The Na’vi have no indigenous musical theory; they do not analyze or codify their musical creations. Like many aboriginal cultures, they believe that their music was given to them by Eywa, the great spirit of Pandora. Songs come to the Na’vi through dreams, while wandering alone, or while linked with the consciousness of Pandora through their queues. Na’vi do not claim ownership; the songs belong to all.
After the establishment of communication with the Na’vi, Terran researchers came to the moon to observe and investigate Na’vi life. Xenomusicologists came along on later excursions to Pandora and, through the avatars, began to analyze the musical performances, musical instruments, song structures, and musical function. What they found was in some ways typical of Earth’s aboriginal cultures (the predominance of vocal music and drums), but they also discovered some significant differences such as the use of numerous different scale structures, many different textures, and divergent yet simultaneous singing styles.
The Na’vi categorization system groups songs by function (domestic, personal, social, or ritual) and performer (men, women, children, or all).
The Na’vi do not analyze their music; they just perform it in the same manner that was given or taught to them. The theoretical information given here is the result of observation and analysis by xenomusicologists. There has been no confirmation of musical theories by the Na’vi themselves. Although they are highly creative in their approach to music, they do not recognize any theoretical basis other than Eywa and are reluctant to discuss their music with outsiders who do not See. An Earth-style musicological analysis would make absolutely no sense to them, and they believe the study of music to be a waste of time.
The three primary textures heard in Na’vi music are unison (whether solo or dense), heterophony, and melody-and-drone. Most social songs are sung in dense unison by all Na’vi adults. Domestic songs are often performed in heterophony, best described in this case as overlapping occurrences of the same melody, sung starting at different times, with occasional subtle differences in pitch (but not scale step) and the rhythm. Melody and drone is perhaps the most interesting Na’vi texture. To be more accurate, it is heterophony (in the women’s voices) and a microtonally fluctuating drone sung by the men. This is the typical texture of Na’vi banquet songs.
Despite the complexities of the vocal music, Na’vi rhythms, called kato, are relatively simple. Most of the rhythms are duple (two or four beats to the bar) in nature, perhaps, as anthropologists posit, because of the symmetric nature of the Na’vi physiology. Dancing automatically creates a meter of two, with one strong pulse and one weak pulse. The majority of social songs are in a meter of two or four.
Ritual songs in celebration of the Kelutral and for mourning are sung in a meter of three. Xenomusicologists who have investigated the cosmology of the Na’vi believe that this triple rhythm represents the trilogy of Eywa, Kelutral, and the Na’vi. All songs begin and end on the first beat of the meter, which is the strongest and reflects the strength, shelter, and providence of Eywa. The third beat represents Kelutral, which always leads the singer back to the first beat, Eywa. The second beat, the weakest of the three, represents the Na’vi themselves nestled between Eywa and Kelutral and drawing strength from both.
