- Title
- Revitalising Meriam Mir through sacred song
- Creator
- Fairweather, Helen; Matthias, Philip; Whaleboat, Toby
- Relation
- Recirculating Songs: Revitalising the Singing Practices of Indigenous Australia p. 318-335
- Relation
- https://hunterpress.bigcartel.com/product/recirculating-songs-revitalising-the-singing-practices-of-indigenous-australia
- Publisher
- Hunter Press
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- Many Elders and other members of the eastern Torres Strait Islander community are concerned about the future of their language, Meriam Mir, and other intangible expressions of their culture. This heritage includes a repertoire of hymns and choruses that developed following the arrival of Christian missionaries in the late nineteenth century. These sacred songs are still valued within the community as a living tradition, and new songs continue to be added to the repertoire. As a young boy growing up in Townsville, Toby Whaleboat learned Christian songs with texts in Meriam Mir, Torres Strait Creole and English. In collaboration with Meriam Elders and with support of the University of Newcastle, Toby Whaleboat is currently facilitating a number of activities to preserve, revitalise, and disseminate the rich tradition of songs in his ancestral language. This paper focuses on eastern Torres Strait Islanders in mainland Australia, and their ongoing efforts to strengthen language and culture through song. Drawing upon Toby Whaleboat’s personal experience, it examines some of the methods by which the Christian song repertoire is maintained and revitalised in mainland Islander communities, particularly in relation to contemporary performance and the dissemination of these songs. The authors identify some of the challenges inherent in revitalising Meriam Mir through sacred song and discuss the Torres Strait Islander Sacred Music Network, a collaborative approach to identifying, recording, notating and performing Christian hymns and choruses with Meriam Mir songtexts.
- Subject
- Meriam Mir; Torres Strait Islanders; hymnody; Christianity; songtexts; endangered language
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1389881
- Identifier
- uon:32944
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780994586315
- Language
- eng
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