Chamorro country songs: Cross-cultural translation in post-World War II Chamorro music

Scholars of music, culture and history in the Marianas Islands have paid little attention to contemporary Chamorro language music. In part, it has been dismissed on grounds of its 'inauthenticity'. And yet, the music has deep meaning for the generations of Chamorros who came of age in the three decades after World War II. This article addresses challenges to the music's authenticity by situating the practices of adapting foreign songs in the folk culture of pre-World War II Guam. Furthermore, this article provides both an explanation and a cross-cultural context for the particular attraction older Chamorros hold for American country music. Selected Chamorro songs demonstrate ways Chamorro artists adapt and translate American songs in ways that make them more culturally specific but nevertheless point to affinities between working-class Chamorros and mainland Americans.