Music of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Last updated June 14, 2024

The music of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a mixture of the indigenous cultures of the islands, as well as more recent cultural influencers from the descendants of the early settlers in the island from the Indian subcontinent. Folk traditions of the area include that of the Moken seafarers and various kinds of ritual tribal dance.

Overview

Instruments

One instrument played on the Andaman Islands was a sounding board called a pū kuta yem nga.^[1] This is a large wooden board in the shape of an oval that is half-buried in the sand while the upper half is supported by a stone. While dancing, some of the dancers' steps will land on the board to create a rhythm for the dancers.

Dances

The women of the Gadaba tribe of the Nicobar Islands sex perform a courting dance.^[2]

Recordings

In 1888, the British naval officer Maurice Vidal Portman recorded Andamanese music and documented it using Western musical notation, which was published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society .^[3] Portman's writings stated that Andamanese songs only had timpani accompaniment.^[3]

Curt Sachs, the German musicologist, noted the culture of song-generation on the Andaman Islands among native inhabitants:

"--and even the child are instructed in this art. While carving a boat or a bow, or while rowing, the Andamanese sings his song quietly to himself until he is satisfied with it and then introduces it at the next dance. His female relatives must first practice it with the women's chorus; the inventor himself, as song leader, sings it at the dance, and the women join in the refrain. If the piece is successful, it is added to his repertory; if not, it is discarded.^[4]

Related Research Articles

The Andaman Islands are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about 130 km (81 mi) southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east. Most of the islands are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a Union Territory of India, while the Coco Islands and Preparis Island are part of the Yangon Region of Myanmar.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India. It consists of 836 islands grouped into two island groups: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a 150 km (93 mi) wide channel. Port Blair is the capital and largest city of the territory, located about 1,190 km (740 mi) from Chennai and 1,255 km (780 mi) from Kolkata in mainland India. The islands are sandwiched between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east with the northern-most point located 901 km (560 mi) from the mouth of Hooghly river. Indira Point at 6°45’10″N and 93°49’36″E at the southern tip of Great Nicobar is the southernmost point of India.

The Andamanese languages are the languages spoken by the indigenous Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. It contains two known language families, Great Andamanese and Ongan, as well as two presumed but unattested languages, Sentinelese and Jangil.

North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal which also includes South Sentinel Island. The island is a protected area of India. It is home to the Sentinelese, an indigenous tribe in voluntary isolation who have defended, often by force, their protected isolation from the outside world. The island is about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) long and 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) wide, and its area is approximately 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sentinelese</span> Indigenous insular uncontacted tribe in the Bay of Bengal

The Sentinelese, also known as the Sentineli and the North Sentinel Islanders, are an indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean. Designated a particularly vulnerable tribal group and a Scheduled Tribe, they belong to the broader class of Andamanese peoples.

The Andamanese are the various indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, part of India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the union territory in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The Andamanese are a designated Scheduled Tribe in India's constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Andamanese</span> Indigenous people in the Andaman Islands

The Great Andamanese are an indigenous people of the Great Andaman archipelago in the Andaman Islands. Historically, the Great Andamanese lived throughout the archipelago, and were divided into ten major tribes. Their distinct but closely related languages comprised the Great Andamanese languages, one of the two identified Andamanese language families.

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The Bea language, Aka-Bea, is an extinct Great Andamanese language of the Southern group. It was spoken around the western Andaman Strait and around the northern and western coast of South Andaman.

Ethnic groups in South Asia are ethnolinguistic groupings within the diverse populations of South Asia, including the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan is variously considered to be a part of both Central Asia and South Asia, which means Afghans are not always included among South Asians, but when they are, South Asia has a total population of about 2.04 billion.

Sentinelese is the undescribed language of the Sentinelese people of North Sentinel Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Due to the lack of contact between the Sentinelese people and the rest of the world, essentially nothing is known of their language or its vitality. The Sentinelese people do not allow outsiders onto the island and are generally hostile towards visitors. Friendly interactions have been rare.

The Jarawas are an indigenous people of the Andaman Islands in India. They live in parts of South Andaman and Middle Andaman Islands, and their present numbers are estimated at between 250–400 individuals. They have largely shunned interaction with outsiders, and many particulars of their society, culture and traditions are poorly understood. Since the 1990s, contacts between Jarawa groups and outsiders grew increasingly frequent. By the 2000s, some Jarawas had become regular visitors at settlements, where they trade, interact with tourists, get medical aid, and even send their children to school.

The Onge language, also known as Önge, is one of two known Ongan languages within the Andaman family. It is spoken by the Onge people in Little Andaman Island in India.

South Andaman district is one of the 3 districts of the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands located in the Bay of Bengal. Port Blair, the capital of the Union Territory is the district headquarters. The area covered by this district is 2,640 km².

Ongan, also called Angan, South Andamanese or Jarawa–Onge, is a phylum which comprises two attested Andamanese languages spoken in the southern Andaman Islands.

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The Juwoi language, Oko-Juwoi, is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Central group. It was spoken in the west central and southwest interior of Middle Andaman.

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References

↑ Sturman, Janet (2019-02-26). The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture. SAGE Publications. p. 1141. ISBN 978-1-4833-1774-8.
↑ Arnold, Alison (2017-09-25). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent. Routledge. p. 485. ISBN 978-1-351-54438-2.
1 2 Stumpf, Carl (2012-07-26). The Origins of Music. OUP Oxford. pp. 115–118. ISBN 978-0-19-163332-4.
↑ Sachs, Curt (2008-01-01). The Rise of Music in the Ancient World, East and West. Courier Corporation. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-486-46661-3.

External links

Recording and documentation project in traditional music and dance on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by Rolf Killius
Recording of song from the Moken community on Ko Surin from the British Library

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[1] Sturman, Janet (2019-02-26). The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture. SAGE Publications. p. 1141. ISBN 978-1-4833-1774-8.

[2] Arnold, Alison (2017-09-25). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent. Routledge. p. 485. ISBN 978-1-351-54438-2.

[:0-3] 1 2 Stumpf, Carl (2012-07-26). The Origins of Music. OUP Oxford. pp. 115–118. ISBN 978-0-19-163332-4.

[4] Sachs, Curt (2008-01-01). The Rise of Music in the Ancient World, East and West. Courier Corporation. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-486-46661-3.

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