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Air Tahiti Magazine 57
culture 2 juillet 2007, place toa ta, pendant les festivites du heiva i tahiti. ce soir, le groupe de chants «te ui api no arue» se produit pour le concours de chants traditionnels, les himene. le «ra atira», le chef de chant, se tient debout, face au groupe compose d une soixantaine de femmes, d hommes, de jeunes, de moins jeunes. tous sont assis en tailleur, sur la scene de to ata. de loin, on ne distingue plus qu une foret de couronnes de tiare tahiti, portees par chacun des artistes. dans le silence et l obscurite, on pourrait presque entendre les coeurs battre, tant la concentration du groupe comme des spectateurs est tangible. puis c est une explosion de voix a capella qui envahie l espace. le groupe interprete un himene tarava. la puissance des voix retentit, harmonieuses, envoutantes. on parvient a entendre simultanement des aigus et des graves, a ressentir a la fois de la joie et de la melancolie le ra atira, par ses gestes, gere tous les niveaux de voix. chantes en tahitien, on peine a saisir le sens des paroles de ces himene, mais on en percoit neanmoins toute la poesie, on est emu par la force d expression, seduit par la beaute des voix et lorsque le chant se termine, l air s arrete de vibrer, le son se dilue, la magie se denoue, il reste cette impression, forte, que ce chant a peut-etre reveille en nous des memoires anciennes, des liens invisibles et oublies qui nous unissent aux peuples du monde, a notre heritage culturel. cette sensation, ce moment fort, il est possible de le decouvrir tous les dimanches, dans n importe quel edifice religieux de polynesie. > various voices theimpressively allreverberate around, in a harmonious, captivating way puissance des laharmonieuses, voix retentit, envoutantes july 2nd, 2007, at the place toa ta in papeete,tahiti, during the heiva festivities.tonight, the chanting group te ui api no arue is ready for the contest of himene, traditional polynesian chanting. the ra atira the leader of the group, is standing upright in front , of a group of more than sixty men and women of all ages.they are all seated in a cross-legged position on the stage at to ata. from afar all one can see is a forest of stunning floral crowns made out of the emblematic tahitian tiare flower. each artist is wearing such a crown. a sense of anticipation hangs in the air, and as the artists as well as the crowd are waiting for the show to begin, one can almost hear the sound of hearts beating in the silent night. suddenly there is an explosion of a cappella voices that invade the silence. the group performs a so-called himene tarava the various voices . reverberate impressively all around, in a harmonious, captivating way.we hear high-pitched and low-pitched tones all at once, giving a feeling of joy and melancholy at the same time the ra atira directs all the different voices by way of his gestures. although it s difficult to catch the full meaning of the tahitian lyrics of the himene chant, one can feel the poetry, and one is deeply touched by the compelling way of expression, seduced by the beauty of the voices as soon as the chant is over the vibration of the air comes to an end, the sounds fizzle out, and the magic of the moment is gone nevertheless, the feeling remains. a feeling of strong emotions, as if the chant brought back old memories of times past, of forgotten and hidden links which unite us to all peoples of the world, and to our own cultural heritage. > © l. lardiere - tahiticommunication
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