Maori and yet I found them very difficult to comprehend. I did finally come to admire and enjoy tremendously this traditional music, but I believe this was at first primarily because I wanted to like it. How many younger Maoris like myself have had the opportunity of spending eighteen months listening solidly to traditional Maori chant, combined with twelve years of musical training, and an (albeit small) knowledge of the Maori language? I would venture to suggest that they would be very few, and yet it took me weeks of listening to come anywhere near an appreciation. When I was compiling Maori programmes for the N.Z.B.C. I felt that if people did not have the opportunity of hearing Maori chant they would never learn anything about it. So I prepared a series of programmes mixing both chant and action song together. We received many letters and phone calls asking ‘what this rubbish was’ and ‘how much nicer the action songs were than these old has-beens’. Conversely we did receive several letters from Maoris saying how much they had enjoyed having the opportunity of hearing the old traditional music. For those few people I think the programmes were justified and well worth doing. But the many unfavourable reactions certainly showed the difficulties that people experience when they first attempt to listen to this music. (Incidentally, as Mr McLean mentioned in his article, the N.Z.B.C. has a fine collection of recordings and tapes, some sponsored by the Maori Purposes Fund Board and collected mostly by Mr W. Ngata, and many others recorded by the N.Z.B.C. There is also a collection of cylindrical recordings made back in the first years of this century, which is held by the Internal Affairs Department. Unfortunately no detailed work has been done on these, and because of technical problems all this music will have to be re-recorded if it is not to be completely lost.)

The Problem Of Tradition Mr McLean raises the point that tradition can be a barrier to people wishing to learn this music. And he is right. Why people should worry so much now about tradition, when their whole way of life has been changed and will never be the same again, is very hard to understand. This traditionalism has meant the loss of very many chants and customs, and I have even been told by old people that they would rather something died with them, than that they should do the wrong thing and pass it on. He is also right when he says that one important barrier to the passing on of songs is that of song ownership. If there were a genuine desire amongst Maori people, particularly the elders, to see the chant survive, surely the tribal barriers could be broken down. If some young Maori wants to learn a particular song, he is at least showing a desire to retain his culture, and in these times that is far more important than clutching jealously to oneself a song which should be handed on. I was refused permission to learn one of the old instruments by one of the few people left who know how to play it because I was told that I did not belong to the tribe. And yet that same person showed and explained to a European musicologist (not Mr McLean) the basic rudiments of playing it. Ironically enough he showed me. In my opinion this is quite unfair. You must surely be consistent and either show nobody except your own tribal members, or else show anybody who genuinely wants to learn.

Fear of ‘Commercialisation’ As far as commercialisation is concerned, Maori chant, despite its literary and musical value, holds little appeal for most people. And even if the appeal were wider, what is wrong with an honest man receiving honest money for honest work? Surely the important thing is that people should have access to the chants, for only in this way can they survive. Because of all these difficulties, I feel that Maori chant is not likely truly to survive in its strictly traditional form. It is absolutely vital for the collection, preservation and study of Maori chant to continue, and I am delighted and grateful that Mr McLean is doing this so thoroughly and well. As well as studies of this kind, I would myself like to see composers adapting and interpreting the chants, for perhaps it is in such interpretations that its best hope for survival (as distinct from preservation) lies.

Culture Must Continually Evolve For any part of any culture to survive and be a living breathing force, it must continually evolve. I believe, and very much hope, that there will always be many who will want to listen to, and sing, the chants in their traditional form. As well as this, however, there is surely room for music which will interpret them in a way easier for our Western ears to comprehend. If the basic melody line and the beautifully poetic words were interpreted in a