IYIL PERFORMING ARTS VIDEO PROMO

Performing Arts is known in Fijian as meke.  There are various kinds of meke, from ones done in pairs, those sung as nursery rhymes, to grand ones that retell heroic tales and oral histories.

Meke, especially mekenivanua is the equivalent to court dance.  Its creation is done by choreographers who draw from oral histories and everyday activities for meke text and movement.  Everyday moments like weaving, fishing, planting, gathering, activities on land and under water are the basic codes of choreography.  With stylized and aesthetic touches, meke essentially becomes poetry in motion.

In mekenivanua, special age-old metaphors and utterances surface in the text or lyrics.  In fact, singing or chanting of meke lyrics is a discourse of its own that also takes practice because its rhythm and articulation is not one’s everyday occurrence of speech.

It is in mekenivanua that a portion of intangible cultural heritage via vocabulary and expressions are embedded and their performance in public spaces revitalizes this body of oral textual expressions.