A Sea of Voices: Performance, Relations, and Belonging in Saltwater Places

Abstract

A faint early morning glow lit the horizon across the sea. Poised on the calm ocean waters, a dozen sails began their approach to shore (see Figure 1). It was just before dawn on Sunday, 22 May 2016, at Paseo de Susana Park in Hagåtña, the capital of the island of Guam (Guåhån). That morning I joined thousands of residents and international visitors for the dawn arrival of the canoes, an event that began the 12thFestival of Pacific Arts, held on the island. Some of the sea vessels were from Guam, while others had travelled north across the familiar ocean routes of the Caroline Islands from as far west as the islands of Palau and from the atoll islands of Lamotrek and Polowat (see Figure 2). The dawn event emphasized Indigenous movement, knowledge, and skill on the sea, but it also projected a means of belonging in and reconnecting to the maritime world, embodied through sounding voices and moving bodies. Cultural leader Leonard Iriarte, who holds the title of Master of Chamorro Chant, recited a welcome that was played over loudspeakers and emanated from the shore out across the incoming waves. As each sailing canoe approached the land, crewmembers sounded shell trumpets and broke out into spontaneous song and dance on the decks—rhythms that combined with those of the incoming swell below.