MEET THE SAMOAN

Te Ao Hou, July 1969, Page 57

MEET THE SAMOAN Viking VPX 12 in. 33 ⅓ LP Mono with booklet This is doubtless intended as a companion to the previously reviewed recording. However, there are some significant differences. Firstly the text, which in ‘Meet the Maori’ deals almost exclusively with Maori song

and dance, is, in this booklet, giving a kind of tourist-eye view of Samoa under such chapter headings as ‘The Two Samoas’, ‘Historical Notes’, ‘Meet the People, ‘Sining, Dancing and Sports’, ‘Let's go to Feast’, ‘The Kava Ceremony’, etc. The text itself is in light-hearted vein, yet packs quite a bit of information into four large pages. In comparison with ‘Meet the Maori’, the illustrations are in colour throughout and although the captions are brief, they do seem to capture the mood of Samoa and its people. The description of the items on the record is also somewhat sketchy. They are mostly modern songs and feature a number of groups. Played directly after ‘Meet the Maori’, this record does highlight the contrast in the musical styles of the Maoris and Samoans. The Samoan tends towards the Melanesian style of singing with its tight harmonies and numerous short verses of different words but the same tune. The items are primarily in a light-hearted and foot-tapping vein (Sample titles in English; ‘How happy I am’, ‘Wiggle Wiggle’, ‘Vision of a Lovely Girl’). Indeed the record well illustrates a paragraph of the text which says: ‘Nowadays it is difficult for the visitor to tell whether he is watching a performance of genuine Samoan singing and dancing or a local adaptation of something from Waikiki, Tin Pan Alley or Papeete. Samoans, with the typical Polynesian genius for adaptation, quickly shape to their own uses any aspect of another culture which appeals to them. This has happened in religion, games, dancing and music — particularly the latter. However, whatever the importation, it always undergoes some modification which appropriately adapts it to fa'a Samoan — The Samoan Way’. In this characteristic genius for adaptation, the Samoans are indeed very much akin to their Maori cousins!