Description: Following his highly respected Maori Music, Mervyn McLean presents a companion volume that takes into account the entire sweep of Polynesian music and dance.

Weavers of Song is divided into two books. Book 1 covers regional music and dance, exploring in detail the musical traditions of twenty 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 2, "Comparisons of Traditional Music and Dance", 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 cultural connections and the diffusion of styles throughout the Polynesian Pacific.

A CD sampler accompanies the book. The sampler contains one song and one dance-song from each of the twenty regional areas the author examines in the book.

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