… rhythmic thumps on the Lali call out group gatherings across the islands of Fiji and indeed on Namotu as well. The wooden drum is carved from a solid block, like a horizontal canoe hull, the wooden slit drum has well-worn parallel lips along the top and bottom that form the resonating chamber. The edges of the drum are almost soft, hard wood beaten into splinters at first, and then slowly, over many hundreds of rings a year, the splinters wear down into shallow bowed wear lines like stone tiles on a well-worn pathway. Each double-fisted slam comes from overhead, the left arm hitting just before the right in a rapidly increasing crescendo. The call is for dinner – plans the next day are ceremoniously made across the table with
