A Musical Ethnography of Taku Atoll, Papua New Guinea

Songs from the Second Float: A Musical Ethnography of Takü Atoll, Papua New Guinea, by Richard Moyle, based on fieldwork spanning a decade, gives a comprehensive analysis of the musical life of a unique Polynesian community whose geographical isolation, together with a local ban on missionaries and churches, combine to allow its 600 members to maintain a level of traditional cultural practices unique to the region.

July 2007 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3175-2 / $54.00 (CLOTH)
Pacific Islands Monograph Series, No. 21, published in association with the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai‘i

“Why . . . so much singing on Takü?’ is the compelling, orienting question threaded through [this] volume. . . . One comes away from reading the book with an understanding of music embedded within the fibers of Takü lifeways, constitutive of both indi vidual character and social solidarity.” —Janet Dixon Keller, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign