A term for neo-Polynesian acculturated music with local language texts mostly about love, the beauties of the islands, activities of island life and sad farewells. Western or Western-style tunes are used and the songs are accompanied by guitar, electric guitar, ukelele and often by percussion instruments of island and foreign origin.
In the 1990s, the term ‘Pacific Beat’ was used by record producers to distinguish groups who pursued popular styles such as rap and techno, in English as well as vernacular languages. Hawaiian adaptations of Jamaican reggae (sometimes called ‘Jawaiian’) have achieved popularity elsewhere in the Pacific.
See also Polynesia, §I, 2(i), (ii), 3(v)
AMY STILLMAN