Author: Raymond Firth Mervyn McLean
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date published: 1991-02-22
Format: Hardcover Edition:
List price (USD): $100.00
No. of pages: 325
Synopsis:
Sir Raymond Firth is the most distinguished living British anthropologist, and one internationally acclaimed. His latest work forms part of one of the fullest and most professional ethnographic accounts by any anthropologist of anon-industrial people, an account which extends over many years. This book is about the songs of a Western Pacific people, the Tikopia, who until recently lived entirely on a small remote island of the Solomons. Their songs vary fromlively dance chants to mournful funeral laments. All are novel to western ears. The book provides about 100 examples, in text and translation. It also discusses the relation of the songs to the social life of the people, and it includesan analysis of the structure of their music, by Mervyn McLean, a noted musicologist. A cassette published at the same time reproduces about 30 of the songs which appear in the book.
Book Review:
100 examples of the songs of the Tikopia, a relatively isolated Western Pacific people, reveal their relationship to Polynesian social life as well as their musical structure.
About Author:
"Raymond Firth sets out to provide a detailed empirical study of the social context of Tikopia song, and this he does.... [a] sensitive treatment of Tikopia song and culture." The Canadian Review of Sociology andAnthropology "This is an excellent book if one appreciates reality and empiricism, written by the best author of ethnology of Polynesia, presenting us with rare, perhaps unique, Polynesian material....Firth has written another classic."Ethnohistory "What is truly remarkable is the vivid portrayal here of Tikopia song, performance, and aesthetics in photograph, song text, translation, and description. This is fortunate for all students of the Pacific, and for the Tikopiathemselves." American Anthropologist "The commentary itself is very interesting...sensitive treatment of Tikopia song and culture..." Ellen E. Facey, The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropologyents. All are novel to western ears.
