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Music guide a gem
This comprehensive study of musical traditions from 20 areas of the South Pacific is the result of 30 years of research through libraries, museums and archives around the world."Weavers of Song: Polynesian Music and Dance: By Mervyn McLean, University of Hawai'i Press, 543 pages, hardcover with CD, $42.
Author Mervyn McLean describes instruments in detail and analyzes the composition and structure of music of Oceania, from Hawaii to New Zealand, also studying the impact of European music on traditional island styles.
The chapter on Hawaii starts with a description of percussion instruments such as the puniu (knee drum) made from a coconut shell and sharkskin or fishskin, ipu hula (calabash drum), 'ili'ili (pebble castanets), and pu'ili (fringed rattle). It goes on to discuss song types, before taking us to modern times -- only up to the early 1900s -- when a "Hawaiian craze" swept across the nation.
Ending chapters are devoted to discussions of male and female specialization in composition, dance and chanting; the impact of Europeans on music and dance; and spread of the work throughout the world.
The author also gives a brief discussion of ownership of songs and dances. In New Guinea, such works have been bought and sold like any other commodity, exchanged for pigs, feathers, shell rings or tobacco.
In contrast, McLean writes, there is little concept in Polynesia of individual ownership of folk songs and dances. In Hawaii, "commercial transaction concerning songs is rejected as demeaning of the tradition."
The book includes several photos and is accompanied by a CD sampler of music described in the book. At the end of each chapter are reading, listening and video lists for anyone who wishes to do follow-up research.
Although this reference work is destined for the bookshelf of every student of indigenous music, the text is broken down into chapters by region and is concise and easy to read. Anyone who wants to understand the roots of Polynesian music will consider this a treasure.
Nadine Kam, Star-Bulletin
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