Thursday, January 19, 2006

The Polynesians


"The term "Polynesia" was first coined by Charles de Brosses in 1756, and originally applied to all the islands of the Pacific. Jules Dumont d'Urville in an 1831 lecture to the Geographical Society of Paris proposed a restriction on its use, and also introduced the terms Micronesia and Melanesia. This division into three distinct Pacific subregions remains in widespread use today.
Geographically, Polynesia may be described as a triangle with its three corners at Hawai'i, New Zealand, and Easter Island. The other main island groups located within the Polynesian triangle are Samoa, Tonga, and the various island chains that form French Polynesia.
However, in essence it is an anthropological term referring to one of the three parts of Oceania (the others being Micronesia and Melanesia) whose pre-colonial population generally belongs to one ethno-cultural family as a result of centuries of maritime migrations. Then westerners came (more maritime migrations) and alternately abused and enslaved and intermingled with the population."

This record on the Crown label in California features Harry Baty, Sam Kaapuni, Bob Nichols and Joe Keava.

The Polynesians - Utere Utere

The Polynesians - Te Manu Pukarua

These You Send It files are available for a week or limited number of downloads.

2 comments:

Pua; Bakin' and Tendin' Bar said...

Wow! I just googled "The Polynesians" along with my grandfather's name (Bob Nichols), and yours was the first site to come up. Just checking it out. Thanks for listing.

Wastedpapiers said...

My pleasure. Its quite amazing how often this happens - relatives of artists and musicians getting in touch via google etc. It's a nice feeling and makes my blogging even more fun for me. Cheers!