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A poet on the Achaean wall
(1995-03)
Winged Tangi'ia: A Mangaian Dramatic Performance
(1990-05)
With the arrival of Europeans rapid and far-reaching social change occurred in Polynesia, and a number of observers predicted that the oral tradition of the area in which they were living was about to disappear. Yet over ...
"My Summit Where I Sit": Form and Content in Maori Women's Love Songs
(1990-05)
It is still widely assumed, despite the writings of Ruth Finnegan (esp. 1977:73-87) and others, that the composition of oral poetry necessarily involves improvisation. But most traditional Maori songs, for example, were ...
Wry Comment From the Outback: Songs of Protest From the Niua Islands, Tonga
(1990-05)
I ask leave from the poets and orators of Tonga, whose inherited metaphors I am about to describe in the plain language of English. My work is the product of many years of joint endeavor with Tupou Posesi Fanua. The Kingdom ...
Profile of a Composer: Ihaia Puka, a Pulotu of the Tokelau Islands
(1990-05)
By the designation pulotu Tokelau Islanders acknowledge master craftsmanship in their contemporary song-poetry tradition. The title is only given to experienced and distinguished composers who have built for themselves a ...
Ei pote : a note on Homeric phraseology
(1996-10)
Wept Thoughts: The Voicing of Kaluli Memories
(1990-05)
The study of lament forms, including ritual wailing, sung-texted weeping, keen, mourning songs, dirge, and elegy, is complexly located in discourses of the humanities and social sciences. Because lament varieties are ...
Introduction; or, Why the Comparativist Should Take Account of the South Pacific
(1990-05)
This issue of Oral Tradition is devoted to oral traditions in the South Pacific and reports the results of a series of twentieth-century and mainly field-based studies. Since this region may be unfamiliar to some readers, ...