History of Music in Cook Islands

The Cook Islands Music is diverse; the Christian music is mainly popular. The Imene tuki is a form of unaccompanied vocal music, which is known for a uniquely Polynesian drop in the pitch at the end of the phrases. As well as the staccato rhythmic outbursts of the irrational programes (tuki), the word imene originated from the English word hymn (Tahitian: Imene which is Tahiti was the first colonized by the English). Also the harmonies and the tune features/ strophe styles of much of the music of the Polynesia is the western style and it is rooted from the missionary influence via hymns and other church music. One of the unique qualities of the Polynesian music (it has become the cliché) is the use of the sustained 6^th chord in the vocal music, though the typically 6^th chord is not used in the religious music.

source of picture: www.smh.com.au

The traditional dance is the main prominent art form of the Cook Islands, and each island has its own special dances that are taught to all the children, and each of the Islands is a home to several yearly competitions. The traditional dance is generally accompanied by the drumming of the plate and also the Cook Islands drumming is famous in the international, but this is often misidentified as the example of the Tahitian music, it is the most uncommon as the Cook Islands have a strong connection to their Tahitian ancestry.

Harmony-singing church music are a wide variety of the hymns and wedding and funeral music that are found throughout the Cook Islands, there are much different over the region, and each island has its own traditional songs.

The Cook Islands lie in the Northeast of the New Zealnd in the South Pacific Ocean. Cook Islands are related to the Maori of the New Zealand and the population of the French Polynesia (which is commonly known as Tahiti). The Cook Islands dance traditions are kept alive through their festival, celebration and the performance of tourists’ islanders who is living abroad in the United States, Australia and New Zealand to perform their dances as a form of their cultural preservation.

Theme:

The theme of the Cook Island have much in common with the Polynesia dance form, it is widely known as the dance styles like the hula from Hawaii and the tamure from the Tahiti have the same mythology and dance theme. The Cook Island performance often include the chanting and singing, which is among the dance that tell stories or serve as the spiritual communion with the Polynesian gods.