This classic study of indigenous Polynesian music, conducted in the 1960s, includes a survey of traditional songs in different styles that embody the fundamental values of Maori culture in New Zealand. Musical transcriptions, Maori texts, English translations, and extensive notes on more than 50 traditional Maori songs are included. Common ceremonial songs are represented, including elaborate laments, love songs, war chants, songs of welcome, and witty occasional songs.

Sixty traditional Maori songs of Tuhoe sung by Kino Hughes are presented in this book and CD collection. The text of each song is given in both English and Maori along with a musical transcription. Kino Hughes was an outstanding singer, orator, and respected Kaumatua who, determined to preserve for future generations all the songs he knew, asked these authors to compile this magnificent record. The introduction includes information on Kino Hughes, on the people of the Tuhoe Maori tribe, on the song categories used, and on the music. This important record of Maori music includes photographs, a glossary, notes on the texts, transcriptions, and an index of song types. Includes 2 CD-ROMs.

Maori music records and analyses ancient Maori musical tradition and knowledge, and explores the impact of European music on this tradition. Mervyn McLean draws on diverse written and oral sources gathered over more than 30 years of scholarship and field work that yielded some 1300 recorded songs, hundreds of pages of interviews with singers, and numerous eye-witness accounts. The work is illustrated throughout with photos and music examples.

This account of an ethnomusicologist's experience conducting fieldwork offers a glimpse into the life of New Zealand's Maori people through his documentation of traditional songs. The audio recordings included span 1958 through 1979, a time when many of the culture's traditions were fading. Sensitive writing and attention to the challenges of anthropological fieldwork shed light on postcolonialism in New Zealand and its effects on Maori and Polynesian cultures and the continuance of traditional music.