Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0824822714 ISBN 13: 9780824822712

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press, 1999

"Weavers of Song" is divided into two books. Book one covers regional music and dance, exploring in detail the musical traditions of 20 specific areas, including the Society Islands, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, Uvea and Futuna, the Marquesas Islands, Easter Island, Hawai'i, and New Zealand. In book two, McLean describes the musical instruments and the uses, performance, composition, teaching, and structure of music across the entire region. He studies the impact of European music on traditional music and includes a chapter on modern music and dance. Finally he examines the cultural connections and the diffusion of styles throughout the Polynesian Pacific. "Weavers of Song" is lavishly illustrated with 165 photographs and over 80 musical examples. An accompanying CD sampler contains songs, dance-songs, and instrumental music from the twenty regions examined in the book.

About the Author:

Mervyn McLean is an ethnomusicologist and an international authority of Polynesian music. Formerly Associate Professor and Head of the Archive of Maori and Pacific Music at the University of Auckland, he has published widely on Maori and Pacific music. He is also co-author, with Margaret Orbell, of Traditional Songs of the Maori and, with Raymond Firth, of Tikopia Songs.

Review:

"A major contribution to studies of Polynesian music." -- The Contemporary Pacific