Traditional Songs of the Maori (New edition)

Mervyn McLean & Margaret Orbell

‘What makes this edition particularly useful is the inclusion of two compact discs with a recorded version of the songs collected during field research.’ – Henry Johnson, Otago Daily Times

Traditional Songs of the Maori is the classic collection of Māori waiata. These songs in many different styles embody the fundamental values of traditional Māori culture and form a vital part of marae ceremonial. Most common song types are represented: laments, love songs, war chants, songs of welcome, face-saving songs and witty occasional songs. They are remarkable for the sophistication of the music and the power and subtlety of the words.

Authors

Dr Mervyn McLean was formerly associate professor of Ethnomusicology at The University of Auckland (retired 1992). He was also the founding head of the Archive of Māori and Pacific Music, formally established within the Department of Anthropology at The University of Auckland in 1970. Present holdings include more than 5000 reel tapes, 1100 audio cassettes, 600 video cassettes and over 500 commercial discs. Among the Archive’s noteworthy collections of music is the material personally recorded by Dr McLean – some 1300 items of traditional Māori chant and 30 hours from the Cook Islands. Dr McLean has written prolifically on Māori and Pacific music and has published a number of critically acclaimed books, including Maori Music and Weavers of Song: Polynesian Music and Dance (selected as a Choice outstanding academic title in 2000). He was co-author with Margaret Orbell of the Traditional Songs of the Maori and with Raymond Firth of Tikopia Songs.

Dr Margaret Orbell (1934–2006) was associate professor of Māori at the University of Canterbury and a highly respected scholar of Māori culture. She was the author of many books and papers on Māori and Polynesian tradition, literature and belief including Maori Poetry (1978) and The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Maori Myth and Legend (1995), which was a finalist in the 1996 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

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