East Timor’s music brings together local Timorese traditions, Portuguese influence, and songs shaped by the country’s long independence struggle. The examples below move from contemporary song to traditional dance and a performance associated with the pivotal year of 1999.
East Timor's music reflects its history under the control of both Portugal and Indonesia, who have imported music like gamelan and fado. The most widespread form of native folk music was the likurai dance, performed by women to welcome home men after war. They used a small drum and sometimes carried enemy heads in processions through villages; a modern version of the dance is used by women incourtship.
In the modern era, East Timorese music has been closely associated with the independence movement; for example, the band Dili Allstars released a song that became an anthem in the build-up to thereferendum on independence in 2000, while the United Nations commissioned a song called "Hakotu Ba" (by Lahane) to encourage people to register to vote in the referendum.)
Overview adapted from Wikipedia’s “Music of East Timor” article
“Labarik,” a Tetum word meaning “child,” introduces the sound of contemporary Timorese song.
Tebe Liku Rai from Suai presents a traditional Timorese music-and-dance form.
Dili Allstars’ “Liberdade,” performed in Dili in 1999, connects music with East Timor’s independence era.