TOKI Rapa Nui: Carving a new Territorial Identity through Musical Education

Abstract

NGO TOKI is in its tenth year of offering free lessons to about 120 children currently living on Rapa Nui, teaching ukulele, piano, cello, violin, and trumpet. For its founder, Mahani Teave, introducing non-indigenous classical instruments is like introducing “another color” with which to make contemporary musical arrangements to Rapa Nui music. In the case of Rapa Nui, the notion of territory/kaiŋa/henua encompasses the being from its conception in the kaiŋa/uterus through the henua/placenta. The idea of territory recognizes the cultural dynamics that interact in the physical space, becoming a “social construction that gives meaning to the geographic space in terms of its cultural representation” (Bustos Velazco & Molina 2012), which within the Rapa Nui worldview territory becomes a much deeper understanding. The work of NGO TOKI evidences a type of musical fusion and cultural syncretism through the teaching of music, with which a new territorial identity is being carved in its participants who no longer see non-indigenous classical instruments as necessarily foreign but are beginning to adopt these as part of the musical identity of Rapa Nui. The primary purpose of this article is to illustrate and discuss the impact that TOKI Rapa Nui's work has had on the development of the Rapa Nui musical identity and how TOKI has promoted and influenced changes in the way Rapa Nui society is using new knowledge on non-indigenous classical instruments in their cultural and performative settings.