops, and the resulting waterway evolved into a maze of coral reefs, sand cays and 200 islands.

Today, 17 of these islands are populated by communities who can trace their heritage to Australian Indigenous peoples or to migrants who farmed marine resources, such as pearls and shells, during the mid-19th century. These included workforces from Polynesia, Southeast Asia, Japan, Europe and the Americas, many of whom stayed and established families and communities. Each immigrant group brought songs and languages as part of their cultural baggage, resulting in TSI music that was a distinctive hybrid of cultures and sounds. While foreign music entered the islands, local songs were exported, especially after World War II, when there was a large migration of Torres Strait Islanders to the ‘mainland’ for better opportunities. Thus, two-thirds of TSI now live across Australia.

As a music researcher, my interest was piqued by the eclectic musical and cultural influences woven through TSI music and performance. These ranged from songs in traditional TSI, Aboriginal and Malay languages, mixed with Polynesian melodies in hymns introduced by Christian missionaries, to popular British and US songs. Because of the region’s small, dispersed and itinerant populations, the songs gradually blended into a distinctive mix that held its own identity. As a local TSIer, the award-winning musician Henry ‘Seaman’ Dan says: “In Torres Strait, we’ve got ailan [TSI creole for island] blues, ailan country, ailan hula, ailan jazz, ailan folk. It’s all just good music to us – done ailan style.”

I was initially involved in a large project funded by the Torres Strait Regional Authority to record traditional and contemporary music and dance in 14 communities, documenting styles that ranged from pearling songs to children’s play songs, and from religious hymns to hip-hop. Through that project, I came to appreciate how truly eclectic the music is and how music is genuinely the cross-generational soundtrack of communities. Instrumentally, guitars, ukuleles and traditional percussion are often the featured instruments for most accompaniment. Vocally, the influence of harmony hymn singing has been significant, although there are also soloists. The choral harmonies are complex and often spontaneous – sometimes there are gender-based assignments of parts and musical roles, especially in worship music, or for dance accompaniment. Most islands now also have bands connected to particular Christian denominations. Consequently, new religious songs, ailan kores, are frequently being composed.

Among significant TSI performers, several have gained local and international recognition over the years. Among the first to record music were the Mills Sisters, who began recording in the 1950s. They were three sisters – Rita (guitar) and twins Ina (tambourine) and Cessa (ukulele) – who lived simply on Naghir Island. They began making music during World War II, where they were forced to hide from Japanese aircraft passing overhead. They learned music and dance as entertainment to pass the time. By the 1980s, the sisters were free from the constraints of raising a family and were able to make music and perform more regularly, earning a nickname as the ‘hula grannies’ or the ‘singing grandmas’. The repertoire in their pub performances on Thursday Island (TI) included TSI folk songs and religious hymns in many languages, popular songs from the Australian hit parade and singalongs in English. They recorded several albums and toured in Australia and Europe, enchanting audiences with their straightforward style, unique ailan harmonies and the occasional hula. As elders, they epitomised the music of their generation and its unadorned, communal nature, so important culturally in a remote area before widespread radio and television.

The next artist to do substantial recording was Henry ‘Seaman’ Dan. He was raised on TI, and worked as a pearl diver and boat skipper, while spending his time ashore singing in local bands. He spent a large chunk of his professional career working deep underwater – a dangerous profession, though the work became a theme of his music. He had learned jazz chords on the guitar after hearing Black American soldiers in Cairns during World War II, and to suit his deep baritone voice and laid-back vocal style, he tuned his guitar five halftones flat of concert pitch.

I met Seaman when he was 70 years old, while doing academic research in 1999. We struck up a friendship, and I helped start his recording career, along with Nigel Pegrum (a former drummer with Steeleye Span). Seaman went on to record eight albums and was recognised via prestigious awards, including being inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia for “significant service to music and the Indigenous community”.

Recently, two more TSI artists have gained success. One is Christine Anu, a singer, dancer and actress with cultural ties to Saibai Island (4km from Papua New Guinea). Her recordings have featured some TSI material, but her work incorporates a range of styles. Another is Mau Power (Patrick Mau), Seaman’s grandson, who makes hip-hop with ailan influence and has toured internationally.

As a music researcher, it has been a privilege to help document such unique music.

Karl Neuenfeldt has PhDs in History and Cultural Studies and an MA in Anthropology. He has also recorded four albums as a singer-songwriter and currently owns far too many ukuleles