Monday, 27 March 2023 // Music to Read By
6:51 PM 81°
London
I am on page 307 of the 506 page “A History of Kiribati: From the Earliest Times to the 40th Anniversary of the Republic,” published in October, 2021.
I’m stretched out on a sofa that seats two, my head on one arm, my legs dangling over the other arm. It’s comfortable.
Behind me, to the south, is the incessant music of neighbors. I am 100% certain there are no volume controls on radios or sound systems on this island. They are either off or turned all the way up. It’s a constant steady beat of some kind of pop music, often very surprisingly influenced by American music.
Coming from next-door, I have heard takes on Neil Diamond‘s “Sweet Caroline,” in a reggae manner, and flavors of country-western. But right now it is a thump, thump, thump, thump, thump of a dance beat, with a melodic woman’s vocal on top.
My feet point north, where my neighbor Angus‘s dog yap yap yap yap yap yaps. It’s a tiny dog, and it’s yap yap yap yap yapping offers a bizarre counterpoint to the dance music coming from the neighbor’s kia-kia, maybe thirty feet away.
To my left, facing west, the compressed sand road hosts motorcycles and chatting pedestrians, with small Japanese and Chinese trucks grinding their gears.
There are no sounds coming from my right, the east, hampered as they would be by a bedroom, a cinderblock wall, and empty backyards.
That I can concentrate and read at all should underscore how well this book has been written.
This thick tome has earned the respect of any number of scholars, civil servants, that understand the Pacific, and genuine citizens. I’m fortunate the book is so well written, offers great factual insights, and is engaging. Otherwise I don’t know how I could read in the vortex of these sounds.
There are few volumes of any kind regarding either Kiribati or Kiritimati. Even stating “few” would be exaggeration, and I found what’s available in the less than two months I had prior to departure. There was no way I could read this fat book before I left, so I packed it, and I’ve been diligently chipping away at it since I arrived. As noted above, it’s an invaluable read.
At 7:18 PM the music has momentarily stopped. I hear no dog yapping. I almost fall asleep as I dictate this into my phone.
Well, the musical silence did not last long. Two minutes.
There is a lot of napping and sleeping that goes on at all hours of the day on this island. So many people are unemployed, with no schedules to keep, waking hours are very fluid. I’ve embraced that, and will find myself reading till 2:30 in the morning, or waking up at 4am and then reading.
I think I’ll close my eyes. The book will be on my lap when I wake up.
Update: 6:24 AM the next day, Tuesday. I wake up to sweet Caroline cranking from the house next-door. I heard the song again around 9:30 last night. Does the music never stop around here? What is this loop?
6:45 AM and the damn song comes on again. 8:12 AM ditto 8:51 AM ditto 8:55 AM ditto 9:15 AM ditto