Remix may represent an ideal formal language for negotiating between multiple cultural identities or moving between diverse communities of interests. Remix allows us to merge alternative traditions, seeking common sounds or images that express new relations or identities.

George Lipsitz (1997) discusses the cultural politics of remix in his book, Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism, and a Sense of Place. Lipsitz traces how various indigenous peoples around the world have sought to tap the global circulation of world music to create a circuit through  which they might communicate their cultural traditions or political perspectives to the developed world. Often, they do so by mixing traditional sounds of their culture with contemporary and popular forms of music. Many in the western world are drawn to this music because it appeals to authenticity or exoticism, yet it also feels vaguely familiar and comfortable. The choice to remix traditional sounds with contemporary music is a tactical decision for many artists in the developing world, allowing them to generate revenue and also to communicate something of their culture to people who have historically had little interest in what they had to say.

The 2000 CD Oceania offers a vivid and relevant example of such remix practices. The album is available for sale, and you can sample the music through this video.
Oceania emerged from a collaboration between British rock performer, Jeremy "Jaz" Coleman, and Maori folk singer, Hinewehi Mohi. Coleman embarked on the project in his role as the Composer in Residence for the Auckland Philharmonia. Hinewehi's mother is Pakeha (New Zealander of English/Irish descent), but her father is Maori, and she holds a degree in Maori Studies from Waikato University. She is a champion of Maori culture through her production of programs for New Zealand television and albums of traditional music. Both approached Oceania differently. As Coleman explains, "This is not a sampled album. It's a written album, we wrote it and played all the instruments on it with the help of the best master musicians of the Maori people—I'm the only Westerner, apart from string players and programmers, who actually played on the  album, all the rest is done by Maori hands." 

While the album is informed by traditional cultural practices, Oceania represents an original composition informed by elements from techno music and folk music practices. As one music critic explains, "This is no journey into the past, the last rites of a lapsed culture. Rather, it is a confident exploration of future possibilities, a vigorous celebration of life... Oceania is what happens when Maori culture meets the modern world." All involved have expressed concern that many of us encounter indigenous cultures through a lens of historical preservation. The first images that come to mind may be those we saw in National Geographic. Each of these cultures must make peace with the transformations of our time. Those who seek to hold onto the past are losing out to the current generation as their young people are drawn to contemporary identities and modes of expression.

In fusing traditional and contemporary sounds, Oceania solicits young people—Maori and Pakeha alike—to help transmit the values of Maori culture into the future. They perform the songs in Maori, though they offer English language translations of the lyrics as part of the linear notes. The album's packaging, with its image of a frizzy-haired woman cloaked in shadows standing in a verdant forest with a waterfall in the background, suggests the appeal of exotic locations and primitive peoples for western consumers. Reading the packaging, we can see the album is addressed to young Maori as a way of drawing them back to their culture and is marketed to the western world as a way of transmitting that message more widely. It was the first contemporary Maori recording to be sold outside of New Zealand.

The album's opening song, "Pukaea," tells us "Those that have passed on will always live on in their offspring" and compares the Maori traditions to a "precious feather" set adrift. The song captures the sense of loss felt by a younger generation increasingly cut off from Maori elders: "I am left alone, a sole survivor, left with no guidance, not given the knowledge or guidance, in search for my tribal heritage." The second song is more assertive, arguing that "one must have pride in their race, their people, without which life is worth little... The bravery of our  warriors is well known, exciting the passions of our people, awe inspiring, filling us with emotion." Another song, "Farewell," more directly implicates those beyond the seas in the task of remembering what the Maori have been and imagining what they can become: "My voice reaches out to you, resounding over the highest mountains, weaving through the contours of the land, floating across oceans." And the closing song proclaims,  "self determination will give us pride, passion, and ultimate life fulfillment. Let us cast aside the shackles of  oppression, allowing me to reach my spiritual homeland. As it has been said, I will never be lost for the seed was sown in Rangiatea. The foundation of my existence is solid." 

As students listen to these songs, they should keep in mind that many scholars believe Melville intended Queequeg to be read as Maori (though he comes from the fictional island of Kokovoko). How might we read such songs in relation to what Melville shows us of Queequeg's devotion to his religious beliefs and his pride in his cultural traditions? (If you would like to dresearch the Maori traditions in relation to Moby- Dick, show Whale Rider, which includes whaling rituals and practices in contemporary Maori culture.)

Several of the songs, especially "Kotahitanga" (Union), rely on the beats and sounds of the Haka, a traditional dance performed with shouted accompaniment.

Contrary to common stereotypes, Hakas are not exclusively war chants—they may express a range of different cultural functions—nor are they performed exclusively by men. There is, however, a strong tradition of Maori warriors performing Hakas as a means of psychological preparation for combat. In the Patrick Stewart version of Moby Dick, Queequeg is depicted performing a Haka below decks as the other shipmates are dancing a jig, one of many ways that the film explicitly acknowledges his Maori background. 

As can be seen from these two examples, the haka involves not only singing and dancing but also ritualized facial expressions, such as showing the whites of one's eyes or poking out one's tongue, and vigorous body actions such as slapping the hands against the body and stamping of the feet. The New Zealand  football team, The All Blacks, has increased the visibility of the Haka, which they have embraced as a team ritual and is performed by team members of all racial and cultural backgrounds. 

The All Blacks' performance of the ritual represents another remix practice, one that reflects contemporary New Zealand as a multicultural society where Maori and Pakeha cultures intersect in complex ways. It might be interesting to compare the cultural authenticity of the Haka as performed by the All Blacks with the pseudo-native American performances connected with several U.S. sports franchises, such as the tomahawk chop performed by fans of the Atlanta Braves.