Kilikiti (cricket). There are fifty men and women in the fielding team dressed in joyful orange and green, the waiting members of the batting side sing and dance from the side to lape (encourage) their players. But when a batsman is caught out the fielding team erupts in a noisy jive to a rhythm beaten on an empty tin. The bat is carved, baseball-bat shaped, and a good hitter can send the ball into the coconut palms fringing the coral sand playing area. The ball will roll down one palm frond, then another, no one can quite tell where it will finally land, but fielders will try to catch it. This is Tokelau cricket—action, color, noisy drumming, singing and dance. Where did it come from and who started it in these islands?

Questions about history and origin are interesting but less important than the reality of cricket today. A frequent recreation, a visual demonstration of community, fun, competition and humor—cricket is Tokelauan.

Early in my study of Tokelau music I found it puzzling that Tokelauans spent most time performing the fātele, rather than performing the ancient Tokelau dance and music repertoire. Experience of the fātele in many situations persuaded me, however, that this was the genuine Tokelau music—it was genuine though not old, it was traditional though it contained innovated elements.

Change in tradition is commonly accepted within musics of the Pacific and elsewhere. It is a Western view that tradition should be unchanging. Wayne Laird summarized Cook Island views:

The fātele is an up-to-date tradition; containing old elements, but responding to contemporary conditions.