Page 32 - Islands Business February 2023

Music Music

HONOURING THE WATER

VANUATU’S WATER DRUMMERS

By Rowena Singh

In the land where there are hundreds
of indigenous languages, one stands
out, the unique language of women’s
water drumming, or Ëtëtung.
Sandy Sur, manager of the Leweton
Culture Village & Magical Water Music
says, “I believe that it is important for
people to understand the sacred nature
of water and this is one of the major
reasons that I have worked hard to
revive the use of magical water music
in Vanuatu.
“I see three things that connect us
on earth,” she continues. “There is
mother earth, our natural mother and
water. Without these three things,
nothing would exist.”
The Vanuatu Women’s Water Music
ceremony is an amazing display of
sounds, rhythms and movements, which
demonstrate the living nature of water
and life on Earth.
Ëtëtung is the Mwerlap name for
drumming. Mwerlap is the language
spoken on Mere lava island in the
northern Banks Islands of Vanuatu,
where Ëtëtung originated and is still
performed today.
The water drummers are now con-
necting with the part of Vanuatu
Kastom that has been hidden from the
men, women’s stories told through
dance and song performed in water.
Water drumming is helping women
deepen their ties to the ocean and
nature, and also boost their economic
and social standing.
“One of the things we do is to push
the women in the front, their rights
and what the women can do,” says Sur.
“The women’s water music brings each
of the girls and the women to a state
where they can tell their story and talk
about their rights through their perfor-
mances, and it also helps them with

32 Islands Business, February 2023