Marshallese Chants: Introduction

Introduction to Marshallese Chants

Chants, called roro in Marshallese, were sung for various situations such as: to obtain supernatural assistance in warfare, fishing, hunting turtles and their eggs, hunting birds, and to obtain strength for carrying out group activities such as launching and beaching canoes, among others (Tobin 2002).

  

   Figure 5. Drawing of Marshallese people with aje drum from: Etto nan Raan Kein: A Marshall Islands History, Bess Press, 2012.

The typical roro consists of four to six lines that are chanted in a low rhythmic monotone; initially slowly, but usually ending hurriedly with a rising inflection. On the other hand, the few ikid or “song-story” are much longer. Some of the work chants, for example the roro used in launching or beaching canoes, are done in statement-response or point-counterpoint style, with one half of the work group chanting a line and the other half chanting another. As for the words present in the chants, some of them are in the archaic language (kajin etto). Hence the meanings of some of the words and phrases are unknown to most Marshallese (Tobin 2002).